How '90s Internet Destroyed the Economy | The 'Dot-Com' Bubble

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The 1990s were a magical, optimistic time for technology. The Cold War was over, economic opportunity was booming, and it appeared as if we were finally on track to achieving world peace. “The future” was finally here. Although these were factors that primarily applied to the United States, their effects were also felt worldwide, thanks to a new technology which quite literally connected all of us together and manifested an attitude which hadn’t really existed prior at such a large scale: the ambition to change the world. This technology was called the Internet.

You may have been born too late to explore the earth, and too early to explore the universe, but don’t fret, there was now a whole, new world out there that remained largely untouched: the Cyberspace. Travel would now be for pleasure rather than necessity; you could meet whoever you want, be whoever you want, instantly and with just the click of a button. Much like the vast, unending space to the internet itself, people felt there was no limits to what their capabilities were. And naturally, hundreds, then thousands of websites would pop up, providing services for just about anything. Venture capitalists were ALL over it, throwing money at just about anything that ended in (dot)com, taking the already flourishing economy to limits that were beyond comprehension. For the first time, anything was possible, and any opportunity was good opportunity. But what happens when you take this too far?

What followed would be an economic disaster of global proportions. As much as $5 trillion lost, thousands of businesses now bankrupt with very few survivors left over, and a recession has formed. The once flourishing, seemingly unstoppable force of the World Wide Web, now returning to the valuations it had before its commercialization in 1995. Perhaps this wasn’t a new medium for achieving the American Dream, but instead just an economic bubble: “the Dot-Com Bubble” as it would soon be coined. The entire ordeal showcased that this new cyberspace was really just a continuation of the real world and its very real problems, rather than some utopian escape from it. It was the illusion of success and a false pursuit of happiness that led to such devastation which left people no other choice than to lose most of their trust in this new digital realm, instead of, you know, looking inward.

But what do these things entail? In retrospect, avoiding the catastrophic results of the dot-com bubble seems very obvious. How could some of the brightest investors in the world make such ridiculous decisions? Did people really not learn from the mistakes of the past? What’s interesting about the dot-com bubble is that, it does share many parallels to the economic crises that have surfaced throughout history, but just like the internet itself at the time, was something new and faced problems that hadn’t existed before. And these problems were intensified by a sensationalized yet uncertain outlook on the future. So, what was the strange tale of the dot-com bubble, and how do we prevent something like it from ever happening again?

Google +: just kidding.

Beauty Flow by Kevin MacLeod

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[nationsquid]

The *first 100 people* to *download Endel* by clicking the link will get a *free week* of audio experiences!

[UnknownFlyingPancake]

Honestly the internet benefited from businesses noping out out it. The internet in the 2000's was so un-commercialized and driven by hobbyists with the motivation to share their passions rather than making money.

[NintendoSunnyDee]

I just want to say, the whole "speculation market" issue was prevalent in the 20's too. A huge part of why banks ran out of money was due tk their investing.

[whatwhat]

My only regret is not being old enough to work as a web developer in the 90s

[yaboymintz]

There are 3 tech bubbles I personally expect to burst in the 2020s- The first and most obvious one is the Crypto/Web3/NFT bubble. While you could certainly argue that there may be value in those technologies (some more than others)- a vast majority of the investors are treating it like a pump and dump scheme. I'm lumping all 3 of those into one bubble as that seems to be what most of the investors are doing.

The next bubble I think will burst is the AI bubble. AI is something that will never go away and is an incredible advancement- but much like the internet in the 1990s investors are starting to blindly throw money at any AI idea that has potential to take off- regardless of if the company actually has the capability (or intentions) to do so.

The third is the Big Data bubble. For decades now companies have been mass collecting internet data on people and it's become digital gold. However, I'd wager that for most internet users- over half the data collected is either junk data or misleading to the companies paying for it. and that's not accounting for recent controversies such as Google's adsense fiasco.


I'm just some jackass on the internet, so obviously don't take this as investing advise lol.

[ericcarabetta]

The Dot-Com bubble, was Millennials first introduction to the perpetual cycles of collapse and economic devastation, that would be regularly destroying any possible chance they had at a comfortable life. We got sold a future that was soon to no longer exist.

[jonbourgoin]

I miss the 90s and early 2000s so much. I dont miss dial up though.

[ruthlessadmin]

I think something similar is about to happen with the attention-based advertising bubble. Having an economy where a significant portion of labor is centered around content creation & hosting platforms is not sustainable under any circumstances.

Oh, there's also the bigger bubble of central banks all over the world endlessly printing new money, which only creates more debt & poverty for future generations, while increasing the ruling class's wealth & power.

[yookazi]

IM SO HAPPY YOU INCLUDED THE MALCOM IN THE MIDDLE CLIP
Everytime I hear "Dotcom bubble" that scene plays in my head. Having it thrown in at the end of the video blew my mind bravo man

[eidiotwind]

You've been killing it lately, man. So many quality videos so quickly. Glad to see a fellow guy from The Valley making waves!

[Faith-Trust-Pixie-Dust]

You legit explained the Great Depression better than anyone ever. I never understood it until now 😅😭

[Kiiltec]

The old internet was so much better... sure it was slow, but it was a place of mystery and wonders, hardly regulated... a place of expression with every website being a new adventure using very different designs and structures without annoying ads.

Nowadays it all genuinely just looks close to the same with ads everywhere and it genuinely lost its charme in that regard.

[Apanblod]

The way websites were designed back back then makes me very nostalgic. I wish I could occasionally surf the web just like it was 1996 again! 🙂

[star-speaker]

This video is so good, just like all of his other videos. Keep going NationSquid!!!

[uneasytrin]

you’ve really been killing it with the content lately I’m loving it!

[xaulted]

Crazy how after one quite obscure video release, "The Jamison Family" became the face of the 1990's internet.

[chocolover]

"You may have born too late to explore the earth and too early to explore the universe." Love this line. It fits our generation perfectly.

[getcreative]

Mark my words… We are in a massive AI bubble just like the early 2000’s.

[Riteshkrpanda]

In 20 years people will make videos How NFT bubble crashed,
Suprising how this is so similar to NFT, cryoto market

[kareemmohammad]

Edit because what i said wasn’t that accurate:I think that it didn’t destroy the economy, it was like teenage years so what was before it was childhood and the beginning of being something someone, then comes the weird teenage years and these changes that will make you better and a reliable someone what comes after it is being a strong adult which is the good and reliable internet we know today and and the internet before is what prepared us for this. And thanks.This is good content quality.