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Posting is so over! Selfies? Images, videos, live updates on what you are doing? Stop. Get a house-line with call forwarding, a flip phone and only use iMessage on your desktop and build an 90s AOL simulator.Ā Try to schedule screen time. You donāt need to exist online 24/7, if your career can allow it and if you can get an gen-z assistant to exist as a digital you for advertising purposes, do that too. Itās 2025. Instagram is what MySpace was to 2012. Time to leave the algorithm.Ā
Jun 13, 2025
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šIn a world obsessed with innovation, is the real secret to the future simply rediscovering the past?
Thereās something oddly refreshing about the thought of Xanga, LiveJournal, or even MySpace making a comeback. In an era dominated by curated grids and fleeting 24-hour stories, these early platforms offered something simpler: a space to write, reflect, and connect without the pressure of algorithms or perfection. Back then, we shared messy thoughts, poured out feelings, and customized our profiles to reflect us, not what would trend. These platforms werenāt about chasing likes; they were about building connection and embracing individuality. Could a return to these slower, more personal forms of social media be the antidote to todayās hyper-curated, always-on digital world?
As we navigate a landscape of endless notifications and performative posts, itās worth asking: have we become too connected? Nostalgia for the early internet isnāt just about glittery profiles and Top 8 friendsāitās about reclaiming the authenticity weāve lost in the noise. Xanga and LiveJournal encouraged reflection, not perfection, while MySpace championed individuality over sameness. Maybe what we need now isnāt a new platform, but a revival of old-school digital simplicity, where being online feels more human and a little less exhausting.
As we navigate a landscape of endless notifications and performative posts, itās worth asking: have we become too connected? Nostalgia for the early internet isnāt just about glittery profiles and Top 8 friendsāitās about reclaiming the authenticity weāve lost in the noise. Xanga and LiveJournal encouraged reflection, not perfection, while MySpace championed individuality over sameness. Maybe what we need now isnāt a new platform, but a revival of old-school digital simplicity, where being online feels more human and a little less exhausting.
Jan 15, 2025
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š»Iām going through the same thought process right now. My twitter/x has been long gone, Iāve gotten rid of meta, and frankly if tik tok comes back purchased/changed/etc. I will no longer be using it either. So for me Iāve done a few things: Iāve made new social media on healthier apps (which sounds counterintuitive to less social media but hear me out). I made a Pixelfed and itās like the old old instagram. No ads, no distractions taking you to new links, no memes unless someone happens to post one on their personal account. Itās literally just people organically posting pictures of things they like from their breakfast to the view of their nature walk. Because itās so simple again, I donāt really think thereās room for doomscrolling. This is me if you want to see what I mean!
Next: I use Bluesky partially to see some goings-on in the world to keep up to date, I went to the library of congress website and specifically subscribed to their email newsletters on bills being introduced and news in congress to stay up to date, and Iām vetting some news sources looking for something more objective and reliable to start reading from.
Also: a while back I got some digital cameras like I had when I was a kid for nostalgia reasons but now theyāre coming in handy. Iām transitioning to using a flip phone! You donāt have to go this extreme but honestly Iām excited for it. Iāll have a flip phone so not everything will be so convenient and at the touch of my fingers, so I hope that my internet usage will become much more intentional. Iāll be leaving only a few apps on my smart phone, music, reading, this app and pixelfed for periodic social interaction lol, and thatās all I can think of right now. Iāll essentially be taking the SIM card out and using my smart phone as a wifi connected ipod lol.
My goal is to get back into my hobbies! Reading, sewing clothing, knitting, painting, being outdoors, gardening. Iāll communicate more intentionally with family and friends and not just through sending memes. I wonāt doomscroll for hours and then feel bad that I wasted the day away. A lot of the sinister stuff going on between social media monopolies and the government recently is making the transition even easier. Itāll be hard at first because youāll be so used to reaching for something to do for some instant gratification or stimulation, etc. but itāll be so overall rewarding in the long run! Good luckā¤ļø
Next: I use Bluesky partially to see some goings-on in the world to keep up to date, I went to the library of congress website and specifically subscribed to their email newsletters on bills being introduced and news in congress to stay up to date, and Iām vetting some news sources looking for something more objective and reliable to start reading from.
