The internet is a lovecraftian entity in its size and complexity. Much of its gargantuan scope is invisible to us, the deep web, but even the surface web is mostly beyond our comprehension as individuals. The electric highways are, in no small part, dominated by social media platforms. The internet is the perfect technology for sharing ourselves with others, and social media makes this easy. However, it’s come at a great cost – to our privacy, our money, our freedom, our individuality.
I’m not here to litigate the complicated issue that is social media’s effect on society. I’m not here to tell you why there’s a problem with our digital platforms. What I will say is that it seems fairly uncontroversial to point out that social media is an addiction for many of us. I’m sure that you, dear reader, have also considered “taking a break” or even quitting. Even if we don’t know exactly why, we do seem to agree, as a society, that something is wrong.
Past this introduction, I’m not here to criticize social media. I’m also not here to refer you to other platforms like Mastodon and Matrix. I’m here to tell you that the internet doesn’t have to be this way.
Today, we think of websites as platforms: storefronts, news, town squares, encyclopedias. Something maintained by companies and organizations providing a service. The space for us to share ourselves, it seems, is on someone else’s website. What format you can post in, how your profile looks; you’re at the mercy of the service provider. So, why don’t we just make our own websites?
A website is actually remarkably simple. Sure, web development isn’t; it’s been increasing in complexity and bloat by the year. But a website is just a document that’s hosted at some address. Visitors download the document, and their browser renders it. That’s how you’re reading this page, even.
Websites don’t need functionality. They don’t need fancy graphics and buttons. They literally only need text. Everything else is fluff – great fluff, my own site has images and a theme – but fluff nonetheless. As soon as you realize this, you’ll learn that you don’t need to be a developer or tech wizard to publish a website. And I argue that, as creative individuals, to make full use of what the web is really great at, it’s definitely worth publishing a website.
I think there’s something to be said for having a corner of the internet that’s truly your own. When you post on social media, that profile isn’t really yours. If it were, how come you can’t, say, change the background color? Play music for your visitors? How come you’re limited by how you can post? On Instagram, you can only post visual media, not really the best way to share your complex thoughts on something.
Your website is yours. You can post what, when, and how you want to. The data is yours too. There are so many ways to express your creativity and personality through this medium. Take a stroll through Neocities’ public offerings sometime to see what I mean.
When you publish to your website, you’re not thinking about likes, shares and friends. You just write, and upload. Whoever reads it, reads it. Unless you’ve set up some analytics (which I don’t even recommend), you don’t know how many people have read your posts. And I think it’s better this way.
Stepping away from social media to cultivate my own digital garden has allowed me to perform a more authentic version of myself on the internet. It’s great having one, central place to share myself with the wold. Blog posts, art, technical projects, my resume, all I need to do now is direct people here.
So, do yourself a favor and try building a personal website. I think it’s one of the most rewarding ways to participate in the internet.