Just as it’s still possible (though seldom necessary) to ride a horse, it is still possible to surf the internet. It’s a thrill not yet lost to time.

By “surfing the internet” I don’t just mean going online. I mean exploring the internet solely by following hyperlinks from page to page, with no clear destination except for that one wonderful, as-yet-unknown website that will amaze and enthrall you when you find it, the one that will seem like it’s been waiting for you your whole life and which you can’t get enough of.

To surf, you must begin on a normal website with outbound links, and avoid all the algorithm-driven thoroughfares (Reddit, YouTube, X, any “apps”) that direct most of today’s internet traffic. You also have to be on a real computer, not a phone. If you end up on social media, you’re no longer surfing.

Younger readers may not even know that the internet used to be made entirely of websites, created by human beings, connected only by hyperlinks. Hyperlinks served as signposts, hand-placed by other humans, to point fellow travelers to unique locations they would not otherwise have known about. There were no corporate-owned thoroughfares, just many pathways shooting off from each clearing, marked by these handmade signs, beckoning you onward to some other place in the wilderness.