July 27th, 2004

Dear diary,

I finally logged on.

The room was quiet, the screen was glowing, and for some reason it felt like I was entering another world.

Maybe that's what the internet is supposed to feel like.

You turn on the computer, wait for everything to load, and suddenly you're somewhere else. You aren't sitting alone in your room anymore. You're looking through people's profiles, reading strange little blogs, checking comments, listening to music, and wondering if anyone noticed that you were gone.

I checked my page first.

No huge surprises.

Just the same dark background, the same music, and the same version of me staring back through the screen.

Then I started looking around.

A few profiles.

A few comments.

A few random thoughts from people I barely know.

It felt nice.

Not important.

Not productive.

Just... nice.

The internet doesn't always have to be loud. Sometimes it's enough to sit in front of a glowing screen with music playing and feel like you're connected to a world that exists somewhere beyond your room.

I think that's why I like this challenge.

Everything feels slower.

Logging on feels like an event instead of something I do without thinking. I actually notice where I am. I choose what to look at. I stay for a while.

Then, eventually, I log off.

For now, though, I'm still here.

The music is playing.

The screen is glowing.

And somewhere out there, someone might be checking their profile too.

— 𝕸𝖞𝕮𝖍𝖊𝖒𝖎𝖈𝖆𝖑𝕯𝖆𝖘𝖍⛧