Disillusioned… Or?

I was born in the eighties, raised in the nineties, and fed on dial-up optimism. I even remember a teacher discussing the concept of “the end of history,” as Fukuyama described it. Liberal democracy had won; ideological struggles were a thing of the past.

And it didn’t feel ridiculous. The Wall was down. Europe was stitching itself together. The Netherlands felt open, was economically very successful, and was in general a great place to grow up in.

Then came the internet. Clunky pages, modem screeches, and a promise: with a little HTML you could carve out a corner of the world and invite people in. Suddenly you could share information instantly (!!) with everyone.

For me, the only logical consequence would be: connection would breed understanding, and understanding would reduce conflict. I even philosophized about the frightening consequences… Would we eventually have a monoculture? What about the richness in languages and individual expressions? Would that be gone?

This dream, this fascination, was one of the reasons I got started in tech. I was never naïve; I always assumed it was going to be a rocky ride. But I saw so many amazing possibilities when humans were connected with each other. And I was sure that common sense would prevail.

Where are we now?

Three decades later, and yes, I work in tech. That part I predicted correctly. The rest… not so much.

So what happened? By now I’ve collected a lot of “insteads.”

• Instead of finding common ground, we discovered first how cheaply outrage travels. Platforms promised connection. Instead, they deployed the world’s smartest algorithms to monetize fragmentation.
• Instead of adding context and nuance, we’re living in a world where exactly that is stripped out of our digital communication.
• Instead of building bridges, our digital world has become a stage: we perform, seek validation, and harden into roles.
• Instead of listening, so many of us spend hours each day doomscrolling.
• Instead of finding out more about each other, we’re just creating realities that are increasingly detached from anything real.

Reading Baudrillard was fascinating. Living in hyperreality is less fun. We scroll through simulations that feel more “real” than reality itself. The medium mangles the message: context collapses, audiences collide, and good-faith nuance disappears out the window.

My attitude towards the future

And yet I’m not willing to surrender the original conviction. I stay humbly naïve, and I continue to believe in the dream. I believe that at some moment in time, common sense will prevail. That our tendency to find something in common is stronger than fear.

Connected as humans, we can overcome our differences. I believe we can break free from the chains of tech companies that profit from division. That we as humans will think twice and stop spending so much time on our devices. That we’ll start talking to each other again, finding our humanity, and moving closer together. This time for real.