Way Back When

(Thanks, WTM!)

The 2000s Internet

Doesn't it just grind your gears when you see people getting nostalgic, or even historical, about the 2000s? Well, the 21st century started 26 years ago, even if it seems like just yesterday. This blog has been around for 21 years now (or will be later this month). And even if you've been networking with other computer users "online"since the '80s, the real boom in internet usage came about in the 2000s. That's why the Mental Floss gang is taking a trip down memory lane with a look at the internet in the first decade of this century in the latest episode of Scatterbrained.  

CAPTCHA Hell

 

The concept of a CAPTCHA was introduced to keep robots from spamming websites and spying on users. But then the bots improved, so the CAPTCHAS had to be made more difficult. And more frustrating. As the bots got better at fooling the software into believing they are human, we started to confront multiple CAPTCHAS tests, and it's often so annoying that we give up completely. 

Now there's a video game that captures the frustration of CAPTCHAS, called CAPTCHAS Hell. Since we've all been there, it seems completely counterintuitive that gamers would want to recreate that misery on purpose, but some folks look at it as a challenge. Can you get through a maze of CAPTCHAS in order to purchase concert tickets online? Even if you don't want to try, you'll get a kick out of vicariously witnessing someone else try their luck in this game trailer. (via Geeks Are Sexy) 

Evidence

(via reddit)

Russia’s Weird, Bad Alternative Internet

The internet began as "a complicate, global interconnected system almost entirely made up of people who do not want to be told what to do." This was fine for free countries, mostly, although anyone could see how scammy and toxic the system could become. But what about totalitarian nations who were used to controlling what information their citizens were exposed to? China saw the danger early, and locked down what kind of access they would allow. Russia was busy going through a lot of changes in the 1990s, and confronted the danger to government oppression relatively late in the game. But when they did, it was like holding back a flood with a bucket. One method of controlling the World Wide Web they use is to block sources from outside of Russia, both directly and indirectly by making the whole internet slow and wonky. At the same time, they created their own internet services, from providers to websites to social media platforms, that seem like just weird, ersatz alternatives in order to censor what Russians see. Half as Interesting takes us on a tour of the odd Russian internet.  

Autocorrect or AI Prophesy?

Incidentally somehow autocorrect changed my attempt to wrote "my astronomy" as "my obituary" and WHAT DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU'RE NOT TELLING ME AUTOCORRECT

— Phil Plait (@philplait.bsky.social) April 29, 2026 at 11:48 PM

The Internet of Twenty Years Ago

It may seem a little premature to get nostalgic about the internet of 20 years ago, but it's normal. In the 1970s, we all watched a TV show (Happy Days) that harnessed nostalgia about the 1950s only 20 years earlier. That said, the history of the internet can be a little jarring. Back in the 2000s (no one really calls them the aughts), graphics were rough, users were naive, and goofiness was everywhere. It was a lot of fun! 

Then came algorithms, social media, SEO, and endless advertising. The sites that were the most fun were bought up by corporations. Paywalls went up. Personal data became a commodity. Influencers made money by making you feel inadequate. Spam and viruses gave way to bots. And then there's artificial intelligence. But let's not think about those things- Weird History is glad to take us back to the days of flourishing creativity and goofiness in the 2000s. This video has a promotional break from 5:18 to 6:29.  

Computer Life

a

From Married to the Sea.

Google It

Google has all the answers, but you should already have this one. This comic is from Steve Nelson at Twonks. (via reddit) 

Year-end Lists 2025: Internet

 Google's Year in Search for 2025

Google's Year in Search video addresses what the world was doing on the internet in 2025, from record-breaking achievements to K-Pop Demon Hunters to artificial intelligence to big news stories you may have forgotten since the beginning of the year. Overall, the video is rather positive.  

On the other hand, Google's 2025 Year in Search statistical report offered just the very top of lists, then a button to "Catch Me Up in AI Mode." No thanks. 

The 8 Most-Searched Terms of 2025 (That Were Searched for the First Time). 

The Webby Awards' Best of the Internet in 2025. 

10 Best Podcasts of 2025. 

The best video essays of 2025. 

‘Meme depression,’ Ghibli-gate, 6-7: An internet-culture roundup for 2025. 

Look Back at the Top Viral Moments of 2025


From Labubus to the Coldplay kiss cam: See the most viral moments of 2025. 

Rolling Stone's 25 Best Memes of 2025. 

Hyperallergic's Memes That Defined 2025. 

Mashable's best memes of 2025. 

(Pope Leo is the only one to make all three of the preceding lists.) 

The 8 most wholesome internet moments of 2025. 

The 20 Worst Things On The Internet In 2025. 

Best of the Internet

30 minutes. 

See all the previous year-end lists here. 

Engagement

(Thanks, David!)

Google Search

Did you mean?

[image or embed]

— Twonks (@twonks.bsky.social) August 3, 2025 at 7:13 AM

Peer Pressure

From Married to the Sea.

Toxic Comments

Every year, the company Meat & Livestock Australia puts their heart and soul into an ad campaign to get people eating local lamb meat. The 2025 ad is a live-action recreation of the internet, complete with comment sections represented by people in bleachers enjoying the show. Everyone's got something to say, but no one has anything to say that you haven't already heard. First, people disagree about whether the thing they've just seen is any good. Then they disagree about whether it's even real. Then they fight with each other. It's obvious that if real life were like the internet, we'd have to invent some alternate world to get away from it. The point is that no one agrees on anything, except the wonderful allure of grilled Australian lamb.  

Politeness

(via Buzzfeed)

Introducing the Internet

The kids' guide to the internet, circa 1997
byu/Mad_Season_1994 inOldSchoolCool

Check out those pixelated websites! (via Everlasting Blort)

Year-end Lists 2024: Internet

Google's Year in Search


See Google's Year in Search stats by country or subject here.

A 2024 recap of YouTube on TV.

2024: A Year in Internet Hell.

In 2024, using social media felt worse than ever.

Elon Musk's 'social experiment on humanity': How X evolved in 2024.

Cloudflare 2024 Year in Review. Global internet usage stats.

Teens, Social Media and Technology 2024.

Domo’s unveiled its annually anticipated 12th edition of Data Never Sleeps, offering a unique snapshot of how digital habits manifest themselves minute by minute.

The 29 Best Memes and Biggest Viral Moments of 2024.

The Most Viewed TikToks of 2024

See all the year-end lists here.

When You're Dead

(via reddit)

CAPTCHA Photographer

Every once in a while, you have to pass a CAPTCHA test to use something on the internet. This is supposed to prove you're a human user, and not a robot or an algorithm trying to introduce spam, malware, or misinformation. Sure, we understand why these are sadly necessary, but they can be enraging. You may be instructed to check all boxes that contain a traffic light, for example, but they don't tell us whether the pole holding it is included. Or the indicated object is too far away to see. Or you may miss a tiny corner. Bingo- you've been labeled as a robot and cannot access what you came for. Requesting a different image may or may not improve your chances, but you get the feeling that just the request causes a bias against you. Who comes up with these things?

It takes an entire team, but the photographer is Landra Fontaine, who loves her job because she's a sadist. And a troll. You might even call her the scum of the earth. The next time you are confounded by a CAPTCHA, you will know who to blame. (via Laughing Squid)

Twitter

From Married to the Sea.