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I'm weird about time. I wish smart phones didn't exist. I want a nokia and a landline. I want to call my friends and spend more time with them in person than texting. I know online friends were a thing in the 2000s, but I feel like they tried harder to meet up in person than people do now, or at least call. The last time I called a friend was November. To be fair, I saw her in person three times since then, but that's also not a lot.
The world has changed too. I want to be able to go outside being weird and know that there's other weird people around. Now if I walk outside and I'm weird: first of all I'll only see like 10 people outside tops, and second of all they all look the same and I'm the one to feel like a freak. Since when did middle schoolers wear make up that didn't look like they stole it from their mom? Since when did 7 year olds have phones? The only people I've seen biking are in a huge group taking up the road on my drive to the grocery store occasionally..
Why do you think I'm blogging on DW right now.. I don't want to deal with social media apps I will not name for sake of keeping up the image that it isn't the year that it is. I'm working on a website through neocities because I like the idea of a website. Almost every personal website I come across is amazing and so customized- you learn so much about the person just at a glance. What fandoms are they in? Are they more creative or do they prefer to share others' work? How'd they organize their website? What's the theme? Right now mine's pretty bare bones cause I haven't devoted a lot of time to it, but I have been using it to host my images for my blog posts. So there's a purpose for it lol.
It might just be a passing interest, but the pull I feel from 2000s and early 2010s internet is strong. I want to experience it, and I'm not sure I ever will be able to authentically. Times change and life moves on. It's hard to find a cellular plan for anything less than 5G. Every computer just keeps getting thinner and thinner until they lose functionality. My laptop has one USB port and two USB-C ports. That's it. I had to buy convertors and multi-port extensions just because the company wanted a tiny itsy-bitsy laptop so thin I'm scared it'll get damaged inside of a backpack. Support for old consoles or even the most popular dial-up internet has been discontinued. Half of the home appliances you can buy want to connect to the internet. To wash your clothes. Cars have tablet screens instead of knobs- the car companies do realize that causes distracted driving, right? Or is this a sort of they crash so they buy a new car kind of business?
I touched on this in an earlier paragraph, but no one leaves their house anymore. They have online shopping with free shipping, why would they want to drive to a store and potentially waste 20 cents of gas, but actually end up spending 4 times the amount they needed to because the item is only sold in 4 packs. I actually witnessed that happen. I also don't live in a very walkable place.. We got a grocery store and a couple parks, other than that and you're gonna want to have a 2 hour walk to the closest cafe, an hour walk to the closest library, maybe you're lucky to live within half an hour of your school. And this is not to say I hate going to the park, but the same 3 children's playgrounds get tiring after a while.
My perspective may be bias because of the amount of time I've spent around 2000s blog posts when I'm sitting alone in my room all day, but I think a loser loner who goes outside every once in a while to fuck around and kick wood chips at a playground's view on how technology and people are crazy these days is better than the average social media addict's.
Damn long post, perfect introduction to the new icon.
The world has changed too. I want to be able to go outside being weird and know that there's other weird people around. Now if I walk outside and I'm weird: first of all I'll only see like 10 people outside tops, and second of all they all look the same and I'm the one to feel like a freak. Since when did middle schoolers wear make up that didn't look like they stole it from their mom? Since when did 7 year olds have phones? The only people I've seen biking are in a huge group taking up the road on my drive to the grocery store occasionally..
Why do you think I'm blogging on DW right now.. I don't want to deal with social media apps I will not name for sake of keeping up the image that it isn't the year that it is. I'm working on a website through neocities because I like the idea of a website. Almost every personal website I come across is amazing and so customized- you learn so much about the person just at a glance. What fandoms are they in? Are they more creative or do they prefer to share others' work? How'd they organize their website? What's the theme? Right now mine's pretty bare bones cause I haven't devoted a lot of time to it, but I have been using it to host my images for my blog posts. So there's a purpose for it lol.
It might just be a passing interest, but the pull I feel from 2000s and early 2010s internet is strong. I want to experience it, and I'm not sure I ever will be able to authentically. Times change and life moves on. It's hard to find a cellular plan for anything less than 5G. Every computer just keeps getting thinner and thinner until they lose functionality. My laptop has one USB port and two USB-C ports. That's it. I had to buy convertors and multi-port extensions just because the company wanted a tiny itsy-bitsy laptop so thin I'm scared it'll get damaged inside of a backpack. Support for old consoles or even the most popular dial-up internet has been discontinued. Half of the home appliances you can buy want to connect to the internet. To wash your clothes. Cars have tablet screens instead of knobs- the car companies do realize that causes distracted driving, right? Or is this a sort of they crash so they buy a new car kind of business?
I touched on this in an earlier paragraph, but no one leaves their house anymore. They have online shopping with free shipping, why would they want to drive to a store and potentially waste 20 cents of gas, but actually end up spending 4 times the amount they needed to because the item is only sold in 4 packs. I actually witnessed that happen. I also don't live in a very walkable place.. We got a grocery store and a couple parks, other than that and you're gonna want to have a 2 hour walk to the closest cafe, an hour walk to the closest library, maybe you're lucky to live within half an hour of your school. And this is not to say I hate going to the park, but the same 3 children's playgrounds get tiring after a while.
My perspective may be bias because of the amount of time I've spent around 2000s blog posts when I'm sitting alone in my room all day, but I think a loser loner who goes outside every once in a while to fuck around and kick wood chips at a playground's view on how technology and people are crazy these days is better than the average social media addict's.
