The Internet: Gentrified and Gerrymandered
As the internet enters its next growth phase, early adopters will see cultural changes and struggle to maintain influence
Gentrification and gerrymandering are terms traditionally reserved for physical communities, but digital communities built on the internet are now experiencing these changes. As the internet continues to grow, more people are joining digital communities and influencing digital culture. What historically happens when small communities merge with larger communities? They change along culture lines.
People seek frontier communities at the edge of inhabited space for many reasons, it’s happened throughout history. The same has been true with the adoption of the internet. People form ragtag digital communities around common ideals and banded together using survival instincts.
Within these loosely formed communities, they developed norms and mores distinct to their common experiences. But as these communities grow, the volume of their diverse beliefs shifts the culture of these communities towards an aggregate belief system. These once unique digital communities begin to gentrify as they adopt mainstream behaviors.
