I've just finished watching the documentary The Social Dilemma and in pondering my usual online habits, especially those of a social variety, I realized how much I missed having a space like this where I am allowed to exist without the ceaseless grind of a behind-the-scenes algorithm trying to optimize my experience.

I don't venture into many social media sites, anyway, and in those I do, I tend to actively avoid or disable most of those optimization techniques—the auto-play, the eternal scroll, the curated list of search results—but there is something so reassuring and warm about being able to write about my day or my life or my thoughts and know those words won't matter to anyone but me.

This is especially valuable right now. A number of my friends and family members are entering into periods of transition at the moment, and while those transitions are exciting and I'm eager to hear about them, they mean I'll be on my own with my day, my life, my thoughts a lot more often than I'm used to. Sharing those here always helps me feel visible and validated and less alone.

I still have some commitments on other sites, but I'm going to make some room in my mind and my habits for writing here more frequently. ...And sharing quizzes. Because even when I wasn't posting, I was still saving all my best-loved quizzes in hopes of sharing/documenting them here. (All shall know my quiz results and despair!)