I don't enjoy the internet, or at least most of it. Most everything is designed with efficiency and optimization as the prime directive, and it seems we've adopted the delusion that there is an objective "right" and "wrong" way to approach designing webpages.

With some exceptions it seems a "good" webpage should:

-be easy to understand

-present all the information you could want at first glance

-present a clear mental model of how to navigate the webpage

-have a "clean" design aesthetic

There's plenty more tenets that might be a little more usecase specific and some I've just not mentioned, but my main feeling is that we've lost any sense of wonder. There is no reason to explore a website anymore, everything is exactly as you'd expect it to be. in fact: if it's not we're annoyed, because we're trained to have a set of expectations of what a website should be and how it should accomodate us. That presentation has its' place of course, some websites are websites we engage with for purely practical reasons.

A government website for example should present its' information clearly, make navigation easy and be easy to understand. But tell me why social media is optimized for efficiency? Why am I encouraged to create a portfolio that can be viewed in its' entirety within 60 seconds? Why does the Amazon website look so ugly despite having legions of designers on board?

It's so easy to give reasons for why my examples look like that,

1) because they have monetized your engagement, so they optimize for retention.

2) because whoever is viewing your portfolio supposedly loses attention and won't see your work if you don't grab their attention immediately

3) because they have A/B tested every page to a comical degree.

But to some degree I simply reject reasons like these. The incentives built into society have favored prioritizing these reasons, but that doesn't nessecarily speak to their merit. My boredom with the internet is one example of that, but listing those same examples:

1) almost everyone can agree that social media optimizing for retention has been terrible for everyone except the corporation behind it

2) this line of thinking toes on the border of disrespecting the viewer, and pushes the creative into an strongly limiting box

3) endlessly A/B testing leaves no room for vision

I don't think all webpages should be maze-like "experiences" that have more easter eggs than substance, but I feel like we've lost a lot of expressiveness, even though it's easier than ever to create something personal.