That internet and tech has noticeably changed for the past decade. It crystallised how much I want to go indie with my tech—if I can. More reasons to reclaim my space in the current digital landscape.
I gave my website a slight refresh to integrate shorter content and more centralisation. Sometimes, I don’t want to write a whole post. I only want to share. There is a lot of joy in gaining ideas, but I do get overwhelmed in what to write. I can now add these to my /now and /notes pages for small updates and thoughts. It’s liberating that I can do whatever I want within my own space.
I want my work and content to be sourced at home, here, so I need to implement a type of POSSE system. It lead me to the IndieWeb, a community of independent websites; away from corpo walled gardens and supporters of open-source.
The IndieWeb community advocates the importance of owning your data. You can practise this by publishing in your own site before syndicating to the rest. The copy from your site will always be the original.
I do have a social presence throughout the net; notably Instagram and Threads. I try to be intentional with social media to avoid doom-scrolling (unless it’s about cows, seals, cats, dogs etc.) We all know they’re designed to keep you there. I don’t like that at all. It’s so fatiguing to my brain.
It is difficult to automate into Meta-based products, due to restricted API, so I ought to manually publish there later.
I saw Camille Charierre, a writer and one of fashion’s influential talents, re-open her personal digital space; perhaps it’s a matter of time that the fashion community catches up outside of social media and Substack.
Yes, domains and hosting need to be paid on a subscription basis. Some would say you don’t actually ‘own’ it. But like a house you bought—there will be bills, maintenance, and taxes to pay for the upkeep. At least you have autonomy. You’re not locked-in.
This route doesn’t have to be expensive. You can use platforms such as Neocities to host your site. There will be a cost, but it will prevent you into becoming one. Ask yourself: why are these services free?
