The Myspace Era

I’ve always known I was meant to be Extremely Online™️. I fondly remember life before instant Google searches and the constant need to create content, but I found my place online early.

We’re inching closer to the banning of TikTok and it raises the question: why does every good social media platform have to die? Those who refused to give in to the endless scrolling don’t understand why its dedicated users are so obsessed. The list is long—the algorithm actually works well, for one thing—but the biggest pro is that it feels like a place you can truly be yourself online again. I would never comment on a random Instagram or make a Reel, but I felt like I could participate in the community on TikTok. I even made videos despite finding myself horrendously embarrassing. I’ve used the app for cooking inspiration, makeup recommendations, and parenting advice, finding myself needing help many times at 3 am in the last few weeks.

It’s not that I can’t benefit from a little less screen time and a little more attention span building, but I’m genuinely sad to see it go. Its demise has reminded me of another place online that I cherished and lost: Myspace.

I remember the day I discovered Myspace. I was on a Good Charlotte message board (obviously) where I was already making friends with strangers in a way I couldn’t in real life. I saw a link in someone’s signature for the platform and immediately made a profile despite being many years below the 13 year old age minimum.

By 6th and 7th grade, everyone my age had one. We learned HTML, building profiles that were often as bright and tacky as the 00s fashion was—complete with glitter graphics—and finished it off with the perfect song. Before that, you could find your corners of the internet, but here was a place everyone came together, and you could showcase your personality for your IRL friends and online ones. People had fun alliteration names, there were follow trains, PC4PC, and a whole lot of eyeliner and questionable camera angles. Times were simpler.

My parents, of course, couldn’t comprehend the internet, and were scared into believing it could only be dangerous. After learning about the site, likely on Oprah, (and learning how to search through computer history) my siblings and I were forced to delete our profiles. If you’ve ever forbidden a teenager from anything, you should know you’re basically forcing them to do the opposite. I made profile after profile, each time getting caught and resurrecting myself. I wasn’t giving it up.

Social media was a new world then, one we loved to be in, but you still existed outside of it. Occasionally, you’d actually sign off. You could still gain social media fame but that wasn’t the goal. It was truly about expressing yourself and connecting with others.

Myspace launched in 2003 and in its prime, it surpassed Google as the most-visited website in the United States. Your neighbors, teachers, and favorite celebrities had Myspace pages they actively interacted with. And then came the rise of Facebook. I held on a long time, but soon Myspace lost its spark. One day, we all logged off for the last time.

Since then, I’ve tried them all. Twitter and Instagram started out fun and exciting too, but fizzled out. I loved Tumblr, though I’ve since rejoined in an effort to feel something again. Now, it may be time to pour one out for another site gone too soon.

I feel very lucky to have experienced the early internet. If someone smart bought Myspace and brought it back, I’d flock to it immediately. But it could never be the same. The world has evolved past what was so great then. Still, I long for those simpler days.

People always warned us the internet is forever, but I’d give anything to get my Myspace photos back.