Lately I've become increasingly interested in independence on the Internet and decreasingly interested in social media. Many elements of social media feel unhealthy to me. Most of the time I can frankly say that I leave my encounters with social media feeling that I either gained nothing or was negatively affected. I especially notice that social media tampers with my ability to feel at ease in and focused on the present. Instead, I fixate on things happening elsewhere and am pulled out of the moment.

   I find the idea of a more decentralized Internet compelling. With the size and influence of massive social media platforms, it feels like much of the Internet is filtered through these companies that can act as gatekeepers in an environment that should be free and unbound. To that end, people can act as their own gatekeepers of the content that they output on the Internet. Maintaining a personal website seems like a good option and actually feels more meaningful than I would have guessed. In doing so, I can have what is essentially a wide open creative space that I can share with others. I don't have to pipe what I say or make through a large, regulating company. I can occupy a small corner of the Internet that is free of the odd psychological effects of social media. I can have something that I directly constructed--down to the last coloring or spacing choice. Finally, I can gain the requisite knowledge to do all of this. Greater independence on the Internet is exciting to me and this feels like a step in that direction. I like the vision of the Internet as a loose network of small, open villages more so than as a centralized, rigid collection of dominating megacities.

   I realize that the above writing likely sounds preachy. It isn't intended to be. These are just some of the reasons I'm trying this out. I can clearly see why there aren't swarms of people trying to do this. It's time-consuming, tedious work. But it--and most technology-related work--is exciting to me. So, I do it.