The internet, particularly its current web iteration and accompanying social fabric, is widely seen as failing expectations. Signs of significant cultural decline are evident, with platforms like Meta and Google facing lawsuits for privacy violations and mental health harms from addictive features. Schools and countries are implementing smartphone and social media restrictions for minors, while parents worry about their children's online career aspirations, exposure to online casinos, or radicalization. Generative AI, once a novelty, now exacerbates the web's problems by creating vast amounts of useless and grotesque content, fueling concerns about job displacement and cognitive decline. The data centers supporting this technology are also becoming politically contentious.Many now perceive being online as an experience of constant manipulation and exploitation. The rise of "rage bait," Oxford University Press's word of the year, highlights the prevalent use of bad-faith and extremist content, often automated by AI, to profit from hostile engagement. Billionaire platform owners have further enabled this by reducing moderation, leading to an increase in inauthentic activity, conspiracy theories, and hate speech. Unlike a decade ago when glimmers of community and intellectual exchange might have offset the toxicity, today's online landscape offers little perceived value worth preserving.