💾 Archived View for altesq.net › ~evenfire › posts › 2022-07-14.gmi captured on 2023-01-29 at 16:26:34. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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Quite everyone agrees that nowadays you need a several megabyte internet speed, or if you're privileged you have several hundred megabytes. But what for?
The internet got gradually faster, while the websites got gradually slower and more bloated. Even if you have a decent internet connection by today's standards, try loading any "modern" website and you'll wait a good dozen of seconds, then you will be bombarded with ads and trackers.
This is why I've switched to text-based browsers. Aside from obvious advantages like no ads, cookies, javascript etc. I don't participate in any monopoly either. I currently fluctuate between w3m and lynx, both with their pros and cons. Nonetheless, I mostly browse Gemini than use HTTP.
Using the tool mentioned in one of my posts, Wondershaper, I decided I should limit my internet even further. I tried values around until I got to the values of 16kb/s download and 16kb/s upload. These are 90s internet speeds, and that's the whole point.
One of my reasons for doing this is waiting more and being more patient. Gemini pages now load in three-four seconds, or up to eight, depending on the server. IRC works fine, at first it just connects slower. Text-based utilities have no issues whatsoever with bandwidth speed.
My second reason, is the fact that this speed makes the addictive and wasteful part of the internet useless. It allows me to stay focused on the task at hand, without wrecking my attention span, which is scarce in our time. I cannot load anything remotely bloated without waiting minutes, and it's wonderful. This made me remove some tools which still were dependent on a high-speed internet connection, and replace them with suitable lighter alternatives.
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