One of the hardest things about being older on the internet is recognizing the pattern of decline when it feels like no one else does. I know some are exhausted from bringing it up, and others are still echoing "It's not that deep."
One of my favorite true horror story youtubers that I've been listening to for a decade started using AI for his backgrounds, and if he's not using AI write the stories himself, the ones submitting them definitely are. They've lost their edge. They've lost their subtlety. But no one cares because he's posting weekly now.
My favorite self help/Psychology channel from the same decade is so clearly using ChatGPT to write their scripts, and no one has called it out or even asked about it.
People I've known since high school now have AI PFPs.
Nobody cares about anything.
Community feels impossible.
Fandom is even worse.
Most don't bother to post for fear of being accused of being AI (Myself included, despite posting since 2005.)
You can't even debate or argue because most other commenters are bots now regurgitating the same 10 rude comments.
I miss sharing my work. I miss sharing my OCs.
And I would take real haters calling my work "Cringey" in 2018 over this a million times over.