Also: a while back I got some digital cameras like I had when I was a kid for nostalgia reasons but now theyāre coming in handy. Iām transitioning to using a flip phone! You donāt have to go this extreme but honestly Iām excited for it. Iāll have a flip phone so not everything will be so convenient and at the touch of my fingers, so I hope that my internet usage will become much more intentional. Iāll be leaving only a few apps on my smart phone, music, reading, this app and pixelfed for periodic social interaction lol, and thatās all I can think of right now. Iāll essentially be taking the SIM card out and using my smart phone as a wifi connected ipod lol.
My goal is to get back into my hobbies! Reading, sewing clothing, knitting, painting, being outdoors, gardening. Iāll communicate more intentionally with family and friends and not just through sending memes. I wonāt doomscroll for hours and then feel bad that I wasted the day away. A lot of the sinister stuff going on between social media monopolies and the government recently is making the transition even easier. Itāll be hard at first because youāll be so used to reaching for something to do for some instant gratification or stimulation, etc. but itāll be so overall rewarding in the long run! Good luckā¤ļø
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āļøsure yes i can check your story and know what youāve been up to today but who the fuck cares. iām live texting you as i descend into drunkenness, sending you screenshots of weird emails, incorrectly correcting typos because weāre like š¤š¼ this
traditional social media are boring, all you need is a few close friends on letterboxd, pi.fyi, last.fm, plus i got your #, iām gonna text u
traditional social media are boring, all you need is a few close friends on letterboxd, pi.fyi, last.fm, plus i got your #, iām gonna text u
Top Recs from @alex-kazemi
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I donāt think pop music has historically ever had a moment like her āGirl, So Confusingā remix verse. Itās not a joke. Itās a triumph for literature. Everyone remembers where they were the first time they heard it. This was a serious revolution and took us out of her usual fever dreaminess of controlled poetic syntax (which I love) , to just unmasked, raw, chaotic feminine brutality and I donāt think we appreciate the prose switch-up enough. I also have said āletās work it out on the remix?ā to many people Iāve fought with since the song dropped. Sometimes I even write a verse mimicking the song taking accountability of what Iāve done and I send it to who Iām in a conflict with, it actually helps! Iām obsessed with the new singles off her upcoming album Virgin and Iām already studying the cadence of epigrams like āMDMA in the back gardenā,. Iām someone who struggles with severe summer depression, which is taboo in the world of seasonal sadists but taking my discman for a walk by the ocean as āThe Pathā starts up on my (files purchased on ITunes!) burnt CD-R copy of āSolar Powerā is natureās SSRI. Suck on that, Saint Johnās Wort.
Jun 13, 2025
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The reason I got a region free DVD player in my mid 20s was because I wanted to own a European copy of the Leonardo Dicaprio Gen X deep-cut/full of lore movie Donās Plum. If you can sometimes save the money, you spend on vaping, events, weed, alcohol, drugs or whatever to buy rare out of print DVDs (even bootlegs sometimes) that are locked to Japan, Australia, UK, whatever isnāt North American. Do it, youāll never regret it. The delayed gratification of waiting weeks for a DVD that is available to stream right now on some scary illegal link that has 300 pop ups to come in the mail may not make sense to a lot of people but I really appreciate the movie more, and having the association of the whole experience of having to track it down vs just getting it right now makes it so fun. I own a lot of rare TV series box sets from the 90s/2000s that never got released in North America, and are impossible to find online. Join me, you can live this lifestyle too!
Jun 13, 2025
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I write in fragments, and Iām constantly jotting down ideas all day long and what has been great is turning a Blackberry Bold into an offline word processor. I use the built in software and export my writing into a .docx and then put it on my computer via USB. Then I plug my notes into Scrivener.Ā Ā Iām a huge nerd about collecting offline-writing tech (shout out to Freewrite!) and it makes the rush of putting together a novel which I call the āincubation processā, a lot for more chaotic and fun.Ā Ā I consider writing to be like a scavenger hunt with your own brain and I feel like if you see your mind as a search engine, you can pull up a lot of insane ideas by just trusting your inner web browser.Ā
Jun 13, 2025