I’ve Been Talking to Myself on the Internet for Decades

Back in the early 2000s, before Instagram filters and TikTok dances, there was LiveJournal. And there was me, furiously typing away to my loyal audience of maybe three people (hi, Mom).

From LiveJournal to Xanga, to Tumblr, to my own little corners of the internet like lauradignan.com and canyadigit.com, I’ve been talking to myself online for decades. I wrote about everything: college drama, questionable fashion choices, random deep thoughts I had while eating ramen at 2 a.m.

If I’d stuck with it, maybe I’d be one of those “I started as a blogger in 2003 and now I’m sipping iced lattes in Bali while managing my six-figure brand” people. But nope. I started and stopped more times than I can count. I’d get excited, post like crazy for a few months, then lose confidence and ghost my own blog. Every. Single. Time.

I told myself no one cared what I had to say. And honestly? Back then, maybe no one did. But what I didn’t realize was that no one cares is how literally every creator starts. The difference between people who “make it” and those who fade away isn’t magic or luck, it’s that they just… didn’t stop.

And here’s the part I love about getting older: I don’t care that no one cares anymore. I’ve realized the magic is in the act of doing the thing you love, not in the applause that may (or may not) come with it. So now it’s “I don’t care that no one cares,” because I’m still here, still writing, still talking to the internet, even if it’s just me and my family clicking refresh.

Of course, back then I had no idea that people would one day be paying their mortgages with Instagram sponsorships and YouTube ads. I didn’t think turning words into a profession was even possible unless you were writing novels or newspaper columns. The idea that you could just be yourself online and make a living? That was about as believable as a felon becoming president (oh, wait ...)

Now the internet is saturated with content and influencers. And while I sometimes think, “Wow, I was this close to being an early adopter success story,” I also know that writing online (or off) has always been my thing, even if it wasn’t paying the bills.

And that’s really the lesson here: don’t stop doing what you love, even when it feels like no one is watching. Whether it’s writing, painting, baking cakes shaped like dinosaurs, or practicing guitar in your garage. Keep going. Because the thing you love? It matters. And you don’t need a million followers or a paycheck to validate it.

If you’ve ever quit on something because you felt invisible (it's me, hi), here are a few things I’ve learned about sticking with it anyway:

• Do it because it fills you up. If it makes you feel alive, that’s reason enough.

• Forget the audience (at least at first). Talk to the void. The internet. Yourself. Play for your cat. Whoever. Just keep at it.

• Be okay with being bad for a while. Growth doesn’t happen if you don’t let yourself go through the awkward, messy phase.

• Make it a habit, not a performance. The more it becomes part of your life, the less pressure there is to “make it perfect.”

For me, “talking to the internet” has always been my creative outlet. For you, maybe it’s something totally different. But the point is the same: you never know what those small, unseen, “just-for-me” efforts will snowball into down the road.

The moral of the story? Don’t stop doing what you love just because no one’s paying attention. You never know what it could turn into five years from now, ten years from now, or maybe tomorrow. Keep baking those cakes. Keep strumming that guitar.

Keep talking to yourself on the internet. You might just find that eventually, the internet talks back.