About ꐕ
I thought it might be interesting to have a page about this website; and, perhaps, about me and my perspectives on the internet, by extension.
I'm in my early thirties; a younger millennial. In today's digital world, now so dominated by social media, it's somewhat unusual for anyone my age to have a personal website; and likely even more unusual for someone to have a personal website with no corresponding social media presence. The AI I use, Proton's encrypted and private Lumo, estimates that...
Among early 30-somethings in the U.S. (a group of roughly 40 million people):
• More than 90% are on social media broadly
• Around 40% have a LinkedIn presence
• Only about 15% have a personal website or portfolio
Put differently, a 30-something professional is roughly 2.5× more likely to be on LinkedIn than to have a personal website, and 5–6× more likely to be on Instagram or Facebook. My rough guess is somewhere around 0.5–1.5% of early 30-somethings have a personal website with zero corresponding social media presence.
Rough stuff, indeed. It's evident that I'm a relative minority here, and I understand that my minority view may merit explanation. If you're coming from a web-use framework defined by a plethora of social feeds, someone who chooses to have just a website might strike you as bewildering or unsettling. If I'm not on LinkedIn, am I not serious about my career? If I'm not on TikTok, am I not keeping up with what's up? If I'm not on Facebook, do I not have any grandparents?
When 90% of people my age are using some form of social media, these are inevitable questions. It's worth taking them at least somewhat seriously; they're drawn from the very cultural fabric of our time.
This page is home to my answers to those questions. To make it more fun, I've written it in question-and-answer format, almost like I'm being interviewed.
Why a personal website?
I spent my formative internet years browsing more random personal websites and blogs than I can remember, including those from creative weirdoes like Cory Doctorow, Louie Mantia, and Cabel Sasser. It's always struck me as the most natural and semi-independent thing you can do online, even when I was a social media user myself.
Aha! So, you have used social media?
Most definitely. I'm no luddite; I was wrapped up in the zeitgeist like everybody else. I was never on MySpace, but I joined Facebook at the urging of high school friends in 2007. Was on Twitter the next year. Joined Instagram in fall 2010. Spent a few years as a Tumblr microcelebrity, starting in 2011. Was reluctantly dragged to Snapchat in 2013. Joined LinkedIn after my graduate degree in 2017. But I've never used TikTok; I have my limits.
Well, why'd you quit? Are you bad at it or something?
I always found social media somewhat troubling, and always had a fraught relationship with it, frequently deleting and remaking my accounts.
If you like the font, it's Ovo by Nicole Fally, available at Google Fonts.