A long, long, long time ago, when I first came online... the internet was a dark, lonely, mostly empty place. It was new and exciting, and it felt safe and comforting, because nobody knew me here.
Everyone was a stranger, everyone was a potential friend yet undiscovered, or a danger lurking, but we were all faceless and nameless, so it didn’t really matter.
This dark place was somewhere I came to tell the void about the pain and troubles of my real life, things I couldn’t say to anyone else without engendering even more complications. Sometimes one of those nameless strangers would reach out and leave a reassuring comment, and it was soothing, because here there was no judgment, only acceptance without consequence.
But things rarely stay the same.
Slowly, and then quickly, I watched more and more of you come online, crowding into my once safe space, and making it so uncomfortable, and so unsafe.
It used to be the norm to be anonymous.
It used to be sketchy to ask someone’s real name.
There used to be an understanding that we were all just weirdos here, and to each their own.
But somewhere, somehow, somewhen, all the rules got upturned and new ones came down.
Everyone has to be known so everyone can be held accountable for their lack of conformity.
I miss the old internet.
It was a different place from the world.
It had a different feeling, and it felt like an escape.
Now, the real world has caught up, and the Internet IS the real world, and nothing feels safe anymore.
I hate it here.