I kinda miss Myspace?

Lately I’ve been missing the early days of the internet. MySpace, AIM, super niche and passion driven forums. It could be nostalgia kicking in since I was just 13 when I was getting access to this amazing new connected world, but I think it’s something deeper. I think I’m missing a feeling of authenticity.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit all brought incredible innovation to the world, but over time I also think they changed our relationship with the internet and our motivation to be online. It started to turn from authentic connections and interests to dopamine hits and monetizing attention. In the same way that Walmart affected local Main Street shops, Reddit took on the majority of the inten.

MySpace hits in a different way for me because it really felt like an easy way for everyone to have their own little corner of the internet. Tom let us personalize our profiles to our hearts desire and even tricked us into learning a bit of code. It still had that magic of the early internet where anything felt possible.

It’s hard to imagine how many more of these platforms will come and go in my lifetime. I’m already the proud owner of 7+ profiles that are basically abandoned at this point because I never know what to post on which platform.

I mean, look at all of these profiles. They stress me out. I need to figure out what to post on each one? And they’re all sort of the same but sort of different? And there’s a chance everything I post on one might get lost forever if the company goes under?

This might end up being a failed experiment, but my website is my main profile now. I’m claiming my own weird little corner of the internet back.