On Bouncing Around the Internet

And finding the internet space that feels good and right to you, for you, at this time in your life. It doesn’t have to look like everyone else’s.

The banner image I use on Nostr

Somewhere in early 2006, I was crosslegged upon my bed while the house was still quiet, my large pregnant belly nesting upon my ankles. The northeast windows streamed in a golden morning light and I flipped through a copy of The Old Schoolhouse magazine. Those were inspiring days of homeschooling, my four youngsters all under nine years old, eager, happy, playful, interested in everything that involved books, scissors, crayons and dirt.

The article that caught my eye explained this new internet-based journal called a Web-Log, and now was called a “blog” for short. It invited me to join their platform, called Homeschool Blogger, and as I was feeling rather sad and lonesome over losing a dear friend, I decided to poke my head into the room of possible internet buddies. It took me a while to come up with a name for the blog, but I knew I wanted it to be honoring to God (Ps 26:7). Psalm 144:15 resonated with what I wanted to write about: Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD. Because without the Lord, I knew I could never truly be happy, nor keep a happy home. So I named my blog “A Happy Home”.

It was a great place to write! I met bloggy friends that made me laugh, made me think, made me a better mother and homeschooler. Over time, however, I felt like “homeschooling” wasn’t the Number One thing I was doing, and I wanted to write about other things, so I migrated to Homestead Blogger. And then that,too, felt boxlike, so I made the leap onto Wordpress and created my own website.

Those were the years! Oy. I spent wayyyy too much time learning HTML, cracking code, all so I could do things like having snowflakes drift down my website during the winter season. To be fair, that did look cool, but I do regret all that time I spent on it. Soon enough, blogging started to drift from a tool of creative writing and connection to a tool of monetary advancement and all eyes on deck with ads and blog hops and an explosion of moms making money with their writing, even with bad writing.

I just couldn’t do it. I didn’t want a job. I just wanted to write, to share, and to connect. Maybe I lost opportunities to increase my family’s wealth, but we never went without food on our table. Maybe the Big House wouldn’t have been so overwhelming had I had funds for landscapers, housekeepers, and project managers, but in my heart, I am still a simple stay-at-home woman with simple small-house needs. I felt pressured, however, to keep up with the mom-blogging phenomenon of bigger and better. At some point, I figuratively stood still with babies on my hips and waved goodbye to most of those new bloggers as they took off. Some of them are famous now.

I was also an early adopter at Twitter. That was fun, until it wasn’t. In addition, I started podcasting when I still had to explain what podcasting was, which was also fun, until it wasn’t. Because those kids grew up and even more babies came along, so the noise of a busy household did not make for good audio to say the least (“Be quiet so mommy can share the blessing of a large and noisy household.”) Throw in moving three times in eight years, and you can see the difficulty in setting up a studio. The good news is that we still WANT to podcast, and have plans for a studio on our land. We will still be A Happy Home Media. Lord willing.

In the same way that blogging and podcasting exploded, social media exploded. I don’t know if I felt left out more than I felt relieved to not be part of all that exploding. I kind of liked it *before* all of the chaos of ads, algorithms, and bots. I actually miss the “You got mail” and the two or three emails from people I know, rather than the mass flood I get Every.Single.Day. I regret the time I spent actually trying to keep up a zero inbox; it was like dumping cups of salt water out of a sinking canoe.

I know what I am wanting. A place to connect with people who are still pleasant and who also just want to create, or write, or otherwise live a good and simple life. I’m so tired of 5 ways to do this, 8 reasons to do that, and you won’t believe it when *this* happened. People today seem to think they know what others are thinking simply because the news media—or Hollywood—told them what those others are thinking! No one outside of Jesus (especially on His return) is going to make the world right again, so I don’t want or need to put my hope on any person or political party or governmental agency to do anything other than what history shows that they already do. And I like the English language as it is, and am extremely grateful to live in a country where (most) people still believe you should not only be able to think out loud, but have the opportunity to hear others do so as well.

Currently, I am enjoying Substack. I find it to be a place that reminds me of the early blogging years, where people could just share freely and write. People are interesting, and interested. You get the feeling that a whole bunch of writers here could think in multitudes of ways but still share appetizers and a chuckle at someone’s house. I also appreciate the option for paid subscriptions, because I have been truly blessed over the years by some of my readers who choose to support and pay me for my writing, either with donations or by buying my books. Just yesterday (yesterday!) I sent a good chunk of money to a book cover designer for Slow Schooling. I know I could have used AI, but she is a real human being who has worked for me before, and I want to honor her craft. Just like my readers honor mine, even if it is simply to read without payment. I appreciate ALL of you here and want to sincerely thank you for finding me and showing up and even following me around the internet while I try to find the right place.

As for social media, I have the same troubles. I took to Facebook for about 15 minutes in the early days, but knew it would be a hole of distraction for me so I quit that immediately (ironically, you can never really “quit” Facebook—if I were to sign on again FB would “remember” me!). Instagram has been fun but over the years it’s become an “UGH” moment more and more. The algorithms, the bots, the shadow banning, the censoring, the ads…not to mention the fact that they not only own my content, but they use it against me to (a) make themselves money and (b) try to addict me to their platform so that I give them not only more of my content, but my money and time as well! I am certain it will not be long before I leave Instagram.

Currently (again with the “currently”), I am enjoying Nostr. It reminds me of early Twitter, when it was perhaps a little bit clunky but still fun. I appreciate that no one owns Nostr. I appreciate that my content and data, including my photos, are mine. I appreciate that I can choose my own client and see my feed as I want to see it. You know what’s really fun? Learning about Bitcoin and getting tips for posts! I think I’m up to 17 cents in tips now, but it’s 17 cents more than I ever got from Instagram. It’s actually fun to tip people a couple of cents worth for a post worth reading or seeing or laughing or thinking about. I even like the “good morning” #coffeechain posts with pics of people’s mugs—it feels authentic and real, like we’re all just getting on with our day, and good morning to you.

At my age, this bouncing around the internet isn’t becoming easier. But we do have You Tube instructors (don’t get me started on YT, however) and people on these various platforms are friendly and want you to succeed. I just encourage you to find the internet space that feels good and right to you, for you, at this time in your life. It doesn’t have to look like everyone else’s.

Thanks for reading this far! If you’re a paid subscriber, thank you for your support in my endeavors; I’ll be sharing potential book covers as soon as I can. You also give me the juice and funds for the books I want to write! If you’re a free subscriber, thank you so much for showing up and caring about what I have to say; would you mind sharing my Substack feed to a few friends? And if you’re not a subscriber, you are very much welcome here, but it is completely free to subscribe and I won’t spam you.

Blessings, all, and more soon.

P.S. If you would like to try Nostr, here is my pubkey: npub1vg7z7wmyl48ed6r5ncvvreldgvqx48cy24tk4l6fke2emtzjmxtsff5xds

P.P.S. And yes, I’ll probably dump my smartphone someday as well. My HAM call sign is KJ7GWS