how we got here
It is because I am old. Well, I'm 35. Not officially "old" I guess, but old on the internet. I got got by nostalgia and social media burnout and a general sense of meaninglessness. Ever since I discovered blogs I had one... That is, until social media grabbed us all by throat.
And during the pandemic I got myself into newsletters. Substack more specifically, but friends had news in other platforms as well. It was nice. I say "was" because, well, lo and behold, that burned me out too. Especially Substack's "social media" aspect. And the demands... It was different. Different than having a blog. You were supposed to write like quality stuff and proofread it and reference it and have reach and impact and monetize and You know what, I am done.
So since last year I've been contemplating the idea of going back. The so-called Yesterweb/Indie Web/What-have-you Web. That's when nostalgia got me. I started visiting old websites using the Way Back Machine, places I used to visit in my early to late teens. Dollz palaces, old message boards, blogs, fanfics, you name it. I started remembering and rewatching old anime (when nowadays I barely have any contact with this type of media) and trying to piece together my own digital past.
Of course I have barely anything from that time. PCs crashed all the time and the memories of a teenager weren't important enough to have my parents or cousins (who always "fixed" my computer for me) care to back up hard drives and give me back my stuff. I've lost far too many things this way.
No, what I have are just fuzzy memories from a time when remembering things didn't seem that important. The computer was a problem, a distraction, a waste of time, a piece of expensive entertainment (albeit used to also type in school work). Sometimes I wonder where would I be had I ignored just a little more efficiently this kind of discourse in my life. I had fun messing with html and css, creating elaborate fansites for my favorite stuff, customizing themes on Tumblr, a time when smartphones weren't a thing... But I am rambling. And that's the point, I guess.
Last year I started reading more seriously about the indie web and its options, services and environments. I started watching YouTube videos about it. And well... Here I am, I guess.
Now I'll do something I haven't done in maybe 15 or more years:
~Status Updates~
~Reading: Maskerade by Terry Pratchett
~Listening: halloween lofi playlists wherever they are
~Watching: Bodies, on Netflix
~Recommending: This YouTube video that started it all for me.