Learning to Shape My Online Experience

Many years ago my parent were faced with the question of how to raise children in such a internet reliant world. With my older siblings they sadly got exposed to 'net crimes'. This obviously wasn't ideal so when I was born this question came back up. My mother feared what could happen to me if I used social media while my father wanted me to have some internet time so I could better relate to my peers.

Luckily I was able to satisfy both of my parents wants. I have always had a deep hatred for the majority of social media. So I enjoyed stuff from a distance, in the shadows , rarely commenting let alone sharing about my life. This helped me avoid many of the things I hated about the internet but a part of me still wanted to have that online social interaction. So I did the worst thing ever in April of 2020...I got Discord, TikTok, and Twitter(yes I still call it that).

I hated every second, it made me sick. I feel as though we lose our willingness to care for others or at the very least have a harder time caring when a screen hides the true self. We get a level of what I can't describe as true boldness but rather playing a character that you want to be bold. I knew I need to leave but I didn't want to go back to the way I was before. Then in 2022 an idea, a spark so bright that it almost hurt to think about. An idea that left me in fear since it was pushing myself further then I ever had. "I should code my own website" the internal voices echoing whisper refusing to let me sleep till I had a domain. I used Neocities since it is free. One day I would love to talk about mine and others "corners of the web" but that's an entry for another time. 

Now that I had a site I could safely get off of social media. Twitter gone. Insta gone. TikTok gone. and many more GONE. Now I only have Tumblr(which I plan to get rid of by the end of the year), Xiaohongshu(only use for fashion inspo), Pinterest(also only for inspo), Discord(to talk to like 5 close friends), and here(duh). Also I limit my phone time to about an hour unless I use it for school. 

One day I plan to lower the amount of platforms I'm on once more and continue to surf the web to meet new people, find cool art, and find the final resting place for my online persona. Then I'll go and live unchained from the complex interwebs. Until then I will be Raven the MSpaint Bunny.

Happy (late) Halloween