A Birthday Gift to Myself: My Own Corner of the Web

Today is my Birthday. And this year, I decided to give myself a gift: my very first (own) website!

For quite a long time, I’ve been fascinated by the idea of having my own small place on the open web - a space I control, shape, and fill with whatever matters to me in the moment. No algorithms, no noise, no pressure to perform. Just a calm, personal corner for notes, experiments, insights, and stories from my life in progress.

Why a website, and why now? Well, let me explain...

I used to really enjoy the internet. I am someone who can easily spend hours researching "the perfect product", reading through reviews and forums. I’ve also often found myself diving unexpectedly into random rabbit holes (hopefully, some of you can relate!) and I was always fascinated by the ability to connect with people (and their thoughts/ideas) from all around the globe!

Even though I still spend a lot of time online, I’ve noticed that lately I don't get the same "joy" out of it as I used to. Sure, maybe it's just nostalgia, but I do think there is no denying that the internet has changed (and is changing). The amount of cheap, "soulless" AI-generated content has dramatically increased and it is becoming increasingly difficult to find "real human content" out there. Search-engines seem to be getting worse, ads are everywhere (I understand why, but I still don't like it) and the top search-results on any topic are often just a collection of affiliate links with little to no "substance". Many forums have disappeared and got "replaced" by the social-media-offerings of Big Tech. And with all of this, the internet has grown less and less attractive to me.

But in a way, this turned out to be a good thing, because it led me on a quest to find out what could be done about it. I started looking into open-source alternatives to Big Tech products, spent time learning about the "open web" and the Fediverse, and read books and articles about topics like digital minimalism, privacy, self-hosting, and intentional consumption. Gradually, I began to understand that it doesn’t have to be the way it is.

How we can Shape the Internet

Recently I read a wonderful article from Laure Schwulst in which she explains why everyone should have a website:

"Today more than ever, we need individuals rather than corporations to guide the web's future. The web is called the web because its vitality depends on just that—an interconnected web of individual nodes breathing life into a vast network. This web needs to actually work for people instead of being powered by a small handful of big corporations—like Facebook/Instagram, Twitter, and Google. Individuals can steer the web back to its original architecture simply by having a website."

Further down she points out that "The web is what we make it":

"I believe the common prevailing metaphor—the internet as cloud—is problematic. The internet is not one all-encompassing, mysterious, and untouchable thing. (In early patent drawings depicting the internet, it appears as related shapes: a blob, brain, or explosion.) These metaphors obfuscate the reality that the internet is made up of individual nodes: individual computers talking to other individual computers.

As a result, the internet is shaped by everyone who chooses to have an online presence. With every human-curated webpage, every personal blog, and every "real" (manual) link between them, we can help reshape the web into a more human, ethical, and cozy place.

Inspired by this realization and by people who walked this path before me like Laura (who I just recently encountered on Mastodon) and her beautiful (cozy) approach to blogging, I now want to participate too. Even if my contribution is just this simple website, quietly humming in the digital wild.

My Plans for this Website

This website (flummic.com) is going to be a lot of things. A notebook. A lab. A map of my interests and adventures. A low-maintenance, friendly, open space built at my pace, on my terms. I hope to share projects, ideas, reflections, and maybe even a few experiments in living and learning. I kind of see it as my first own "digital home", waiting for me to move in and fill it with life!

Some topics that may or may not end up here:

• Intentional living aka "Deep Life"
• Travel-Impressions
• Reviews of products/software I use
• Learnings/Thoughts from my life
• Projects I'm working on
• Essays about topics I'm currently interested in
• Tutorials whenever I feel like I can provide something useful
• Reading-Summaries/Book reviews
• ...

I’m excited to see how this site will evolve, and how I might grow along with it. Thanks for stopping by and joining me to celebrate this personal milestone—it feels good to now have a place of my own, just as I start a new year in life.

Here’s to a more open, thoughtful, and human web—one digital home at a time.