StumbleUpon was my jam. I could procrastinate my homework for HOURS with that toolbar!
The temptation to explore felt real. Not like clickbait.
It was that wonderful time on the internet where you got the chance to enrich your knowledge without having an algorithm force stuff on you because it thinks it knows what you like.
I love being surprised and love learning new things. The algorithms, AI, and SEO have stripped all of that curiosity and discovery away.
A friend of mine also did Peace Corps work there. She had to pretend she was married to someone in an adjacent village to deter getting kidnapped and forced into marriage.
A more lighthearted (but scary at the time) moment was when a bat peed into her eye while she was using the outhouse. No diseases, thankfully. She's been back in the US now for a number of years and loved the work she did while she was over there.
... you've never doubled down before?