I am, like many people, trying to think about how to consciously use the internet, and social media, in my life. There are no shortage of apps, devices, advices, etc centered on imposing time limitations, increasing friction of use, deleting altogether, etc.

Personally, I have found myself increasingly persuaded that there is little of value and much of harm in the “closed garden” social media platforms, and that it’s best to outright abandon them inasmuch as is possible. For most of these platforms, that is eminently doable, and as Robin Sloan says,

“The speed with which Twitter recedes in your mind will shock you. Like a demon from a folktale, the kind that only gains power when you invite it into your home, the platform melts like mist when that invitation is rescinded.”

What is left, if you want to maintain some sort of internet presence (perhaps to share thoughts or photos or artwork or links of interest with others (or simply as a public record))? We’re throwing it back to the early 2000s – blogs.

I’ll leave it to you to read the much more eloquent and persuasive writings of others who’ve been beating this drum for a long time (and, indeed, the many people who never stopped blogging lo these many years - shoutout to my friends Jason and Rebecca in particular), but suffice to say I am convinced by their arguments that maintaining a personalized, independent presence on the open web is the best bulwark against the machinations and drawbacks of the social media ecosystem.⍟

I haven’t entirely figured out what this will look like for me - I will probably still maintain some sort of minimal presence on Instagram, for example, as I like sharing photos of my kids but would prefer to do so behind a private profile - but for now, this blog (hosted by micro.blog) will be my common place book of sorts, and absorb the sorts of brief thoughts, longer musings, photos, and random bits and bobs I find interesting collected from the internet, books, I’m reading, and elsewhere.

⍟As you can tell, I’ve been doing a bit of an @ayjay deep dive lately (a heartily recommended pastime)