Do you remember when we used to blog? Like, properly blog. I’m not talking about writing articles for the sake of creating “content”, or selling products, or whatever. I’m talking about sharing the little bits and pieces of our day that made us smile, but in long-form. Connecting with people across the globe, not because an algorithm told us to, but organically. Finding each other in the weird reaches of the web and caring about what was going on in each other’s lives. Whether it was on a website like Livejournal (or its many predecessors and those that followed), or your own self-hosted website — with a cool layout and a mysterious description of yourself, and your own network of people listed in the side with interesting names — we used to feel like a strange, distant community. In recent years, all of that has been replaced by algorithmically generated “content” and people writing SEO-optimised memes. Everyone is vying for attention and numbers rather than connection. I know that I have been guilty of it too, due to the nature of being a “content creator”, but man, it sucks. Even now, as I write this post, a plugin tells me that my SEO is a red sad face, and my readability “needs improvement” because my sentences are too long, and my paragraphs are too big, and I’m talking too much and oh my god shut up! I’m old by internet standards Intellectually, I know I’m not old, old. But I come from a time on the internet where I’d post almost daily on a private Livejournal account about some absolutely mundane stuff. And you know what? Mundane though it might have been, I feel like people cared about it. My friends had their own self-hosted blogs and little networks of people and they all shared stories about their days. Everyone would make an effort to comment on each other’s stories, just to have a momentary connection with someone that might be half a world away. It felt like the words came from the heart, because we weren’t putting all our efforts into being noticed and marketing the most palatable versions of ourselves. We were just trying to make friends and share a bit about our lives. Now, social media has all but replaced traditional blogging, and blogs mostly exist as a way to serve ads and generate as much revenue as possible. And I think it goes without saying, but social media is a hellscape at the moment. Algorithms make everything more impersonal. Everyone is fighting for their posts to get “engagement”, even if that means only posting things that feed the machine. Hate and toxicity generate more clicks and more responses. Moderation is not a high enough priority. The biggest social media platforms are owned by billionaires and Very Bad Men™, and other Very Bad Men™ are in charge of entire countries and are doing everything in their power to tear down the good in the world. I did not expect to see a time where our online communities would become so fractured and lost. And while all of that is very serious and scary, it has also made me miss the days of writing a post just for the sake of sharing and connecting with people. I miss not caring about whether my words would generate clicks or growth or engagement. I miss just connecting with people on our day to day lives. Sadly, I need to use social media for work, at least for now. I even occasionally use it for pleasure, for some reason. But I’d really like to start using this space specifically to share more authentically. To connect with people I’ve met, and find a way to break free of the monotony of trying to make a post that has the right keywords and the right hashtags and isn’t too long but isn’t too short and is memeable enough that people want to engage with it and and and… Time to reconnect In a time when it feels like our identities are under threat, I feel like it’s incredibly important to stand up and create something. To build connections and networks and communities in a long-lasting way that cannot be broken down by the whims of men with too much money and power. So that’s what I’m going to do. I want to rediscover what it means to be “online”. I plan to start using this site more, and while I plan to return to writing reviews, opinion pieces, and streaming tips and tricks, I also want to share more personal things like we used to. Like we’re humans. If you want to stay up to date with what I post here, I’m looking at solutions to make that easier. I’m also creating a monthly newsletter, which will be a fun and creative endeavour but will not be a “let me sell you all these things” kind of post. Think, here’s what I got up to this month, and some cute photos of my cats. If that sounds like your vibe, cool. If not, that’s okay too. I need this for myself, so I’m going to do it. I’ll let you all know how I get on.

TikTok video by Mizzteq