Much like other adolescents in the 2010s, I had a hard time…

Much like other adolescents in the 2010s, I had a hard time making friends in the “real world.” I think back to my teens and say, “Where did I make friends back then?” Sure, I had a handful of friends that I made during school, but that’s the only time I saw them. With no consistent transportation outside of my neighborhood, a busy-with-work single mom that couldn’t take me to my friends’ houses, and a school bus that only went to school, I was left stranded – literally, in this case. At 12 years old, I turned to the world’s best communication tool at the time – the World Wide Web. Not only was I able to keep up with my friends that I already had, but eventually, I was able to make new ones and eventually cultivate a small community of my own. 2011 to 2013: AIM and other old-style messengers I’m not that old – soon to be turning 25\. However, when I tell people that I started messaging friends and family on AOL Instant Messenger (commonly shortened to AIM), I consistently hear audible gasps, thinking that I was using the program when I was so young. AIM existed all the way until 2017, people! Although I was using it towards the tail-end of its lifespan and its form changed drastically through time, I found it a nice way to communicate since I was on the computer mostly – and my mom neglected to get me a proper phone until much, much later. I’ll never forget that Running Man. Remember when websites had their own built-in messaging systems, like Wattpad, YouTube, and even Fanfiction.net? I utilized these to keep consistent folks (even if there weren't that many) who followed my projects updated on them and make new friends along the way. These private messaging sections of sites would get used and abused throughout time unfortunately, as we’ve seen more and more websites do away with them over time. Honestly, while they were handy and useful, I’m glad websites moved away from utilizing them. There would come better tools to bring folks together, and its time would come shortly. 2013 to 2024: Twitter, unfortunately now known as X I used to love Twitter, you guys. It was my very first true social media, as I always viewed Facebook as the older generations’ social media. Also, none of my friends had it. I’m going to call myself out here, hard – I used to roleplay online, specifically through Twitter. I used to write creatively for fun, and I would roleplay as my main character using the infamous hashtag #OpenRP. Someone would reply to your prompt, and you were off to the races. It’s the honest way I joined my first community of folks all doing the same thing. I enjoyed it thoroughly too. It kept me on my toes as I actively wrote new dialogue and described scenes to folks, ultimately strengthening my writing skills in the process. Imagine somehow carrying full conversations with the original 140-character limit. It forces you to be creative and concise with your messages. The art of doing this sort of activity has slowly changed over the years. Most prompts these days lean on NSFW themes which isn’t great for young eyes. Regardless, it’s still an active thing that folks partake in, which ultimately makes me happy. I managed to make loads of friends this way, even some that I still catch up with regularly. Growing out of that phase of my life, I began to explore my other interests through Twitter: video game remixes and chiptune music. One minute I’m on the Overclocked Remix website looking for new remixes from Sonic games, and the next, I’m on their Twitter page. Followed the artist. Then the next, and the next. I was invested in their work and wanted to keep up with it, and Twitter was mainly how I did it. It was my gateway into their world, and it was a beautiful way to build a community for any budding artist. I was the person to constantly reshare their work, promote it to friends, and get the word out. In turn, things were being shared to me – I’d find a new artist to follow within seconds of seeing my friends Retweets or I’d deep dive into someone’s discography after a quick mention through a Tweet. That’s all it took to become a new fan of someone’s work, and suddenly, part of someone’s community. Eventually becoming a creator myself, sharing my own music, my short stories, and ideas into the world, showed me how powerful Twitter could be in cultivating a community. It was nice to see people interact with my work and mentor me over time. As I grew, so did Twitter. It started to get new features much like other socials had, like Periscope, its live-streaming service that let anyone live through the eyes of the Twitter user, or Fleets, its Instagram Stories competitor that allowed for temporary Tweets. I watched these features come and go, and I appreciate them fondly; they were products of their time. Soon, Twitter itself became a product of its time too. With its constant tug of war between its owners and Elon Musk being broadcasted all over the platform, it felt like Twitter’s wings were slowly being clipped. By 2022, it stopped feeling like home to me entirely, and most communities were jumping ship. At this point, a more-apparent algorithm rose to the surface as well as some “pay-to-win” features that just made the platform unlikable to me. I wasn’t alone in my feelings, as most communities were jumping ship to other areas of the Internet – some into familiar territories but some into new beginnings. 2015 to present: Skype, Discord, and the rerun of instant messengers Instant messengers never died, they just took a breather/backseat while social media rose to popularity. Social media definitely allowed for the growth and continuations of certain communities, but instant messaging allowed for wonderful one-on-one conversations or even group conversations for collaboration on projects. While using Twitter to follow creatives and their amazing works of art, I was still finding time to message IRL friends on Skype, a service that was still kicking at the time. We all had phones at this point, but we were on the computer – why text and waste our minutes? In my opinion, there really wasn’t an intersecting platform that combined the ease of building community, catching up with friends, and chatting via messages and/or voice until Discord rolled around. It was a game-changer for my friends and me. Finally, we could keep up with each other outside of our shared direct-messaging group on Twitter, which was a little clunky at the time. We could watch each other play games on our computers miles away. As Twitter slowly shifted to X, more and more communities that I was part of shifted to Discord; it was easier to upkeep and update folks on new projects. However, some of the magic was gone: the live feed of messages, artwork, and videos was replaced with separated channels and pinned messages. It worked for some communities that I was apart of, but not all, which blew a little bit. Thankfully, other projects like Bluesky and Threads would replace most of old Twitter in all but name. It’s 2023\. I realized that everyone was kind of… spread out. Twitter was gone, Discord communities felt a little off, and I was still itching to express myself and share the things that I’ve made. While in college, one of my first classes taught me how to code websites using HTML and CSS. No social media company, or even instant messenger platform, for that matter, "owns" the Internet. I wonder if that’s the answer. 2023 to present: Neocities and what the indie web taught me “Wow, that was easy,” I said to myself when I hit Publish on Neocities for the first time. I loved relearning how to code, and I loved that I could finally show it off. I remember finding Neocities on a whim, and it's brought me to an entirely different community: the independent web. I’ve made websites before for fun, but this one felt different. It felt like home. It’s made my place on the Internet truly that – a place. A place where I can open the door, sit down on a chair, and say, “Yeah, I made this from the ground up.” It’s a nice feeling at the end of the day. I can say that I have a parking spot on the World Wide Web, and no social media company can take that away from me. I’m free to share what I want, when I want. It’s a space that’s ever-changing as well. After 1,900 updates to my own website, I don’t think I’ll ever truly finish it. But it’s nice to see fellow webmasters follow along with my progress, and likewise with theirs. Is a home ever truly finished? No – there’s always a project to be done, somewhere. Every community has a story to tell. Turns out, you can choose to communicate through any medium you want. For me, in order to truly tell my unadulterated story, I’m choosing to go independent. Devonne Tourre (known as "sephlow" in some corners online) has been online since the late 2000s. While he misses it so, the growth of the independent web and his love of graphic design, video games, HTML & CSS has kept him afloat since then. You can find his site at http://sephlow.net. https://www.goodinternetmagazine.com/finding-indie-carving-my-path-through-online-connections/

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