age.neocities.org
I remember being 14 years old, living out in the boonies with unmonitored internet access. I crawled out of Habbo Hotel into flash game forums into the wilder web. I was there when reddit banned /r/jailbait, and I was there for the opening of /pol/. I craved social interaction, but I could tell I was the youngest person in the room and that made it hard to talk as equals. Or even like a human being in general. I was more like a poltergeist slamming cabinet doors. l lurked and trolled, carried conversations entirely via reaction images. I developed a tolerance, or perhaps an addiction, to bumps and (you)s and orangereds. But most of the time I simply observed the ticking clock of 4chan posts passively, swooping in on occasion with an insult, pressing any button I could see in front of me. Asserting my will on the great machinery, like leaving graffiti in a bathroom stall or breaking a window. It was the summer of ‘11, the hiatus between My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Seasons 1 and 2. That was when those ponies sank their hooves into me, and even now when I try to pull them out it’s like chewed gum in my heart. I tug until it hurts and my hands get sticky.
