The web of the 2010s was pure fun for me. Social media still felt new, blogs were everywhere, and tech bloggers shaped which apps I tried or which devices I bought. Even discovering them was part of the hobby. Every blog had a blogroll, and you could freely subscribe via RSS. Piece by piece, you built your own content feed with creators you actually cared about. Twitter wasn't evil yet, and Instagram was still just a photo app for enthusiasts like me.
Fast forward 15 years: everything has changed. Bloggers were replaced by influencers, algorithms keep us hooked, and doomscrolling eats away at our mental health. Even worse, we've realized how fragile our online presence is. When Elon took over Twitter, it became obvious: our content, our identity, our connections all depend on the decisions of platform owners. One new rule, one bad decision, and your account or data can vanish overnight.
So, if your business and identity rely on years of hard work online, do you really want to hand over that control to someone else?
The web was designed to be open and independent. It's ironic that we gave up this freedom to just a few corporations. That needs to change.
We need to take ownership of our digital lives again, just like in the real world, where you'd rather own a home or a piece of land than rent forever. Online, that means having a blog, a microblog, or your own website. A place no one controls but you. A place to share your thoughts, your work, or just something fun.
I recently set up my own blog and Mastodon server, and the joy I felt surprised me. It's motivating to know I'm building something for myself, my own space, instead of someone else's. And I realized what I'd been missing all along while scrolling endlessly through Instagram and Twitter: deeper, more meaningful connections with a few people, the kind we actually have in real life.
Being on Instagram or Twitter is like going to a massive music festival: lots of noise, endless faces, fleeting fun. Running your own blog or joining a small online community is more like a dinner party with close friends: calmer setting, deeper conversations, and relationships that actually last.
Do we need to quit social media entirely? No. Big festivals can be fun. But the future of the web isn't owned by platforms. It's owned by us.
Start your own space. Write, share, connect on your terms.
Because the real web isn't rented. The real web is ours.