Damn long post, perfect introduction to the new icon.
Thoughts
Date: 2026-01-14 05:21 pm (UTC)From:I agree. I've never liked phones. But now, hell, I'd settle for one that doesn't hurt my ears to use and has sound clear enough to hear.
>>I want to be able to go outside being weird and know that there's other weird people around. <<
The freaks aren't in the same places they used to be. At that time, they were in fandom and Paganism. Then the mundanes moved in, and the freaks mostly moved out. But where? I heard people saying zombie fandom, but I don't like zombies. Goths? I'm too real for them. I did find some at fairy fests, so I'm watching for more of those. Oddity markets and cryptid hunters seem to be other options.
>> I'm working on a website through neocities <<
Go you!
>>the pull I feel from 2000s and early 2010s internet is strong.<<
Well, it worked better then. Search engines were much more effective, before companies turned off commands so they could shove out "optimized" results that don't meet the searcher's needs. If you wanted to join something, you just gave your email, you didn't have to read 20 pages of "user agreement" promising never to do anything someone might disapprove of and that everything going wrong would be your fault. Most content was visible, not hidden behind paywalls or other barriers.
I can really point to just one thing that has improved: people have almost entirely quit putting autoplay music or other noise on websites.
>>Every computer just keeps getting thinner and thinner until they lose functionality.<<
The reason I can't use laptops effectively is that the keyboards are always nonstandard. If they are a different size and key-depth from my desktop, I hit the wrong keys.
>>Half of the home appliances you can buy want to connect to the internet. <<
Yeah, that sucks -- and there is no data privacy, so it's a serious security threat.
>>Cars have tablet screens instead of knobs- the car companies do realize that causes distracted driving, right? <<
I've pointed that out. With knobs, you can learn by feel where things are, and keep your eyes on the road. With a screen, you have to look at it to use it. I agree they're dangerous. People will scream bloody murder about distracted driving when someone is making a phone call, but not care about the integrated screen or the giant billboard flashing a woman in a bikini.
Remember the fuss over kids getting trapped in trunks, so they all had to have an escape handle? That was great. Except now all car interiors are deathtraps if they go into water, because the windows are only electric. Apparently it's perfectly okay to take away the crank handles and just let people die if they can't manage to break a window fast enough.
>> Or is this a sort of they crash so they buy a new car kind of business? <<
Disturbingly plausible.
>> I also don't live in a very walkable place.. <<
Most people don't, due to decades of suburban experiment that was a terrible idea. I live out in the country, but I'd like to be able to drive to places where I can park the car and walk around.
I miss malls! There are a few left, but they used to be everywhere and all had bookstores and a food court. A town near me still has a mall, but it's mostly empty. They put in a new strip mall, instead of filling slots at the established mall. It's harder to walk around, it's outdoors, and while there are good eateries, they're so far across the parking lot than unless it's a beautiful day everyone drives.
Modern society is shitty at meeting human needs. It's unhealthy. It's broken. It's often downright vicious. Of course people don't want to go out in it. But primates go insane fairly fast when isolated.
That explains a lot.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-14 08:56 pm (UTC)From:And on the topic of malls my local one was torn down 7 or so years ago! And even then it's still up in ruins with nothing to be built in place of it. The other closest mall is also just mostly barren and seems to hate the idea of people taking a second to rest. And any strip malls near me are just as you described..
I'll take a look into the places you said other weirdos could be found. Fairy fests seem fun.
Thoughts
Date: 2026-01-15 03:31 am (UTC)From:Alas! Let's see, the one closest to us is mostly empty but still has some events. There's another smallish one a couple hours away that is also struggling. One big one an hour away has been fine all along, and the small one in that town was mostly empty for a while but now reviving.
The coolest thing I've seen a mall do in another town was fill a huge empty anchor slot with an antique / craft market where anyone could rent a stall to sell whatever. That's brilliant. Used to be, people wanting to start in a mall would get either kiosk or one of the smallest slots. If they did well, they'd outgrow it and move to a bigger slot, maybe their own store elsewhere eventually. It was a great way to put the bottom rungs on the ladder. A mall already has foot traffic; you don't have to do more than attract their attention.
>>The other closest mall is also just mostly barren and seems to hate the idea of people taking a second to rest.<<
Society in general is like that in many places with hostile architecture and laws that basically require you to pay for a place to exist. But this in particular is part of what's killing malls -- the shift from using them as community space to "get your shit and get out." They purposely drove away tweens and teens; if people don't grow up using malls, they learn other ways to meet their needs and don't go there once allowed. Some malls also drove away seniors. I heard one announce that children had to be accompanied by an adult at least 21. So you could be married with kids at 20 and not allowed to take them to the mall to buy baby clothes! Losing ... money ... as we speak. >_< Conversely I've seen a few malls post their walking route mileage, specifically to attract seniors; or youth clubs for entrepreneurship or whatever. Some people are still sensible.
>> I'll take a look into the places you said other weirdos could be found. Fairy fests seem fun.<<
Look for fairy fest or market and oddities market. I've also seen goblin market but I'm not touching that one. The rag-and-bone folks are coming out; I've seen a lot of people selling animal parts and distressed dolls, alongside things like fairy paintings, brooms, mushroom footstools -- there are some event reports in my Today's Adventures.
ODD Market:
https://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/15149484.html
Middlefork Market:
https://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/15160092.html
Oddities Market:
https://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/15073246.html
Fairy Market:
https://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/14961661.html