If you live under a rock, the dead internet theory is the idea that since about 2016 or so that the majority of social media posts, comments, and SEO manipulation are done by bots and algorithms, not by real people. Having floated around free software circles, I can say that the dead internet theory is generally taken as truth.

Put simply, the internet that felt like a free landscape when we were growing up now feels bland and lifeless.

Since the theory gained popularity, the complexity of algorithmic content has increased dramatically. Because of how powerful LLMs are now, a growing amount of content has become AI generated, and AI generated comments can be virtually indistinguishable from generic human comments. Whenever we interact with the dead, algorithmic part of the internet, either by watching AI generated videos or simply by allowing an algorithm to curate out interests, we are subconsciously molded by it. We’ve even seen people embrace AI content, even if just ironically, with “Italian Brainrot”. To someone like me who barely uses social media, the internet feels even deader than ever. But…

There are real people on the internet

I was on YouTube the other day and I came across a video titled Alive Internet Theory and it surprised me because the idea that the internet isn’t dead hadn’t occurred to me. Even though the internet feels dead, it’s still very much alive and in a “wild west” state. People still make artisinal webpages (like this one!) and join webrings to combat the algorithmic, corpofascistic take over of the internet. Even highly curated sites like Instagram and YouTube are home to some very niche “anti-algorithmic content”, it’s just not as popular.

Also, the free/libre/open source movement is literally the antithesis of the dead internet because virtually every line of code was written by a real human being with a strong guiding principle. This is especially true if you’re interfacing with the internet using libre software, and—if you’re connecting to a linux or bsd webserver—you’re interacting with a project started and maintained by real people.

Taking the hope pill

Much of the internet is dead, but you already knew that. The actually interesting parts of the internet are alive. (That’s really all you should be on the internet to “consume” anyway.)

If you really take a moment to think about it, is living part of the internet any less lively than it was before? From what I can tell the living segment of the world wide web is growing and is just as whacky and “punk” as it was in the early 2000s. In that sense, the internet is more alive than ever.

How can we make this actionable? Create and post the things that you want to see online. It has literally never been easier. Actually taking the time to craft something thoughtful will also help you reorient your internet use into something much healthier. Don’t be a doomer—dead internet theory is only true if you act like a bot.