I Really Miss Old School Social Media

Let's discuss what we lost and what's next

I miss the OG Social days.

The digital landscape has really changed, and I sometimes long for those early days of all that raw, unfiltered and slightly cringe sharing on platforms when none of us could take a good photo to save our life.

Think back to when Insta launched. Those framed squares. We were all total noobs, you and me both. Then the big guns came in - the professional photographers - and they influenced all of us to level up or else we’d be left behind. So we did - we improved our game, smartphones improved their camera tech, and everyone was posting professional-like photos on Instagram within a few years. Then it became all about the video and music was added, and Reels, and and and. It never frickin’ ends.

Thing is, back in 2006ish, social media was a space to get seen, connect with others, and maybe even get a little recognition for your creative pursuits. Remember the cheesey MySpace where we’d post images and crap on people’s pages - most of them musician-wanna-bes? It felt personal, experimental, and open to anyone willing to jump in and connect and FUN. Pointless to most of us, but still fun.

Go back even further to MySpace to AOL in the 90s. Getting those CDs at the grocery store or in some mag insert - installing one into your personal computer which looked like a beige box on a desk, creating a screen name (mine was holz14) and hearing, Welcome, You’ve Got Mail!, for the first time.

CHILLS.

Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash

I built a sorta blog on AOL using Homesite. Do you remember AOL Homesite?I was so young and curious. Everything that came out in tech, I had to have it and try it. I remember starting a design group on Yahoo Groups when they launched for the first time. I remember building a community around my Flickr account. I remember it all and though I’m thankful tech evolved, I’m not thankful about how it feels lately.

Pretty crappy honestly.

Back then, it was more about finding a few people who were into the same things you were - making building a community, lots of curious exploration, and figuring stuff out as we went.

Today, it’s all polished and the content we see is super self-centered and sadly, the vibes read mostly as fake, superficial, and money-focused. It’s ALL about the money.

Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash

Platforms like Instagram and TikTok have evolved into heavily curated places, where people create highly refined versions of themselves— facades of themselves - whether they’re fashion influencers, self-help gurus, or designers. Even here on Substack, much of the content revolves around the creator’s personal viewpoint - one person, one view. There’s a distinct shift from the early days of blogging, where the goal was to share a broader range of voices, ideas, and inspirations.

I often think about my own blog, decor8, which I still have but write on quite infrequently. It was launched in January 2005 - 20 years ago already. It was more than just my voice though —it was a platform that showcased a variety of people, places, and perspectives - not just my home, my life, my views. It felt like a magazine, offering a blend of home tours, design trends, and fresh ideas. I didn’t just write about my own experiences; I featured the work of talented contributors and shared content from all corners of the world. It was a community—a space where many different voices came together under one roof. And it was fabulous - I loved to write there and in my prime, I was blogging 6-8 times A DAY.

Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash

Today, I miss that feeling of discovery and collaboration. I miss the energy of the early days of blogging, when we were all just figuring things out, sharing new finds, and curating a collection of ideas that inspired us. It was a time of authenticity, where bloggers had more room to experiment and create something that felt personal yet expansive. That sense of adventure and connection has been diluted as social media platforms have become more commercialized and algorithm-driven - and as we are seeing - more closely tied to politics and government - and mostly not for our benefit at all.

In fact, just the opposite.

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As the digital world shifts, I wish so badly that we could return to the idea of being an online design publisher—a curator of content with either a diverse range of voices and perspectives or a diverse range of topics, guests, people, and spaces. I’m eager to post regularly again, to reconnect with the feeling of creating something meaningful that goes beyond just my own viewpoint - but to gather 20 years of my community - my connections - into one fabulous space and share them all with you. I want to build a space that feels like the blogs of old—approachable, vibrant, and full of inspiration.

But times have changed, and I know I need to adapt to what people want and expect today. And I’m not sure if the traditional blog is the best way forward, because of so many reasons - mostly aligned with how difficult it is to monetize a blog business nowadays… But I’m committed to finding a modern approach that resonates with today’s audience.

Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

I’m trying desperately to get my groove here on Substack but I’m just not convinced this space is for me - for many reasons.

Still, in the broader digital landscape, I can’t help but reflect on how we’ve all contributed to the rise of platforms like Meta and Amazon.

When we see the new American broligarchy that is Tesla’s Elon Musk, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Google’s Sundar Pichai - even the TikTok guy was there - cozying up with Trump yesterday at his inaguration, I kept thinking of how these guys essentially own a stake now in the government in addition to their massive corporations - which could play a dangerous and huge role in our government and the policies going forward (watch this, read this for look at this book on competitive authoritarianism for a deeper dive).

All of this is frightening but even more so because we’ve created it - we are each responsible - we’re all super intertwined into this very sticky web - even most of our businesses rely on it. It’s not called the web for no reason. And like it or not, most of us can’t just give up Insta or Amazon, YouTube or Facebook. Social media, e-commerce, and even entertainment have become a small number of corporations that hold vast amounts of influence.

MASSIVE amounts.

M A S S I V E.

I think back on those glory days when I started blogging and when things were so much simpler when we first discovered blogs, before it all became so commercialized and corporate and well, scary. Before kids lost their childhoods to apps, before adults lost hours a day on social (we lose an average of 20 years on our phones according to a study highlighted recently on a Mel Robbins podcast episode), before porn became something any child could access in seconds, before people were being hacked, scammed, shamed, outed, murdered, stalked, copied.. Before people were becoming mentally unwell and children were killing other children or themselves over it.

Of course - a lot of good comes with the bad. Yeah Yeah. I know. And I’m not trying to go dark here. But it is what it is and pretending we don’t see it doesn’t honestly help us to find a new path.

The innocence of those early social days feels like a distant, bubble-filled cotton-candy memory and I wonder if there is a way to still move forward but retain some of that early day charm. In other words, what could be next that we’re missing? Is it Substack - is this where bloggers and disgruntled ‘grammers go to die or where we go to rebuild? I really don’t know yet.

There’s still something special about smaller, more intimate digital spaces - which is why I’m here right now. I enjoy the slower pace of a well-curated newsletter—simple, unflashy, and filled with thoughtful content. A newsletter, when done right, feels like a little oasis amid the noise. I find it refreshing in a way that social media can’t quite match. And I don’t mean a Substack newsletter to be really honest because as hard as Substack tries, this isn’t a newsletter. It’s a sort of blog and twitter/x thing with elements of Instagram, mailing lists, and Patreon.

I’m not ready to give up on content creation altogether, I still have my blog, I’m here on my Substack too, but I’m so ready to evolve. I’m ready to find a fun new way to share, to connect, and to build a space that feels authentic and true.

Do you feel similiar?

Let’s continue this discussion in the comments section. Maybe we can come up with some interesting ideas there.