WHY WEB?

i am extremely passionate about internet culture. i think it's really interesting in a lot of ways: linguistically (my favorite), in terms of FASHION and MUSIC and art- and in terms of our view of OURSELVES- definition and labels from blinkies to userboxes to picrews. the internet has changed us, i believe, for the better and for the worse, for ever and ever, and i could go on about tumblr shorthand and uquiz ettiquite for ages. i really care about this kind of thing. the internet is super- valuable as a cultural document, and that's why it sucks so much to see big companies fucking it up to make money.

it's not that the 'culture' i'm talking about and capitalism can't coexist- for example, take a look at tumblr, which is still going pretty strong even though the website has been slowly cranking up the monetisation for years now. (recently, the AI thing led to a lot of people jumping ship, and a lot of people crying that tumblr was over, but it kept going, just like after the porn ban.) twitter still has the occaisonal good tweet. at the end of the day, though, many of these platforms are eating themselves alive, and the interesting or vauable content seems to exist despite the medium and container, not because of it.

i believe that a lot of internet culture came from constraints, yes, as a lot of good art does: think the early prevalence of gifs because of low file size. but these constraints of the containers are no longer because of technological difficulties. they're because of money, or because of internet same-page syndrome where every website must look the same- when tiktok does something, youtube must, and instagram must... it's time to break free from the monetezation of our content and start creating outside their bounds.

the indie web, the free web, the-what-ever-you-want-to-call-it movement of people being willing to dedicate time and effort and blood and sweat and tears to make something for free- to share information, write about their day and what movies they've seen recently, share visual art or just the art of a REALLY cool homepage- is, to me, the exact oppisite of the stifling grip most social media companies have on our "content". it may not cost you anything to post on tumblr, or ex dot com, or instagram, but rest assured you are the product. your willingness to create becomes a tool that they can use to reel you back in. because where else are you going to put it?

well, you could try neocities, or any manner of hosting websites. you can learn HTML for free, and if there's any other teenagers reading this, well, hey, maybe your parents will be less annoyed at you spending all your time online if you're learning. mine certainly have been. stretch yourself! think outside the box! (or frame!) and while you're at it, do you have adhd? coding is a good way to grow your attention span, which i know from experience.

i don't want to imply that social media has never brought anything good. i really don't think i have to even explain that to anyone reading this. but don't you get tired of your time being spent on websites and apps like that? don't you want to learn and grow and find commmunity- control not just the content you post, but the container? customise? contribute to a free web? that's why i have a website, anyway. for you it might be different. but if my messily constructed manifesto doesn't convince you, take a gander at some of the other ones i've collected.