Summary

Tolentino recalls the earlier days of the internet, times in which sites such as AngelFire existed for sharing music and a self-image on the internet. She nostalgically recalls the times of what she labels as Web 1.0, a time in which users gave advice, made genuine connections, and answered questions posed by other users. Web 2.0 was developed and with it, websites became portals in which constant personal updates were displayed. Your identity essentially becomes intertwined with what everyone else does, and the content that you see is completely connected with what other people like. The web became so intertwined with other parts of human existence that your existence was dependent on whether you were digitally available.

As blogging became increasingly prominent, it became clear that it could even become a viable career option. Tolentino writes that “at ten, I was clicking...