# Remembering the old Internet

Published 2024-12-13

A few years ago I found myself feeling quite disillusioned by the content I was consuming on the Internet. I had already quite Facebook and Instagram many years prior, but still found myself reading mainstream news media and consuming YouTube content that didn't align with my interests. I decided enough was enough and things were going to change. I decided that if I was going to use the internet for entertainment, then I will use it to consume topics I actually enjoyed, and content that had an emphasis on learning and self development. It was at this time I discovered Hackernews.

One of my favourite things about the orange site is discovering personal blogs with a minimalistic or retro aesthetic. It reminds me of the old Internet when growing up as a teenager in the late 90's. I have such fond memories of the old Internet. It felt like you were part of an exclusive club of like minded geeks which required a certain level of technical knowledge to participate. Big social media sites didn't exist, so you didn't have highly addictive algorithms continuously feeding you content to keep you hooked, and an army of keyboard warriors arguing with one another over politics. Things were also simple. Internet messaging mainly consisted of plain text email, irc and news groups. Websites were ugly HTML pages indexed by Google, served up via a clean and simple results page without adverts.

I really missed the old Internet, but this feeling began to evaporate as I found small pockets of self-hosters that enjoyed sharing their interests online, with each blog having it's own unique style, and not a single advert or cookie policy in sight; pure simplicity, just how it used to be. I realised that the old Internet I loved still exists, I just had to disconnect from the mainstream junk and find it. Hackernews has been a great source for finding these small self hosted blogs, which I am grateful for.

This is why I've decided to created a blog. I want to join my fellow geeks and use it as a platform to learn and share things that interest me, and connect with people around the world, just like we did on the "old" Internet.

If you want to say hello, you can send a message to hello at this websites domain using your favourite electronic mail client.

Wishing you all a very happy day.

Gareth