Oh this is so good, and so real. I wrote something similar recently, but I was a webcomics baby c2010-2014, right when the webcomics moneymaking boom kicked into high-gear. Do you remember the Pictures For Sad Children kickstarter meltdown? I think I emotionally flunked out of the whole merch-and-cons-and-kickstarter-print-runs grind about the same time and for similar reasons, and I've rarely made comics since. What you said about "offline is the new online" gives me hope, though-- it's encouraging to see other people recognizing how rancid social media platforms are in their current form, because maybe it means we can start building something better outside of them.
In 2024, I have no facebook account, never use my moribund striver twitter and instagram accounts, enforce a pretty harsh news blackout on myself, try and fail a lot to quit reddit (I keep finding subreddits that bring me back for short periods), have given up most of my old favorite bloggers for lost, read no more webcomics (wow, Megatokyo, that's something I actually hadn't even thought of in more than a decade), and genuinely struggle to find content to read on the internet. I do watch a lot of youtube (and little traditional TV). Also sadly porn.
But in recompense, I have a pretty normie suburban house, wife, two kids, dog, time to ride my bike, time to design custom lego builds (themselves submitted to increasingly colonized online communities), and even a resurgent interest in actual reading.
It's not perfect - the two lives flicker in and out of my field of view more often and more unpredictably than I'd like - but I'll take a half great life half escaped from the fully colonized internet.
My wife and I have been making a point of having SOMETHING planned for every weekend. This weekend we're seeing a play and meeting two different sets of friends at different times. Next weekend we're going to a drum n' bass party in New York and trying to find someone who'll have lunch with us the next morning. I've been getting up early to do my scribbling in the morning so we can do stuff and see people in the evenings without me looking at the clock and feeling like I ought to be working on the essay or story or whatever.
As a corollary, living under this model, it quickly becomes clear that the times of greatest internet overuse are times of depression and boredom, which really lays bare the fact that late stage internet downtime is a vice, through and through.
Absolutely. It's pure death drive. Not to keep bringing up my wife, but she quit social media for Lent (which she always observes, even though she's not Catholic) and by her own admission has been a lot happier for it.
Also, you have a link for 'clearing the neighborhood' but I had to look up elanguescence. We are such opposite nerds. I think the modern term for 'clearing the neighborhood' is 'sucking the oxygen out of the room.' Obscurity, obsolescence, or fringe are more understandable to a general audience than elanguescence. Unless you were specifically writing about relinquishing the naive elan energy of early blogging. In which case, cynicism or apathy might be better.
Why am I trying to give copy edit advice for a 4 year old repost by an extremely verbal guy.
Yeah, you're right. I actually hovered over elanguescence for a few seconds and eventually said "meh," and kept going.
And I know exactly why it appears. I encountered it in Kant when I was reading the Critique of Pure Reason around the same time I punched this thing out. It was unfamiliar to me too, and I wanted an excuse to use it myself.
I have fondly reminisced with The Youths about watching a new episode of Sailor Moon, and within a week being able to read the changes/censorship on a fan page. A far cry from modern reading a live-tweet-thread of a translator watching a show as soon as it's available. By now, it would be a live stream instead.
Those were the days, weren't they? The Dragonball Z fansites had my friends and I convinced that the Japanese version was a savage gorefest. Imagine our surprise when we got fansubbed bootleg tapes and discovered it wasn't THAT extreme after all—and heard Goku's original voice.
Oh this is so good, and so real. I wrote something similar recently, but I was a webcomics baby c2010-2014, right when the webcomics moneymaking boom kicked into high-gear. Do you remember the Pictures For Sad Children kickstarter meltdown? I think I emotionally flunked out of the whole merch-and-cons-and-kickstarter-print-runs grind about the same time and for similar reasons, and I've rarely made comics since. What you said about "offline is the new online" gives me hope, though-- it's encouraging to see other people recognizing how rancid social media platforms are in their current form, because maybe it means we can start building something better outside of them.
This, but for indie game making too. This, but for people who make music and put it online. This, but for video makers. This for everything :-(
And to your last point about offline being the new respite, https://samkriss.substack.com/p/the-internet-is-already-over *this*, but in a positive sense, has helped me the last few years.
In 2024, I have no facebook account, never use my moribund striver twitter and instagram accounts, enforce a pretty harsh news blackout on myself, try and fail a lot to quit reddit (I keep finding subreddits that bring me back for short periods), have given up most of my old favorite bloggers for lost, read no more webcomics (wow, Megatokyo, that's something I actually hadn't even thought of in more than a decade), and genuinely struggle to find content to read on the internet. I do watch a lot of youtube (and little traditional TV). Also sadly porn.
But in recompense, I have a pretty normie suburban house, wife, two kids, dog, time to ride my bike, time to design custom lego builds (themselves submitted to increasingly colonized online communities), and even a resurgent interest in actual reading.
It's not perfect - the two lives flicker in and out of my field of view more often and more unpredictably than I'd like - but I'll take a half great life half escaped from the fully colonized internet.
My wife and I have been making a point of having SOMETHING planned for every weekend. This weekend we're seeing a play and meeting two different sets of friends at different times. Next weekend we're going to a drum n' bass party in New York and trying to find someone who'll have lunch with us the next morning. I've been getting up early to do my scribbling in the morning so we can do stuff and see people in the evenings without me looking at the clock and feeling like I ought to be working on the essay or story or whatever.
It's been an improvement.
That's a good set of things to do. Good job, keep it up.
As a corollary, living under this model, it quickly becomes clear that the times of greatest internet overuse are times of depression and boredom, which really lays bare the fact that late stage internet downtime is a vice, through and through.
I originally "liked" these comments, but in the spirit of rejecting the worst of modernity, I unliked them and am leaving this comment instead:
Well put!
Ha, thanks!
hohoho
Absolutely. It's pure death drive. Not to keep bringing up my wife, but she quit social media for Lent (which she always observes, even though she's not Catholic) and by her own admission has been a lot happier for it.
Lent, like the Jewish Sabbath, is a good idea regardless of religion.
http://benjaminrosshoffman.com/sabbath-hard-and-go-home/
Also, you have a link for 'clearing the neighborhood' but I had to look up elanguescence. We are such opposite nerds. I think the modern term for 'clearing the neighborhood' is 'sucking the oxygen out of the room.' Obscurity, obsolescence, or fringe are more understandable to a general audience than elanguescence. Unless you were specifically writing about relinquishing the naive elan energy of early blogging. In which case, cynicism or apathy might be better.
Why am I trying to give copy edit advice for a 4 year old repost by an extremely verbal guy.
Yeah, you're right. I actually hovered over elanguescence for a few seconds and eventually said "meh," and kept going.
And I know exactly why it appears. I encountered it in Kant when I was reading the Critique of Pure Reason around the same time I punched this thing out. It was unfamiliar to me too, and I wanted an excuse to use it myself.
Ahh memories nice
I have fondly reminisced with The Youths about watching a new episode of Sailor Moon, and within a week being able to read the changes/censorship on a fan page. A far cry from modern reading a live-tweet-thread of a translator watching a show as soon as it's available. By now, it would be a live stream instead.
Those were the days, weren't they? The Dragonball Z fansites had my friends and I convinced that the Japanese version was a savage gorefest. Imagine our surprise when we got fansubbed bootleg tapes and discovered it wasn't THAT extreme after all—and heard Goku's original voice.
With Akira Toriyama's work, you can often understand without translation. He was a visual genius.