The dormant person feeling is a feeling I find myself having on the Internet often. Casually browsing the Internet, I find myself reading through threads and websites that don’t look like they’ve been updated since 2009, or 2010, or ${currentYear - 10}. Profiles that haven’t posted in so long either.
When I see just how long ago their last activity was, it gives me the feeling, which I can only describe as a mix of concern, curiosity, and empathy. In my head, I go “I wonder how they are doing now”, and “are they alive and well?”. Sometimes I find myself “investigating” them or looking them up to see if they are still alive just so I can satiate this feeling of mine.
Do other people experience the dormant person feeling too? Is it wrong to have such a feeling? But hey, if I feel the dormant person feeling, it does show that I do have empathy for strangers, a good quality, I suppose.
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I come across ancient threads all the time when looking up tech problems. Sometimes you find still working solutions amidst the broken links and defunct profiles, other times it’s DenverCoder9.
I used to get that feeling now and then, not a need to “investigate” them, but a small sense of lonliness seeing that a place that was bustling with conversation and community isn’t anymore.
I think it lessens as you age though.
There are countless situations in life that can cause people to move on from a group, hobby, social circle, forum, etc. I’d argue that most of them are perfectly normal and healthy, like having kids, moving, finding new hobbies, changing jobs, life events changing free time, making new friends, finding a new partner, etc.
Sometimes people find their way back, sometimes they don’t.
People don’t stay the same forever, so their interests and how they spend their time won’t either. I think life would be very boring if that wasn’t the case.
I do this with old musicians. I listen to a lot of Indy type stuff and ill see they haven’t released in years… It makes me wonder. At the same time the entertainment industry and life is pretty bullshit so good on them if they left it.
Also old YouTuber before things were viral and completely soulless.
I’m really big on indie musicians too, can relate. One indie musician I found had their last release in March 2024. YouTube put one of their in my feed from 8 years ago (which made me investigate). I told another indie musician I know about the person and it turns out that they have cancer. They are still alive and battling it, and I really hope they get better soon.
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I dont. I get a sense of happiness when I read through old threads and blogs because I’m basically looking through a portal to that year. Its like reading an old book it gives you perspective of how people felt at that moment in history.
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