SpaceHey healed me.

(This might be a bit long and sentimental, so bear with me.)

I've had a Facebook account since 2007, a Deviantart account at 2013, Tumblr at 2012, and Instagram at 2020.

Despite the collective years with these accounts, I've never felt any particular attachment to them, until I came across this very special social network (which you probably can guess from the title ;)).

I've been in a dark place these past few years since the pandemic, which, coincidentally, spiked my screen time from 3 hours a day, to 12. Most of my usage consisted of YouTube, often in the background of me staring at the wall or me having one of my daily existential crises or mindlessly scrolling through Instagram reels of people having a better time than I did. At that point, I've lost all my hobbies to the menace of the screen, with the tools and materials I've used to use just stuck in cardboard boxes.

But ironically, it was on Youtube that I encountered the video that sparked my interest in SpaceHey.

It was another one of my spiral sessions that I saw a thumbnail on my home page: "myspace is back" (by LuvStarKei).

And then I thought: "wait, wasn't MySpace nuked a long time ago?"

It didn't really pique my interest at first, since I never had a MySpace or was ever involved in that part of the Internet. So I added it to my Watch Later and looked for a flashier, more clickbaitey video.

It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I encountered it again; and being in a (rarely) better mood, I indulged the will of my algorithm and tapped on the video.

I finished it feeling intrigued, and to be honest, a bit shameful of myself.

It made me realize that we're so used to being fed content, that we don't ever need to seek it for ourselves--that our interests are dictated by the algorithm, and that we have no choice but to react, and to feel (often without our consent) by a bunch of numbers in a server somewhere.

After this harrowing epiphany, I made a decision that would change my life forever...

...I made a SpaceHey profile!

It was a slow and painful process at first, and being spurned on by my undiagnosed ADHD, I thought "when does it get good?" "I was promised the sparklies, where are my sparklies?" It was at this point that I made another realization: I was so used to being spoonfed by these apps that I forgot to be creative. I felt even more shameful.

Swallowing my shame, I looked up a few tutorials and snazzed my account up. Whew. That's one problem solved.

But there was another thing. How do I even use this, anyway?

Navigating the site, there weren't that many opportunities to make friends instantly, and making requests from the Cool New People tab didn't help when the Cool New People weren't responding at all.

So I took to the blogs.

Blogging didn't come easy to me at first, considering the fountain of creativity had long dried up. But summoning the years of essay-writing experience, I made my first post. To be honest, it wasn't even THAT interesting, but it made sense to ME. Then a switch in me flipped.

At all makes sense now, THIS is the meaning of SpaceHey. This collection of words that we put forth into the Internet void is what we need in this day and age. This garble is what can save us from the tyranny of short-form videos and Instagram pics. People don't even NEED to like it, but what matters is that I've written it. Reading other people's blogs have also made me feel the need to pick up my hobbies and create again, which is something I never could've guessed would happen in years.

And with that, my SpaceHey experience (and my life in general) has been much livelier, with the friends I've met and people's blogs and forums I've commented on. I feel like this is the healing I've needed all along. Reading about people's passions and life experiences, seeing snippets of them not in short videos that we're often used to, but words that paint a clearer picture of their lives, is a gift that everywhere else in the modern internet has taken for granted.

With this, I say: thank you, An, and thank you everyone, for making the internet feel alive again.

(Purple Layout by Bela)