#being anonymous

It's hard to fathom that it's been over twenty since I created my first of many journals on LiveJournal. There, I was able to connect with those who shared my varied interests, participate in the various fandoms before it was popular to do so, make some amazing lifelong online friends, and truthfully, express myself in ways that I seemingly couldn't in my everyday life. I expanded my self-taught knowledge of online coding, learned how to make icons - about the extent of my graphic artist capabilities, and learned that I wasn't a defective human being.

I know, something that most people aren't.

At 19 though, I didn't fully appreciate that.

Now, twenty-two or so years later, I'm finding that I really miss that ability to connect with people through writing online and just being somewhat anonymous. LiveJournal is still around, as are other sites running the same basic kind of software like InsaneJournal and DreamWidth, but there's disadvantages there. LiveJournal is more Russian based now that it's owned by Russia, and it doesn't have that same feeling as it used to. I checked out one of my old journals - yes, I can still access it surprisingly - but the site in general just doesn't...feel right. Plus, honestly, the rise of Facebook and Twitter kindof killed those online journal social media sites.