Internet history, a personal time machine
A few days ago I rediscovered an old LiveJournal (remember those?) blog that I used to have. Last post 2005.
It's rare these days to find something that still exists from that long, that isn't part of the Internet Archive & The WayBack Machine. There's not much, with broken image links (although the URLs are there, which is interesting to see what domains I owned at the time), words and references I'm not so sure about and talking about things that have long since been forgotten.
It's not the first time I've rediscovered it though, but I do think it's one of the few pieces of Nick Walker out there that dates back that far.
I first got onto the internet in '95 or '96 with my mum using one of those AOL CDs that gave free hours and we looked around on AOL, eventually ending up in a chatroom for about 10 minutes before logging off. I would have been around 12 at the time and while I can't say it was one of those moments that gave me an epiphany that led to a life long interest in all things tech, but it's the earliest memory of 'internet' I have.
A few years later we got a PC at home, leading to online chatrooms, forums, flash games and cartoons, online gaming and the earliest domain I ever owned (NDWF.com - long since gone) in '98 or '99 and ever since then I can't recall many days where I've not used the internet.
This isn't meant to be a history lesson of the internet or a personal trip down memory lane about how much things have changed. Discovering that LiveJournal again got me thinking about how for my generation and probably even more so for every subsequent generation there will be a digital history that you have less control over than you think, which will always be there.
I don't have many pictures from my childhood, a mixture of not being a particularly photogenic family, things getting lost in moves and whatever else led to very few. Probably less than most families during that time.
My daughter on the other hand, already has hundreds, if not thousands of digital photos, videos and more taken of her. I've had to spend time collating them and organising them for the future just to keep things clean and tidy for when she's old enough to go through this experience herself.
Looking back on yourself
Everyone reflects on themselves I'm sure. Thinking back to a time in their life, a job, a place, a home, a partner. Memories are one of the most important things, they can spark joy, sadness, laughter and more. As you build memories with others, it's great to reminisce and talk about "do you remember when...".
But memory is fallible, it's not accurate and distorts over time as you retell that story to yourself, to others, go through rounds of reflections about how it made you feel or what it meant to you. Where as it might not completely warp, it's not ever going to be accurate.
But the internet? The internet remembers. And while a blog I wrote over 20 years ago about random gaming moments and mis-adventures in various MMOs isn't ever going to be the most accurate time-capsule version of me, it's a point of reference, much like the photos and videos people have built up over the years.
There's plenty of other ways. It's 2025 after all. Lots of people journal, lots of people journal digitally and have decades of words, images and media that they can look back on and not only remember, but have something more tangible than ever before.
And it's great. It's great to see. I wish I'd done more of it sooner. I have a journal, with scattered thoughts from almost a decade ago. Updates sometimes coming years apart, but every time I reach for it I look back on previous journeys and remember much more, I can't deny it. It's there in black and white.
And I'm not embarrassed by my LiveJournal, it was a time of my life that was very different to now. The Nick Walker of 20 years ago hopefully would be very proud of the Nick Walker now, certainly the Nick Walker of now appreciates the Nick Walker of 20 years ago much more being able to see even the slightest, non-distorted view.
So go write. Even sometimes. Journal, take photos, take videos and create that archive that you can look back on. That others can look back on when you're gone. We've never had it better to be able to do that (although keep in mind who owns your data) and it's a universal truth that we'll reflect and look back, so why not give it an advantage and have something you can reminisce over.