Unpopular opinion but it wasn't smartphones and big companies that killed the internet they were only part of the problem. It was actually all the people who acted like assholes on the internet back in the day and thought internet culture was about being a edgy racist sexist pedophile who bullied people with autism because they found it funny. These types of people ruined the fun for everyone else back in the day and are one of the big reasons why we have a no fun allowed internet nowadays.