I have been feeling a strong sense of nostalgia in me for a long time: it is a feeling of searching for a simpler, more genuine, less contrived world, as it used to be, even and especially with regard to the Internet. So it's not just nostalgia for when I was a child, but it's a more general feeling, an awareness that many things have changed in the world I see around me.
I think social networks have ruined everything. Paradoxically, they have driven people apart instead of connecting them; they have ruined human relationships. Not to mention the dominance of big corporations, their hyper control. I feel that there is an open wound in me as to how the Internet has become today, and how society has become, subservient to it. The Internet is a chase after ego and approval. And I don't want to be part of that.
I often dream of a world where people live more authentically and more slowly, more relaxed, closer to natural rhythms. Where social networks don't exist, and the Internet still has that old-fashioned atmosphere of freedom, positivity and creativity.
When I discovered Neocities, I was ecstatic! A new passion was born, I started visiting countless numbers of old-style sites (in addition to visiting really retro sites, which I was already doing) building my safe place, immersing myself in the way I want the Internet to be.
Then I wondered if I should create my own site as well. The idea was very intriguing, but there were two obstacles. The first: I know absolutely nothing about HTML. The second was language: I wanted to write on my site in my native language, it would be easier, but I thought there probably weren't many Italians here.
In the end, I created my virtual zone. So here is Shinrin yoku, Forest bath, a place where I show something about my world and what makes me feel good. For language, everything I write is translated, luckily there are lots of reliable translation tools around.
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