Why MySpace Hit a Nerve
A couple weeks ago, my daughter asked me about MySpace.
She’s thirteen, so MySpace isn’t nostalgia for her. It’s not a place she logged into after school, customized poorly, or showcased a profile song that felt like a personal statement of identity.
To her it sounds almost mythical. A messier, more personal, unique corner of the internet.
She asked if it was really as cool as everyone was making it sound (everyone being TikTok).
I told her the truth. It was.
Not because it was perfect, it wasn’t. MySpace was gloriously chaotic. Pages broke. Layouts were ugly. People who had no business touching HTML did it anyway. (Guilty as charged).
But all of that was part of the magic. YOU made something. YOU picked your song. It was YOUR background. YOUR Top 8. You showed up with your own taste, personality, insecurities, creativity, and a dash of chaos.
And the best part was, you could change it whenever you wanted to, to reflect whatever mood your teenage, angsty self was feeling at that particular moment.
It was a place you made. And I think that’s why people still have such an affinity for it. But I also think there’s something else in play.
What MySpace Revealed
The response to my post about MySpace highlighted that. This wasn’t simply people nostalgic for an old platform from their youth. It was a reaction to being tired of digital spaces that feel less like places of expression and more like machines of extraction. (Lots of extraction).
It feels like our entire experience online is now chosen for us. Who and what shows up in our feed. What videos are “suggested” for us. The manufactured outrage. The ceaseless barrage of ads, now mostly AI generated. The thing we didn’t ask to see but somehow get hooked into watching.
That shift has ramifications because digital spaces don’t just reflect who we are. They shape who we become.
That’s why the MySpace news hit a nerve. It wasn’t really about MySpace. It was about reclaiming a time and place where we were in the driver’s seat.
The Human Layer
As AI becomes more a part of how we work, communicate, create, and make decisions, I think this question becomes more important: what parts do we want to keep for ourselves?
Not everything should become effortless. The friction can be the secret ingredient that’s missing. The messiness in the act of creation is evidence that a person was actually involved.
I’m not anti-technology. I believe AI has, and will, create incredible opportunities. I also believe we have to pay attention to how that convenience could slowly replace what we value.
That’s the heart of Deliberately Human. It’s not about rejecting technology. It’s about making a conscious decision to not move through this era on autopilot.
Three Takeaways
1. Digital spaces influence behavior.
The platforms we use aren’t neutral. By their very nature, they’re designed to influence how we think, create, and relate to each other.
2. Convenience has a trade-off.
Faster isn’t always better. Easier doesn’t necessarily mean more human. Sometimes removing the friction also removes the decision-making process.
3. We need to protect choice.
The future shouldn’t rely solely on automation. It should leave room for people to participate, create, decide, and bring their own unique perspectives and experiences to the process.
Try This This week
Pick one digital space you use every day and ask: does this make me more present, creative, and connected? Or does it make me more distracted, reactive, and passive?
Then make one small change. Clean up your feed. Turn off one notification. Unfollow something that pulls you into outrage. Choose one place where you create before you consume.
Small choices matter. They’re how we practice staying human.
Live Deliberately,
P.S.
This is the kind of conversation I am hoping to bring to SXSW 2027 through my Deliberately Human session.
If this idea resonates with you, I would be grateful for your vote.