Hello everyone, I hope you are well. As the weather gets colder (at least for people in the US), you should make sure to stay warm and stay happy, it is very easy to get depressed during times like these and especially when you are a lonely person. Just know that I care about you, that people love you, and you will prevail. The following writing is just some opinions I have, and a persuasion on why you should save videos and games to your computer or in physical forms.
Lots of companies are becoming more greedy, as they begin clamping their death grip on consumer rights. YouTube has gotten far more aggressive with their ad policy, implementing more ads, as well as supporting trend followers and aspiring to turn itself into television (which they have been doing since arguably 2016.) Companies like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have been digitizing their video games and media with extremely aggressive DRM and unfair EULAs. Governments have been attempting to crack down on pirates and Tor users who are just trying to enjoy media, and arresting both Seeders and consumers for this "illegal activity", which is downright mundane. Even if it "hurts" companies, it is even more unfair that the products of billion dollar companies have more legal protections and rights than a citizen who pays taxes and has to go through the struggle of living in a modern society. We can even take a look at the Internet Archive, which has lost millions of books, has utilized draconian DRM for their media (which is genuine theft of the people), and has lost thousands of news articles and research papers regarding recent events such as COVID, Russia v Ukraine, and Israel v Palestine due to a recent hack. Countless obscure books, movies, songs, and writings have been completely eradicated like the burning of the Library of Alexandria.
This hardly scratches the surface of what these companies have done, and WILL do. Neither companies nor the government are your friend, and whatever "feature" they produce is solely for selfish gain. People who rationalize the actions of the companies are a part of the problem, as they are trying to make an understanding that money is more valuable than people. With the integration of online services and digital media, you will no longer own anything. Everything can, and potentially, be taken away from you in a whim. Did you make the company mad? We will penalize you by banning your account and bar you from all your media (remember, you never actually had it.) Is your government paranoid? They could figure out what you have been watching and listening to, you might be a terrorist! The problems can go beyond just media, but with communications too, while these corporate entities try to emphasize the digitalization of our lives, we lose everything that feels tangible in our lives.
So what can and should you do for this? Well, begin by learning how you can save media to your PC. You can start with youtubedl, which can be used in the terminal for linux users, but there are youtube videos that can help give a background in how to set it up (the github is here: https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl). Using this can save the hassle of having to download videos via a sketchy website, and it is not limited to just YouTube, but thousands of platforms like Vimeo and Twitter (no, really its crazy). Next, if you are willing to pay, is to buy digital CDs if you fancy music or DVDs if you like movies. This is a guaranteed way of making sure some rotten company can't deprecate what you rightfully purchased. Saving lots of these not only looks cool, but allows for you to share music with friends and family as they can then save the movie or cd to their pcs. Continuing on, a less (ahem) "legal" approach is to torrent. This one is much more risky, and I recommend you first know what you are doing. Pirating via torrent should really be a last resort unless you are used to it, however it may be one of the few ways you can access media if you are a European for example (just know that torrenting tends to be illegal in European countries). Note that I am not a professional, but more of a hobbyist who loves to advocate for digital privacy and rights.
What are some additional things I could recommend? Well one is to use Linux! I know it's so common for Linux users to say "use linux it's the second coming of christ", but it really is much better. It is much more secure than using windows, as with what I have previously mentioned, companies like Microsoft do anything in their power to increase profits, and it that means inflicting damage on their consumers then they will be okay with it. Don't do MacOS either, as you will need to buy a new computer every decade or so (No, that isn't normal.). Another is to start using different video platforms to watch content, as you may find yourself either unable to watch YouTube in the future, or they pump it with unavoidable ads so much that you will hardly be able to watch it. Make your own website (judging by you visiting via neocities, I reckon you already have), form your own community and move away from modern social media like Instagram, TikTok, and Discord.
LEARN HOW TO BURN CDs! This is a lost art, but is super useful and can be a really fun and cool way to share things with friends or make it as a gift. Buy digital cameras and use them to record home videos, rather than using the camera on your phone. Use thumbdrives, removable drives, and any kind of storage that would allow you to hold things and go from one device to another without needing to connect to internet.
Now moving away from all that...
Every once in a while, I have a dream or feeling of being somewhere very distant. Soft melodic music, beautiful nature and scenery, a quaint home. Feeling grass in between my toes and dirt collect on the soles. Smelling crisp air that sort of hurts my lungs, but feels good after a while. Seeing new sites that are hard to comprehend, feeling the bark of old trees, wrapping a garland around my neck. Eden, this is practically the garden of Eden I am thinking about. Somewhere where there aren't people, I can feel serenity from that. When I can have a silent place to my own thoughts, the presence of individuals not around. The beady eyes of a squirrel, the crooked smile of a fox, the fear in a buck.
From under the stable house, the house is there with it's long uncut moss bangs. The vines sprout up like veins of an arm and the window eyes are dim with nobody inside. The ground is wet, the grass is slippery, the sky went grey, the trees wear drab colors.
My favorite dream was one that I had only ever once. A hilly coniferous forest, with a large pasture that it landlocks. There is a pond with a waterfall that ebbs down gracefully. There was a water mill adjacent to its right, and a nice three-story home with a porch, blue and white. The walk up to it is slightly steep, but not enough to make me uncomfortable. To the right of the house, there is a path with a picketed fence to a garden. Pretty little flowers of pink and purple remain as homes for fairies and animals. If I ever have one last dream, I want it there.