Extreme TL;DR: Internet’s evolution: ARPANET to World Wide Web; rise of user-generated content; Google revolutionizes search; MP3s lead to file-sharing, Napster’s legal troubles; dynamic web sparks blogs & Wikipedia; social media’s rise with MySpace and Facebook; mobile phones transform internet access; backlash against tech monopolies, misinformation, doomscrolling, enshittification, and AI’s threats to web quality.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/09/a-history-of-the-internet-part-3-the-rise-of-the-user/