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The Bridge: Behind the scenes, the internet as we know it is dissolving and evolving. Trust in big tech has eroded, and some pioneering young people are ushering in a new era – the world of Web3 is here. Your kids are growing up in a totally different internet landscape, and here’s what you need to know about the new environment.
It’s become commonplace to see headlines about data leaks, privacy breaches, and overreaching tech mega conglomerates that pretend to care about their users (only to secretly sell their sensitive data to the highest bidder).
Your phone and television are listening to you, your likes and comments are no longer private, your social media habits are bought and paid for. Your kids have been sold the same line – there’s no alternative, so just get used to it – but while it might be too late for us to scrub ourselves from the web, it isn’t too late for the next generation.
The underlying tech that make up the foundation of Web3 are not new, nor are they difficult to understand. The blockchain, the supercomputer in the sky with no owner and no restrictions, has existed for decades. It has no central authority, no owner, and no bias.
The DeFi (decentralized finance) movement gained swift and steady traction in response to the calamity of the 2008 market crash.
When NFTs hit the scene, a lot of people got very rich, very fast. We’ve seen a lull in that market, while many critics still call the entire business a hype game while missing the underlying point.
However, adoption seems to be consistently accelerating with Pharrell joining Doodles, a top NFT project, as Chief Brand Officer and Keanu Reeves ‘falling to the dark side’ and bringing underrepresented groups into Web3 as well. And these are hardly the first celebrities to bring their audiences into Web3.
The entire point of Web3 is that it’s decentralized – nobody owns it. Not Google, not Mark Zuckerberg, nobody. That means that the young people entering the space can take real ownership of their data, their privacy, and their future. As understanding of Web3 expands, we’re seeing more influential and reputable people entering the market, from Keanu Reeves to Snoop Dogg, and they’re not staking their reputations on a flash in the pan.
This framework will change the way we interact with technology forever. It’s still a relatively small core group of adopters, but it’s growing exponentially by the day as more people see the wider uses and the promise that comes with it.
Of course, it’s not all roses. As with any new frontier, Web3 is rife with hidden pitfalls and challenges. We’ll cover those in depth next week, on The New Frontier of Web3 part 2!
