I’ve Realized Something & It’s Time I Do Something About It

Long before the internet, I loved writing and world-building—I loved being creative! It fueled me, never abused or abandoned me, and I felt a great sense of joy, purpose, and belonging even when I had zero audience.

I remember days when I’d spend countless hours lost in my fantasy worlds, or poring over old maps, art, and history books. I never had “writer’s block”—I didn’t even know what that was—or recall a single day when I couldn’t immerse myself in my creative passions, despite what might’ve been going on in my life.

Writing and creating were my escape from all of that.

Then, about thirty years ago, I found my way onto the internet like everybody else, and, at first, it was a fantastic creative outlet. I joined the world of freeform role-playing on MSN Groups/Communities and chat, and met a lot of like-minded, creative people who simply loved to create.

Back then, the only competition anyone had with each other was in-character fantasy battles or dramatic storylines. And when out of character, anticipation looked like wanting to get home from work or school to check and see if anyone had replied to your storyline thread.

Rarely did people feel the need to show real-life photos of themselves or post random comments out of boredom or a need for validation.

Nobody spent all of their time scrolling mindlessly, admiring other people’s art and lives and faces while being depressed by their own—because there wasn’t anything to scroll. People were too busy working on their creative projects and just wanted to share them with others. But hey, if there wasn’t anyone to share them with, that never stopped them from creating! 🤷‍♀️

This went on for nearly a decade before social media and then smartphones crept in and ruined everydamthing.

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