Once an open ecosystem, the web has become overgrown with ads and algorithms. To survive, it needs care – not code.
The World Wide Web was intended to be a digital ecosystem, named to capture this concept of a global interconnection. In the beginning, it thrived on openness, collaboration, the frictionless exchange of ideas. But where a spiderweb grows from instinct, the World Wide Web is designed – coded and recoded by engineers, ad funnels and the infinite scroll. Its evolution has followed the logic of monetisation, not community.
What was once built on the sincerity of authenticity now bends toward the prioritisation of growth and profit over experience. As we enter Web4, the internet feels more like an entanglement – AI algorithms feeding markets, markets feeding themselves, expanding beyond their own capacity to sustain. Feeds are clogged with commercial content, competing for attention via hyper-targeting, data extraction and information overload. This prolonged environmental stress leaves digital inhabitants struggling to process, reflect or contribute meaningfully. The source has been contaminated – a once-living network turned stagnant, resisting renewal.
Social media has become the single largest advertising channel globally in total spend. The money keeps pouring in, yet much of it waters barren land. Many companies spend blindly in upper-funnel marketing, unsure why they’re doing what they do. The system itself is depleted. The constant hawking – ads, sponsorships, influencer-driven promotions – is killing the scene. Less and less feels real, because it isn’t. We’re digital labourers feeding platforms with data, content and attention while tech giants harvest the profits.
But there is a better way...
Rewilding the internet is an act of stewardship, not withdrawal.
