The internet I grew up with was all about exploration and self-expression:
We put things online that we liked and talked at length about why we liked them
We adorned our digital homes with colourful borders, marquees and starry backgrounds
We recommended our friend’s websites and signed each other’s guest books
There was real joy in the discovery of new places on the internet. It felt smaller, even though we never reached the edges.
Today’s internet is all about selling:
advertisers trying to tell you your life isn’t complete without the latest product you will only use once and decide it’s useless
‘news’ outlets burying the actual news in a swamp of clickbait titles (the news articles themselves also drowning in ads)
everyone everywhere all at once wanting to track you so they can monetise your data - you’re not a person on the internet; you’re a product
walled garden social media that wants you to be always on, always scrolling to the next thing in the feed.. good luck finding it again if you actually found it interesting amongst the sea of hot takes and peacocking
when they get your email, you get the same templated newsletter that tries to squeeze more data or money out of you, or both
everything has a paywall or a subscription tier that, if only you fork over the cash your life will be - guess what? - so much better.. apparently
It’s exhausting and I’m frankly so done with it. I’m so glad I found the personal web but increasingly I’ve been feeling like the difference is so stark: there will be whole swathes of the population of this planet who simply don’t know that there’s another way to ‘be’ on the internet.. and that’s just incredibly sad.
Since stepping away from social media, unsubscribing from most email newsletters, discovering websites through forums and RSS feeds, my experience of the web has been much, much slower, and more intentional.
I’m still bookmarking lots of interesting finds, but I find myself actively wanting to share them on my own website: to have a dialogue with the thoughts of others, even if they never see it or feel inclined to reply. I'm still thinking about the best way to do this.