From: bencollver@tilde.pink   
      
   How To Use The Internet Again: A Curriculum   
   ===========================================   
      
   by Brooklyn Gibbs, Oct 23, 2025   
      
   The most common (and easiest) thing to do on the internet is   
   complain. The range of topics varies from person to person, but one   
   consistent grumble circles around The Algorithm and it's incorrect   
   assumptions about what a person might want to consume.   
      
   "Why does my feed keep showing me Taylor Swift think pieces?"   
      
   "Substack, show me literally anyone who isn't posting self-growth   
   hacks."   
      
   I am no Saint; I've definitely whined about my own feed more times   
   than I can count, but after a short sulk, I usually do the obvious   
   thing: adjust, use the search, explore a new site, or maybe even   
   delete the app entirely if it's no longer serving me.   
      
   What shocks me is how many people forget that option exists. I   
   recently had a post of mine get some attention where I shared six   
   cool sites to help expand your music library, and surprisingly, a   
   large portion of the comments were people confessing they had   
   forgotten how to use the internet. That broke my heart a little.   
      
   You can't call it the "online world" if you never leave your feed. If   
   your entire internet life happens inside TikTok, Instagram, YouTube,   
   Reddit, or Twitter, you're simply mall-walking, and malls are fine:   
   predictable, climate-controlled, food courts and chain stores on   
   every corner, but don't mistake the mall for the city. The city is   
   bigger, stranger, full of alleys, basements, and hidden doors. That's   
   the real internet, and you haven't been there in a while.   
      
   This curriculum is designed to remind you what the internet used to   
   be--and still is. I've built it to help you get your digital spark   
   back. After this course, you won't complain to the algorithm gods   
   anymore, praying for a better feed. Instead, you'll remember how to   
   make the internet your bitch again.   
      
   Unit One: Getting Started   
   =========================   
      
   Before you can learn to be online again, you have to understand how   
   you already use the internet. Growth requires a baseline, and most   
   people have no idea how narrow their internet habits actually are.   
      
   This unit is about tracking yourself: what sites you visit, how you   
   behave inside them, and what patterns your devices nudge you into.   
      
   Step One: Take Inventory   
   ------------------------   
      
   For one full day, write down:   
      
   * Every website you visit: For this exercise, do not count unique   
     profile pages on a platform. Two different Substack publications =   
     one website (Substack).   
   * How long you spent there.   
   * What you actually did there (scroll, search, click, comment, buy,   
     lurk): Pay attention to what types of content you are liking. Is it   
     negative? Positive? Do you auto-like everything or save likes for   
     what you love? When you post, what topics are you posting about?   
     Are you talking about content you want to see more of or less? When   
     you comment, why? Are you commenting out of support, anger, or   
     worse--self-promotion?   
      
   Step Two: Notice Behaviors   
   --------------------------   
      
   After a full day of inventory, analyze your behavior. On your main   
   sites, what do you actually do? Are you just scrolling? Do you ever   
   leave your go-to app's fyp? Do you use the search?   
      
   If you type "I don't want to see XYZ" without using the actual Not   
   Interested button, do you notice more or less of that content?   
      
   Spoiler: it's more. Algorithms don't think like us. Their goal is not   
   to show you what you want to see; it's to keep you on the platform.   
   When you post "stop showing me sabrina carpenter think pieces," it   
   reads as: "Ah, Sabrina Carpenter keeps you here. Gotcha."   
      
   Are you traveling the online world with intention, or letting your   
   apps baby-bird content into your mouth?   
      
   I'm not judging you. I swear. I won't even see your notes, so be   
   honest. Look at your habits and--like I do with every conversation   
   I've ever had--analyze the hell out of it.   
      
   Step Three: Gather Your Tools   
   -----------------------------   
      
   Before the curriculum continues, you'll need:   
      
   * A notebook or doc to track your finds and your paths. Treat it like   
     a field journal.   
      
   * A computer. I cannot stress this enough: the internet looks   
     completely different on a computer than on your phone. Use both if   
     you want, but if you have a PC, use it.   
      
   * A willingness to wander. If you only stick to the main roads,   
     you'll never find the hidden rabbit holes.   
      
   In order to grow, you have to first recognize where you are. You   
   can't go deeper into the internet until you know your baseline. Unit   
   1 is about self-awareness: your current habits, your current tools,   
   your current limits.   
      
   Unit Two: Rabbit Hole Theory   
   ============================   
      
   You've tracked your habits. You know what sites you haunt and how the   
   algorithm nudges you around like a Roomba. Now it's time to leave the   
   mall food court and step outside. Don't worry. This will be fun.   
      
   Rabbit holing isn't opening fifty tabs and hoarding them like Pokémon   
   cards. In this unit, you'll learn how to follow the thread.   
      
   The Rules of the Rabbit Hole   
   ----------------------------   
      
   1. External Links Are Portals.   
   ------------------------------   
      
   Every Wikipedia page, blog, or article has a little "External Links"   
   section at the bottom. Most people never click through them. That's   
   where the real rabbit holes live. Follow one, read it, then go to   
   that page's links. Repeat until you forget what you started looking   
   for.   
      
   2. Inspect the Skeleton.   
   ------------------------   
      
   In the early web, you could peek at source code and literally learn   
   how the site was built. That hasn't gone away entirely, but fewer   
   people bother to look. Right-click --> View Source or Inspect. You'll   
   find hidden gems: commented-out code, forgotten links, even easter   
   eggs. Swifties used this to predict merch drops (though to be honest,   
   predicting Swift merch is like predicting streaming prices will   
   increase. Even Substack has a hidden easter egg buried in its   
   code. Looking where you're not expected to is the essence of rabbit   
   holing.   
      
   3. The Three-Click Rule   
   -----------------------   
      
   If you're not at least three links away from where you started,   
   you're not deep enough. It's time to... Click! That! Hyperlink!   
      
   Then another.   
      
   Then another.   
      
   Theeeeeeeeen another.   
      
   Don't be afraid of new tabs. Don't be afraid of your messy history.   
   That's the whole point.   
      
   Homework   
   ========   
      
   Six Degrees of Wikipedia   
   ------------------------   
      
   Come up with two completely different topics. Search one in Wikipedia   
   and start on that page. Reach the other only by clicking hyperlinks   
   inside the articles. Count how many clicks it takes you. This will   
   train you to follow the trail.   
      
   Starter Prompts:   
      
   * One Direction   --> The Oregon Trail   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)