The Old Internet
I’ve had a creative itch that needed scratching for a while now. Working and parenting means time is tighter than ever, and my usual hobbies are kind of impractical (darkroom photography).
I came across Bear Blog via another great blog - theprivacydad.com. So far I’m loving the ethos, look, and feel of this blogging space and the super lightweight yet text-heavy nature of the blogs you can create. It all reminds me of the internet I first used in 2000 before the big corporations had moved in and taken over. Before the entire thing was dripping in monetisation, commerce and advertising. Before every site was filled with autoplaying videos, privacy policies, cookie choice forms, newsletter signups, discount codes, subscriptions, fake news, and AI.
That early period had its own issues of course; flash animations and insecure plugins, popup windows, and viruses galore…but it felt more homespun and hopeful. Whether this is a feeling or fact, it seemed easier to stumble across weird and cool homemade websites or blogs. There were fewer major gatekeepers to “content”, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t called “content”. In retrospect some of it may have been art.
Maybe it’s a yearning for some illusory “halcyon days of yore”, but what I am enjoying about Bear Blog is that it feels like a way back to digital self-expression, free from commercial interests, through a modest, lightweight and accessible toolset. It’s not filled with AI, and trackers, and bullshit.
This is the first serious thing I’ve written and posted in years online. Everything else in the past 15 years has been social media content. Stuff that I think I own, but which upon upload immediately became a way for social media companies to drive monetisation, clicks, and engagement to sell more advertising. It’s bloody awful and I cannot wait to get stuck into a new creative habit that does not contribute to Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk’s already incredible fortunes.