It’s early 2025, and I’ve made a decision that might seem a bit foolish: reviving my blog. Why foolish? Well, it’s kind of like trying to send handwritten letters to your friends instead of a WhatsApp message when you want to meet up for a drink. It doesn’t make much sense. But I’m doing it because I believe the internet was a better place when blogs ruled, and that magic is fading away.

Blogs were all the rage back in the 2000s, hitting peak popularity around 2010. But a lot has happened since then. With the rise of social media and other ways to create content, blogs have lost their dominance. While people still publish blog posts, they’re more often than not used to improve a company’s SEO or exploit niches in somewhat dubious ways. Try searching for a review of a product you’re interested in, and you’ll likely only find blog posts generated solely to make money with Amazon affiliates through information of questionable quality.

On top of that, written content is being consumed less and less. Competing with YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok videos is no easy feat. Videos are easier to consume, and today’s content creators and influencers are masters at creating engaging videos that rack up millions of views. How can a simple blog compete with videos with music and fancy editing?

But I’m stubborn persistent, and I enjoy the written word. But then, why not use Substack? If in 2015 everyone had a blog, it seems that in 2025 everyone has a newsletter. After all, platforms like Substack give you all the tools you need to focus on writing and reach a wide audience without much hassle. Some people even monetize them and make good money. I admit I’ve considered it (using Substack), but I’m concerned about an external company deciding what to do with the content I generate, however simple it may be. I also believe that part of the beauty of blogs is sharing openly with everyone, making content easily accessible from anywhere. That doesn’t happen with newsletters.

You can also write on social media, as many people do. You can certainly get more visibility that way. But my impression is that social media has led us to short posts without much substance. It has led us to a culture of “mic drop” moments that shut down debate immediately, eliminating the possibility of reply; to sharing only the beautiful part of our lives, ignoring that life is more than just good times. In short, it has led us to create content that is good for algorithms but doesn’t really contribute much. To comment on the news of the moment, but to reflect little.

Now we have generative AI, improving by leaps and bounds and perhaps changing the world as we know it. Any artificial intelligence today can churn out posts on any topic you want. But this content lacks that “spark” that tells you the person writing it has something special, and that the content you’re reading is different. That it’s good.

So why, Rubén? Why revive a blog in 2025? Writing a blog has always had its advantages. And those advantages remain the same. It helps you organize your thoughts, because that’s something we all do when we’re forced to write them down. Explaining your knowledge helps you understand it better, because as the great physicist Richard Feynman said, “If you can’t explain something in simple terms, you don’t understand it”. But it’s true that this is nothing you can’t achieve by creating video or podcast content. The barrier to entry is somewhat lower, because while creating a good written post takes time, creating a good quality video or podcast is much more complex.

Yes, although the advantages of blogging are still there, my main motivation doesn’t lie in them. My main motivation is to fight against the dead internet theory: that all current content is fake and generated by bots. Of course, that conspiracy theory isn’t true, but I do have the feeling that the quality of written content you can find on the internet is getting worse. And not just because it’s auto-generated content. However, there are still some paid media outlets that seek to create good written content, or individuals who continue to write high-quality articles (although they are sometimes difficult to find among so much noise). My problem is that I no longer have the feeling that on the internet anyone could have something interesting to say, that every day you can discover someone new publishing something fascinating on any topic. I don’t have that feeling that good ideas are being heard.

This is because the ideas expressed are much more homogeneous today. If you want money, you need views. And if you need views, you have to please an algorithm. Anything goes to achieve that goal: clickbait, fake news, stale content, formulas repeated ad nauseam… Anything goes as long as the algorithm brings you views. Content is secondary.

I’m not fooling myself. I’m not anyone important. I’m not particularly interesting either. I’m not a writer, nor am I a trendsetter. The content I generate probably won’t be great. My ideas probably don’t matter much. My personal projects, the things I learn along the way, what motivates me, won’t be important to almost anyone.

But that was the beauty of the internet: anyone could write something that mattered to many people; that made them think, that started a debate, that helped them learn or have a good time. And you didn’t have to be anyone. Even if what you create doesn’t go viral, and millions of people don’t like it. The important thing is to share. In short, the internet of blogs was better. Let’s go back to the internet of the past.