The internet is a form of communication. It is essentially limitless as it is always evolving based on how we want to communicate. It can address and acknowledge many things all at the same time. Its omnipotence is the reason why it has become so integral in the way we conduct our culture. Growing up with the internet has left a significant impression on the way I think and process the world around me; there are essentially two worlds for me to process as the internet in itself presents an augmented representation of everything I can perceive within the natural world.
Trying to define the internet with words like these feels too challenging to articulate. Last class, I mentioned how my mom was involved in the geocities community and learned basic coding in order to create a second home for herself online. It was quite literally an omline house--using GIFs and words and their placements created an entire home, with a front yard and buttons that would allow you to explore the rooms within the household. Of course that experience has inspired my entire art practice. My body of work constantly tries to capture that moment in time wherein the internet innocuously functioned as a diary, as a place where you could contrive an extension of your imagination. As a child, I was admittedly addicted to a simple MMORPG called Club Penguin. Taking the form as a 3D penguin, you could earn money to buy clothes, furniture for a home, all while chatting with other penguins--real people who existed outside of the internet too, but materialized in this penguin form.
I learned, however, that the internet functions like a double edged sword. My reality became too intertwined to the point where I have had a person essentially stalk and harass me. I have thus tried to limit my internet presence to the best I can, but now am aware that boundaries do exist between these realities I've been so familiar with since I was a child. I went from decorating a 3D house via a penguin to gaining various art commissions via my Instagram, all while communicating with people I didn't know. I am continuing to gain support, and even some financial support, based off of the curation of myself and my work online.
Each of us personally harvest so many beneficial connections from online, whether those connections provide friendship, monetary means, exposure to impressionable content, and much more. The internet continues to evolve with all of us, especially after the turbelence we are experiencing because of a pandemic and societal instability. It's hard not to give all of ourselves to the internet as we are urged to have our physical selves show up online as much as we can to fill in the gaps that real life has left. But I hope during this time, we have created a sense of empathy all across the internet.