"If you aren't paying for a product, you are the product"
There are attention engineers in silicon valley using casino addiction techniques to keep users active. I have found myself wasting hours at a time.
Instead of letting social media profit from my time, I have elected to pay for a website. I believe that the costs assiciated are about comparable.
I have recieved advertisements that are creepily on-point. Once I received an ad for tutoring with the course code of a class I was in as part of the ad.
You can either consume content or create content. I spend to much time consuming, and a website will help me to start creating content.
Honestly, a blog is the retro-cool way to share thoughts with the world. The difficulty in creating a post forces more organization and mental coherence than 140 character opinion blasts.
Because I want to do it myself. Html, php, css and js, the basis of this site are the foundations of the net, and I don't mind learning how to use it. It might even turn out to be a useful skill.
Fear Of Missing Out
I have email on this website and will prefer to use text and call more. If I know you in person, ask and I'll give you my phone number.
Instagram
I would only ever post cat photos as posts. Despite not caring about how many likes I get, I kind of still care. Their tictok-esque features are addicting.
The Facebook
I only have an account for facebook messenger. Most of what I see is someone tagging somebody in an unfunny meme or people posting wordle scores every day.
Snapchat
There is an expectation there to immediately respond, and I don't vibe with that. Because of this, I have a 3-digit "snap score" (hillariously low), and tend to leave people on read.
Twitter
Twitter is funny to look in on as an outsider. I believe it is a fine thing for Elon Musk to have bought Twitter, but I'm still not making an account.
Twitch
I find Twitch too boring. If I wanted long-form content I would listen to a podcast.
Tick-Tock
It is well known that tiktok is chinese spyware and a leading cause of mental illness.
Reddit
I quit Reddit a while ago after r/minecraft was mean to me for posting a texture pack I made myself.
Youtube
Kind of useful at times but also content overload. Huge waste of time for me but also the hardest to cut out.
Discord
Well known to be a hotspot for degeneracy. Aesthetically, I also kind of just don't really like it.
If you've ever considered making a website I would recommend to Just Do It.
I have discovered as I have been building my site that it really isn't terribly difficult. Some of the resources I would recommend would be:
⮕HTML and CSS for Basic Webpages by Luke Smith for an overview of internet basics.
⮕Landchad.net for a comprehensive guide on domain name registration, site hosting, and more.
⮕The rest of the internet, with searches like center align text html.
⮕Using the inspect element tool to plagarize ditectly from my website (or from better websites than mine).