How I surf the internet

I decided to watch Fate/strange Fake on a whim because of its animation style. It was the same reason for Sentenced to be a Hero. They were both animated heavily in the Kagenashi (No shadows)/Zenkage (Shadowed) style, which I come to appreciate. This minimalistic style is used to convey fluid movements, especially in action sequences. It first surfaced on my Twitter feed on a random Tuesday night, but I kept going. I watched YouTube breakdowns, looked up more anime using this technique, and saved them to my to-watch list. Digimon Adventure (the movie), which I loved, was one of the pioneers of this technique too!

Even after I went into videos of different animation styles, I was only at the start of the internet rabbit hole. That is what I love about the internet.

I don't think we lost the art of surfing the internet to doomscrolling. I think, for a lot of people, it was never intuitive in the first place. In the early days of the internet, most people came online with an objective. Maybe they needed to look something up on Google or check a friend's walls on Friendster or Myspace. Then, they logged off. Likes and metrics barely existed. Being online wasn't a state of being; it was just a task to do.

Z and I share the same sentiment. We both love foraging through the internet, clicking from link to link to link, and discovering unexplored online terrains. But we came to the conclusion that wandering the web for hours might actually be a niche hobby.

I still fall for the algorithm traps on social platforms, if I'm not careful. I'd open Instagram to reply to a friend, but I'd end up scrolling through reels of cats and Pursuit of Jade, and whatever the algorithm serves next on my Explore feed. It's hard to resist when the feeds are specifically designed to capture your attention and keep you from leaving. The illusion of abundance and the ease of having everything in one platform are tempting.

But if I'm being used by these platforms, I'll use them back. I'd follow the people I actually like and only interact with their content. The algorithm will notice my pattern and serve more similar content and profiles. I'm naturally a curious person, so I want to see more of what they make beyond the platform. The more interesting they are, the higher the chance they own a piece of the internet elsewhere.When you find that piece, you can choose to explore the rest of their work. Their digital presence is open for all to see.

I also found people who aren't active on social platforms but do work that resonates with me. I'm interested in people who sit at the intersection of art and technology, and Connie is one of them. She's an artist and researcher who treats the web as a place to express herself. Her website is proof of that, and it's one I often visit for inspiration. I also follow her work on Substack and Are.na. From there, I dug deeper and kept finding more people and tools through her recommendations. The cycle of discovering never ends when I dive deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole.

Just like any hobby, it's important to come with an open mind, an open heart, and a space for curiosity. If I didn't come with these, I wouldn't be able to discover the interesting gems I have. The questions I keep asking myself: Do I have the desire to find out more? Am I open to clicking and learning something new, other than what I was searching for? Am I open to spending time and energy to simply wander, even if it might not be useful?

It takes time to wander, but the point isn't to find what you're looking for. It's to find yourself in others that trigger something within you.

After consuming and wandering enough, I feel an urge to take action and create something of my own. That was how I started writing fanfiction, built a fansite, and drew fanart in school. I started because I loved the series I consumed (Hats off to Avatar: The Last Airbender for being my first) and wanted to find out more about it online. The rest was history. Now I still make websites, write my thoughts, and continue to grow and learn. I've witnessed many people across the web who do the same, owning their agency and being comfortable being seen online. If they can do it, so can I. It unleashes a hidden creativity and a sense of agency that I might not have detected otherwise.

When this urge arises, listen to it. Start making something. Anything.

Some internet explorations end early, while some never end.

When I was watching Fate/Strange Fake, it reminded me of the days when I loved the Fate series. The Heroic Spirits are based on legendary or real historical people. If I really went deep, I would have ended up in classical literature, because of Gilgamesh and Iskandar's main references in Fate/Stay Night.

The internet is big and open like the universe. It's called the world wide web for a reason. But if you're used to the confines of social media, that's okay. Start by clicking the links your favourite people share and see where they take you. Use the algorithms to your advantage and see where they can bring you beyond the platform. From there, just keep exploring.