The Hello and welcome to a new year.

Search engine's big resolution for 2026.

We are looking at ways the internet could actually be fixed.

The problems with our internet are so well known, it feels dumb to summarize them.

Like, who is the person left alive who needs me to explain to them that our 2026 internet is

dominated by a few social media platforms who are brilliant at harvesting our attention

by appealing to our worst instincts? We all know this.

We've all experienced the kind of gooner's remorse

after we've spent more time than we meant to,

mindlessly thumbing a feed that makes us feel worse about ourselves,

our friends, the world.

So it's cliche to complain about,

this problem that's only gotten worse for the

last decade. But this week, this year, we're talking about it because we are curious about solutions,

even possibly quixotic ones. And in that spirit, I actually want to revisit a moment that an earlier,

maybe more cynical version of me,

tried to brush past on our show.

It first came up on air way back in May of 2024.

I was interviewing Casey Newton, co-host of the Hard Fork podcast, the writer behind Platformer.

We were having a depressingly familiar conversation about the internet.

And I asked Casey whether there was anything hopeful around the corner,

anything that made him feel optimistic.

...