Thank You, Internet

Apr 15, 2024

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In the past, I’ve complained about tech, and the atomized zombies it can create. I’m not complaining anymore. The internet has enabled me to connect with people—not just through messages, voice, and video calls, but in real life as well.

The past three days, I’ve been at an apartment in Boston, hanging out with a dog, that I found through TrustedHousesitter. I love this dog, apartment, and neighborhood.

I Facetimed with my best friend Tim.

I wrote and shared a reflection of an online course I took. I also shared solar eclipse photos and a vlog. All received comments and direct messages.

I video-conferenced with young writers in Hawaii, Portugal, and Poland to connect and read our drafts aloud. I host a Read Aloud Gym on Wednesdays, comment or DM for the meeting link.

I went to a brewpub in Cambridge and met up with Matthew Harris, who I met via Substack, along with Lakshmi, Nate, and Sebastian—all from the interwebs connections from Paul Millerd’s Pathless Path online community.

On the way back to New Hampshire, I listened to an interview with Elon, edited by one of my favorite YouTubers, as my somewhat autonomous car drove me home.

I’m back at my apartment now, that I share with my roommate, whom I found via Facebook.

I’m self-publishing my newsletter, podcast, and books—thanks be to the internet.

I’m playing the cards I was dealt. Technologies shook the world of work and relationships. These days, the path to meaningful work and meaningful relationships is almost always unclear, but the tools are on hand to start raking the leaves, and carving our trails.

The good news is, we’re figuring it out together.

It takes a few years in one geographic area to forge local connections, and make it a home. As well, it takes a couple years to build an online community. I recommend both.

We don’t need to be lonely in this world. The internet can isolate you, or it can connect you. It is what you make of it. It can addict, or nourish. It can create work that gives you energy, or it can create bloodshot eyeballs.

You are, right now, touching the most powerful tool ever mass distributed. What will you do with it?

In a historically new way, we’re nodes plugged into humanity's collective consciousness.

95% of humans who have ever walked this good Earth, lived and died without ever seeing a screen. They never knew the joys of typing. Or the funny feeling of watching yourself talk on camera. They never took a single photo, or received a like or comment. 100 billion humans lived and died without one single follower.

What really matters?

It’s not about having the answer, it’s about being in the question. I told my friend, Jen Vermet, that I just hired someone to help me build an audience. She sighed and said, “Have you ever thought about why?”

I have.

One, it’s fun. Two, it will help me earn money, which feels good. And three, it connects me with people. I don’t need to be famous or high-status, I just want to talk with cool people and do IRL meetups. I’m already doing that, and I want to do more.

I want to be useful, connected, valued, and cash flow positive.

Don’t we all?