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been thinking a bit about the impermanence of the internet a bit lately. about how saddened i felt when i found out wear your voice’s website shut down and i couldn’t access a really foundational piece for me anymore, and how happy i was when i found out there was an archive. digital media’s always hanging on a ledge, and i’ve gotten so used to feeling like it’s not.
i would’ve thought going as far as to print out a piece that you like would be “too much,” but i mean if you really love it... what’s wrong with expressing that somehow?
Related Recs
I wrote this piece last year comprised of different texts that I found at various points and have been sitting on for I don’t know how long. 5-10 years, maybe. I’m really happy with it so I wanted to share it here with the recommendation to always keep this special mysterious stuff you find stored somewhere. Rip it from YouTube and dump it into G Drive, copy paste it into Notes, create a desktop folder of loose miscellaneous material, record a voice memo, or at very least WhatsApp a link to a friend so there’s a record of it. I know that if I react to something then I will invariably at some point be struck by the memory of reacting to it and will be furious at myself if I can’t find it again. It is always satisfying when you eventually figure out a purpose for whatever it is, otherwise you will enjoy the enigmatic frustration of it until you die. Win win.
Feb 22, 2024
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The internet is an amazing tool, but it has fostered a false sense of safety when it comes to the permanence and availability of information. So even though we have the most access to knowledge than at any point in human history, the practice of archiving and documenting the 21st century outside of social media and other digital spaces is practically non-existent. Pair this with constant technological advancements + an ever-growing collection of obsolete hardware and software from over the past 30-50 years and we've got a digital dark age in our hands.
Don't get me wrong, the comfort provided by being able to instantly back things up to the cloud or access any movie/song you want via streaming services is an immense privilege. At the end of the day, however, that very comfort still comes with future costs.
When everything is always "available" online, the inherent need to preserve has been all but rendered useless.
That is, until it isn't.
A simple server crash at a place like Instagram/Meta or even Google could lead to huge data losses, not just for the companies themselves, but for the very people who rely on their services to preserve personal memories and artworks they've created. This isn't a hypothetical, it already happened with MySpace in 2019.
Look, this rec isn't here to shame you into becoming a luddite or bully you into unsubscribing from all your streaming service subscriptions, it's here to serve as a reminder of the importance of documenting your life and the world around you without a dependency on the very digital platforms that have communicated reliability to its customers by building a mirage of permanence with their services. Nothing is permanent. Not even the internet.
We are all mini historians with the stories and experiences we collect and share about our lives. More importantly, you are your own unique personal library. So buy physical media, photograph your memories/commit them to paper, then digitize and make copies of them and save them in multiple hard drives. A subscription or data breach should not limit you from being able to document and look back on precious moments of your life.
Like the people before us, we are part of a larger tapestry that also merits to be acknowledged and understood, but none of that will be possible if we don't make efforts to document it (yes, I'm also talking about all the weird memes and layered internet lore that would likely give someone from the 1800s an aneurism– that shit's important too).
All in all, you don't have to be Einstein, Mozart or even Shakespeare for your history to matter. You are human and deserve to be remembered. Leave your mark.
Sincerely,
verygoodvalentina
Nov 1, 2024
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i’m an archivist of my own life !!!
Feb 24, 2024
Top Recs from @sundew
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today i learned my mom used to work at this alcohol distribution place back in her home country when she was a young adult, running numbers and things like that, all pretty much on her own too, for like six years. it’s crazy that there’s still so much about my mom, my family, that i don’t know; even crazier that i’ve allowed my insecurities about my people skills and a whacked out three-year diet of twitter, youtube videos, oversleeping and deliberate isolation to make me think that i don’t like talking with people--that i’m not good at talking to people--even when it’s my own family. but i don’t think my mom nor any of my other relatives care about whether i’m “good” at this or not; they like feeling seen; they like sharing things that they care about; they like that someone cares about what they care about. and that’s all that should matter.
Jan 27, 2024
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perfect for casually communicating how mentally unwell you’re feeling (“starting to realize this cycle of anger, despair, then shrugging it off for the sake of performing normalcy, and repeat may not be the healthiest 🤸♀️”), perfect for sarcasm (“gee i wonder 🤸♀️ why 🤸♀️🤸♀️ that is”), and perfect for sincerity (“so random but so normal, i do wanna say ~for the record~ that i do appreciate you wanting me to be here. in life. with you. and other such things 🤸♀️”). it’s equal parts charming, unserious, and athletically impressive.
Feb 1, 2024
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my left ear’s been clogged for about a week and a half. tonight i decided to drink one of my cartons of chocolate milk. i must’ve sipped from the straw a little too fast because i started hiccuping. all of a sudden i was hearing an intense hissing sound to my left with HD clarity, and i’m like oh god, is that me? no, it was just my heater, but i could hear my heater out of the left side of my head now! god bless! thank you, boxed silk dark chocolate almond milk, for freeing me 🙏
Jan 26, 2024