Author Xiaohai, the original article has been harmonized.
A few years ago, I used to mock a certain tech industry giant. At that time, he said: Maybe the post-90s, post-95s will slowly not know what Google is.
That year, this was the funniest joke in the world for me. Google, the most outstanding internet company in the world, living in the internet generation of Chinese people, how could they not know their website?
Today, I take back that mockery. Because this impossible thing has slowly become a reality.
No one cares about Google or not Google anymore. For them, Baidu is also pretty useful, anyway, they hardly ever use Google. So what if there's no Google? Everyone is still happily browsing Weibo, reading WeChat, listening to music, watching entertainment programs. For those who never knew Google in the first place, what difference does it make without Google?
Slowly, it disappeared, as if it had never existed.
Many years ago, we could also log in to Facebook. Actually, this website was just like a campus network, quite silly. But on it, you could see the lives of foreigners, easily visit people ten thousand kilometers away, and see many pages that you would never find on the campus network. When you reply in Chinese, the person you chat with might be from Hong Kong, or maybe a Taiwanese. When you reply in English, you might get a lonely Nordic person with even worse English than you trying to strike up a conversation. You feel like the world has truly become a global village, even before you step out, others have already walked in.
And then, it disappeared. At first, its disappearance caused a big uproar, but then, the noise disappeared.
Many years ago, we could also log in to Twitter. Actually, this website was just like Weibo, just a stream of information, scrolling through it all day doesn't necessarily have any use. But at least, you could quickly find out about anything you wanted to know, you would truly understand what things were popular worldwide, without going through various screenshots, translations, reposts, or even misinterpretations, cherry-picking, or distorting of information. What you knew was the truth, naked and raw, perhaps a bit too brief. But at least there wouldn't be countless people manipulating and re-manipulating it, being extreme and one-sided, which happened in this process, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
And then, it disappeared. First, its original form disappeared, then its imitators disappeared, and even the imitators of the imitators disappeared. Only one imitator of an imitator of an imitator remained, and now you see countless ads on it every day.
Many years ago, we could also log in to YouTube. For some people, this website was just a large-scale Youku, and someone confidently said back then, without YouTube, we Chinese would soon surpass YouTube with Youku. But after so many years, the videos are still so laggy, the content is still so rubbish, original works are still so easily stolen, and the variety of videos is still so poor. On YouTube, you can see the world's best craftsmen, the funniest jokes, the most imaginative creativity, the most inspiring music, the most beautiful perfect moments, but on Youku, if you want to watch a one-minute video, you have to watch a thirty-second ad first.
Oh, right. Instagram, some people might feel that it's similar to QQ Space. But I follow over six hundred photographers on it, they are all top-notch visual storytellers, and every day when I see their works, I feel very happy, the kind of happiness that makes you feel like you're there even if you're not. I also met a handsome Japanese guy who loves taking selfies, a Korean uncle who loves drinking, an American grandpa who visited China ten years ago and likes every photo I post of the Forbidden City, and an incredibly beautiful Russian girl. I can hardly communicate with them, language is a big barrier, but a few simple words are enough to convey our feelings. This feeling is sometimes more exciting than meeting old friends after many years. Because this is the process of free communication and interaction between different human groups, this process is magical, truly magical.
But now, it's gone, it's gone because at a certain specific time, when you search for specific words, specific photos will be displayed. Although not many people search like this, and even if someone sees it, they won't be surprised or think that it's the end of the world, that it's getting dark, that the sky is falling, or that the world is changing. But it's gone, Instagram, it just disappeared like that. Google disappeared like that, Twitter disappeared like that, Facebook disappeared like that. Who knows who, in what situation, said what, and made what decision. Over a billion people are trapped on an island like Gotham City, watching one bridge after another being blown up, blown up again, and blown up again, and then, everything is gone.
I often feel sad, really sad. A person I don't know and don't even know who they are, maybe it's a group, constantly taking away things around me, and I am powerless. I complain, but they can't hear me, no one can hear me. I shout in anger, and most people around me look at me as if I'm crazy. I wail in sorrow, but this sound is blocked behind a dark curtain wall. I let out a sharp roar, but this sound doesn't travel far, just like the things that were taken away from me, it disappears, it's gone, as if it never existed.
For things that never existed in the first place, who would care? How can those who have been robbed and lost ever understand? I used to have everything, I used to have the world, standing on this land, breathing the air of freedom, drinking the nectar of freedom. But in an uncountable amount of time, one part after another of my free life was killed, suddenly killed. But I still always feel that they are still barely alive, as if they slowly died.
But they eventually died, and with their death, more and more things slowly happened, very slowly, almost imperceptible, but they still happened.
Without Google, I can use Baidu. But certain results are pushed further and further back, until they disappear. It's as if these results were never meant to be found.
Without Facebook, I can use Renren. But if you want to post an article that can only be posted on Facebook, it quickly disappears on Renren. Then, Renren becomes Renren, and the topics become topics that everyone cares about. Everyone is rushing to read about horoscopes, celebrities, gossip, and entertainment. No one cares about what disappeared, anyway, they didn't have much presence to begin with.
Without YouTube, I can still use Youku. But you often only see works that plagiarize others on Youku, and they're not even credited, and they're proud and self-satisfied, as if that idea originally belonged to them. You might exclaim, "Wow, they're so creative!" What a creative plagiarism, but you don't know that there's a website called YouTube in this world.
Without Twitter, I can still use Weibo. But the more you want to know what's happening recently, the more obvious it becomes that "According to relevant laws and regulations, the search results are not displayed." After a while, you think, anyway, it's not useful to know, might as well not look.
Slowly, one door after another closes. Today, you open the world's largest blog website and find that it's gone. Tomorrow, you look again and find that the best design sharing website in the world is gone, at first it refreshes very slowly, then it's gone. In a few days, the media website where you used to read two articles every day is gone, the articles there were colorful, but in the end, they all turned into a few words saying "This page cannot be displayed." In a few more months, you can't access the university's website anymore, the photographer's website is inaccessible, even Baidu Japan, their own website, is gone.
Then, you can't read comics anymore, then, you can't watch animations anymore. Then, American and British TV shows disappear. The websites where you used to download American and British TV shows disappear again and again and again. Respect for genuine products, protection of rights, fine, then the subtitle websites disappear too.
Games are gone, the game website you habitually log in to, you find that the download section is under maintenance. The forums are closed, the forums you read every day, suddenly you receive a call from the relevant department, saying that due to "reporting issues," the forums are no longer allowed. Personal websites, private blogs, sorry, they're gone, whatever you've worked hard on for many years on them is useless.
The people you follow, one day you log in to Weibo and find that they haven't said anything for a long time, then you search and find that their account no longer exists, and when you search their name, their name is not displayed.
One by one, the lights go out. Light sources from all directions disappear. The colorful world we live in turns into darkness.
It's getting dark, so let's go to sleep, hopefully we'll stay drunk and never wake up, damn it.
In the end, we become a group of dreamers, and the name of this dream is "According to relevant laws and regulations, the search results are not displayed" dream.