New Delhi, May 27 -- "While growing up, the web used to be a destination, a wild, weird frontier full of chaotic blogs, dead ends, and accidental discoveries. Now we barely wander online, and mostly save for later," says Darshita Srivastava, a 34-year-old PR professional from Hyderabad. Today, the algorithm-gods are know-it-alls, and the internet feels like a hyper-optimised factory that anticipates our next scroll before our thumb even twitches.

Kanika Choudhary, a 30-year-old writer in Bengaluru, pinpoints exactly what has been lost. "Everything on the web feels like a promotion now. You read a story with tears in your eyes and find out it's secretly an ad for a brand," she says. Emotions, stories, relatability-everything has a price t...