I’ve had quite a few full days. Last week, I attended a conference for work where I was forced to put on my socializing mask in 10 hour blocks. There’s nothing wrong with this, just a matter of fact. It actually felt nice to spend a few days talking to new people and attending talks I was interested in. Over the weekend, I kept the social ball rolling and met up with groups of friends for dinner and brunch. I woke up today feeling clear and well-rested to tackle what is already a really busy week.
I’m taking a few minutes on this Monday morning to write here because if I don’t, I won’t have the capacity for it later. I will, however, have the capacity to perform work tasks as they occupy a different part of my brain. So it goes!
At the conference last week, I listened to a talk which recalled the nostalgic days of the internet. I read a book a few years ago in the same theme and I enjoyed it very much. The speaker talked about what websites looked like in The Beginning and how far we’ve gotten away from the no frills blog. Everything on the internet now is so curated and not in the good way, at least in my opinion. Everything looks the same more or less. I remember being a kid on the internet and finding resources and portals to whatever sparked my interest. In this talk, she talked about internet fandom and how the early days of the internet were shaped by fans creating spaces to talk about their favorite shows, movies, bands, etc. How they’d get together to write fan fiction or create gifs, etc. It was more community-centric and wholesome than it is now, that’s for sure.
As I was riding the ubahn home from the conference, I thought a lot about this topic. I recalled the days I’d go downstairs to my basement with a hot chocolate or soda and set up at my “work station” aka the desk with our shared, family computer. I’d spend some time letting it boot up and I’d map out my activities for the day. In the beginning, a lot of my time revolved around talking to my friends on AIM, updating my MySpace, downloading music or reading up on the latest news about the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I’d scour the internet for the latest news on the band e.g. if they were writing a new album, what set list they performed at a recent concert, etc. I’d search for their music videos and watch them or just educate myself about their musical influences, etc.
I loved being on the internet. I’ve always had some kind of space where I wrote or shared my thoughts, for better or for worse. Back in the day, I’d update my Xanga (RIP) about how I was feeling or what I’d been up to. Somewhere along the way, I didn’t enjoy being on the internet as much. I didn’t like sharing things to a wider audience and it felt like it was getting bigger by the day. With social media and iPhones giving us access to everyone at all times overwhelmed me. It still does, to be honest.
When I watch a movie like Julie and Julia, I’m reminded of how wholesome and fun the internet was supposed to be. I’d love to follow a blog about someone learning to cook as they make their way through Julia Child’s cookbook. Now, the idea of reading someone’s blog means filtering through sponsored content, advertisements and looking at a website that is likely devoid of any sort of personality. It’s just boring.
I digress.
I started looking at websites that were finalists for the Tiny awards (celebrating the handmade web) and I felt inspired. I remembered that there are people who still care about creating things that have soul and if I look hard enough, I can find them. I want to create something like this. A place where you feel the good parts of internet nostalgia and get lost. I want to learn about things again or teach myself something. I miss feeling interested in a topic and searching for more information to satisfy my curiosity. Given our attention spans have been shortened to roughly five seconds, this feels like a somewhat lost art.
This week, I’m going to try to slow down and get off my phone. It’s not doing me any good, I can tell you that with full confidence. More on this topic later, it’s just something that’s been on my mind this past weekend.