The peak of this, for me, was pizza rat (late 2015) which felt like the last time everyone on the internet had seen the same thing. Kind of like the old days of TV where the whole nation would watch the same episode of something in the same evening.
Dat boi (early 2016) was the first time I missed out on the meme zeitgeist and it’s been slipping further from my grasp ever since.
Never heard of pizza rat, so there you go: not everyone.
I think the internet - and just life in general - has always been what this article is fretting about. Stuff happens, some people see it, some don't. Nothing to see here.
Pizza rat was still fairly niche. From my personal memories, the "global unified virality" peaked with Ice Bucket Challenge, Gangnam Style and maybe Harlem Shake. I have a feeling as recommendation algorithms became more prominent, it started to silo every "trend" rather than showing "most viewed things" to the people.
Dat boi (early 2016) was the first time I missed out on the meme zeitgeist and it’s been slipping further from my grasp ever since.
I suspect I am also getting old.