Small Web

11 Dec, 2024

It's interesting coming back to the 'small' web after being away for so long. And it's interesting reading my old blog posts, like revisiting an old journal.

It sort of serves as a public snapshot to a particular point in my life, which I may have completely forgotten about.

Tangentially related, I really need to write a manifesto about the indie/small/personal/old web movement. It's been so refreshing to lose hours of my time digging through links and websites and finding wonderful little nooks and crannies and bursts of unfiltered creativity.

A few years ago, I noticed that the way I used the internet had changed drastically. As a kid, I remember finding weird personal sites and games and articles. There were fansites and artist blogs and bizarre personal projects and interesting windows into the lives and interests of complete strangers.

I know for a lot of people, its about the aesthetic and resuscitating the dying artform of the personal site, but there's a lot more to it than that, for me. I missed the exploration, and excitement of finding something completely new and unexpected. Not to mention, the joy of anonymity and not being advertised to.

There's so much raw creativity and individuality involved in these weird little sites. There's no uniformity or need to stick to a particular format or style. There's no fear of not being advertiser friendly or monetizeable. There's no pressure to keep outputting more and more and consuming more and more. No algorithm forcing more into your face and begging for more of your attention. I haven't been on social media in several days and haven't found myself missing it at all. Its like walking back into my childhood home, long after thinking it was gone forever.

Not to mention, its nice running into familiar names in the same places. Like living in a small town and seeing friends at the coffee shop or the grocery store, and being able to wave and chit-chat. Makes things feel so much more friendly and homey.