I recently reread Maré Odomo’s Internet Comics 1 & 2. These comics feel like an ode to a version of the Internet that no longer exists. At the time they were published (2013 and 2014, respectively), they were already looking backwards; one sequence discusses meeting someone in a chatroom. But the mood of the comic, at least for me, speaks to a feeling I could still get online in 2013 or 2014 and definitely can’t get any more — a feeling of community and intimacy. Around 2013, on places like Twitter and Tumblr, I first met cartoonists who are now among my closest friends. Now, the idea of looking at Twitter makes me stressed. It’s a place that feels like a low pitching scream in the back of my head, instead of a place to connect with other people.
Part of this, of course, is the “current situation,” where any moment spent online might lead you to stumble into a vortex of graphs and predictions and photos of heart-breakingly long food bank lines. Another part is probably age; I have less free time, so time spent online feels less good than, say, drawing. But there’s a third piece, which I can best describe as the absence of the feeling I get when I read Internet Comics.
I do feel obliged to note that things which don’t feel good are sometimes still worth doing. I’m very privileged in terms of my race, gender identity, background, etc, so it’s valuable that I be reminded of the many injustices in the world that I don’t experience personally. The “social Internet” can be great for that. But at a certain point, the costs begin to outweigh the benefits, and there are other ways I can expose myself to perspectives different from my own.
I don’t think I’m alone in feeling this Internet malaise, based on the number of cartoonists I’ve seen longing for a return to Livejournal or even to Tumblr. But you can never go back, whether it’s to abandoned platforms or to a time when going online felt like a choice instead of a chore.
“Dreaming about letting my domain expire,” reads the final page of Internet Comics 2. “Never posting. Changing my email address.” Mareodomo.com is defunct now. As far as I know, Maré hasn’t published a comic since Late Bloomer in 2016.
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