The personal web, or the small web, or the web revival. Whatever you call it, there's a small comeback of personal websites like the old days. This allows more personal expression, less interference from algorithms and commercial interests, and potentially a healthier role for technology in our lives. I think there's something to be said for the personal web, obviously, because here I am on my own blog website. I've set it up using Zonelets, hosted on Neocities. I think that's a great, simple start. I hope I'll learn more html and CSS and customize it as I go, but perfection is not the goal.
Many people in the community put this web revival on a pedestal. They seem to think it will fix many of our problems. No censorship. More genuine connections. Web 3.0 isn't blockchain, it's a combination of the personal web and the fediverse, or federated web (sites like Mastodon and PeerTube)! To be clear, these are two seperate things which often get talked about together. The personal web is websites operated by single people in completely individualistic, idiosyncratic ways. The fediverse is closer to today's social media, but decentralized and less profit focused. These ideas get thrown around in the same circles and sometimes get lumped together.
I'm not so confident. For one thing, even if changing the way we use the web is good for us, it's just never going to be adopted on a large scale. You might get large migrations from Twitter to Mastodon, or from Instagram to Pixelfed, but I don't think those sites will ever replace their competitors. Modern social media is too familiar, too comfortable for most people. And even then, the fediverse is app-driven, unlike the personal web. Creating your own website requires a level of effort most people will never put it. The incentives are backwards. People don't want to put in more effort for healthier self-expression and a more genuine online presence. They want ease of use, quick videos, and a big following. People want to be famous.
I want to be famous. I'm not being edgy, saying how society is obsessed with one thing but I'm the exception. Oh how I fantasize about having a big online following! Not so I could make money from brand deals and be called pretty by strangers. So I could share my ideas with the world! I want the world to care what I think. I want my opinion to matter. It's a similar vice. It's one I keep in check. On the personal web, you don't pursue likes or followers. You don't necessarily expect to reach anyone. You might, but if reaching people was your ultimate goal you'd use traditional social media. And that's what most people do, and always will.
No, I think we'll never see the full return of the personal web. But for those of us who do try to restore the old ways, we're better off, right? We're taking ownership of the internet! Well, maybe. I'm a very introverted person. Reclusive, even. I struggle to form and maintain any kind of human connection. That doesn't mean I devalue them. The internet, in any form, will never replace face-to-face human interaction. It must supplement it. Modern society has so degraded our social beings to the point that our basic human needs are no longer being met. We live in an era of loneliness and isolation, and the internet is the easiest solution at our fingertips to salve the pain. But by relying on it, we make the problem worse. Even though I absolutely fail to live by it myself, I believe we've got to get out and "touch grass" more. If we use the personal web as much as we use modern social media, we're not going to be much better off.
But in 2024, in-person community isn't enough. Even though I'm sometimes overcome with a sense of dread about all technology, wishing we could forego every invention since the campfire, what I truly think is that personal interconnectedness can be enhanced by technology. I long for in-person communities to make a resurgence, but they had their flaws too. They were exclusionary, tribalistic, and, naturally, geographically bound.
Look no farther than the queer community. So many queer people grew up in religious groups, communities that were supposed to support them and fulfill their complex human social needs. But they were rejected, hated, and ruined by them. Especially when being queer was less socially acceptable, face-to-face connection with like-minded people was really difficult. The internet saved us. It facilitated community, organization, and ultimately empowered us to make the changes in irl society we've seen in the past few decades.
Or look at the distant issues that Americans are talking about. Wars in Gaza and Ukraine; we care about these things. We have empathy for distant, different people. We're informed about global issues and wide variety of worldviews. The world has become more complicated, and our responsibility to know, understand, and love has grown. The internet is a necessary tool in this endeavor.
So I neither believe that the personal web or the fediverse are the way of the future nor that they resolve our difficulties with technology. But we don't try new things knowing in advance that they will solve all our problems. We try them because we hope they could, and end up learning in the process. If we use the personal web to enhance our human connections rather than replace them, we, at least, can be better off. In the end, don't we really just love those late '90s vibes?
Thank you for reading to the end. I hope you enjoyed my first blog post. I have several ideas for other posts, so expect more in the near future.
Sincerely,
SunWisp