🪸 6 Predictions for 2026: Social-Media-Free Edition
Let's talk about the internet in the year ahead!
Today I’m popping in with a few predictions for the year ahead, particularly in the realms of the indie web, creative tech, and online business.
These more/less predictions are drawn from the work of amazing people and companies like Sari Azout of Sublime, Afterthoughts, Amelia Wattenberger, 404 Media, Paris Marx, and Gabrielle Feather.
In addition to these predictions, you can also tune in to the podcast this week where I’m sharing daily episodes for your 2026 Creative Marketing Toolkit! It’s a free, of-the-moment marketing class where you’ll learn about SEO, AI, blogging, email, newsletters, events, trends, and more.
Find the toolkit on Apple or Spotify, then keep scrolling to read my Clubhouse-exclusive predictions! All six are free, and there’s a bonus one for paid subscribers only.
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6 Indie Web/Biz Predictions for 2026
🌞 MORE SOLARPUNK, LESS AI JUNK — The rise of AI is creating a new resistance movement that loves DIY culture, analog technology, and being offline. I’m a fan of these shifts, but also want to avoid their more superficial sides. This video from Sam of Afterthoughts gets at the reasons why action needs to underpin ideology.
🌜 MORE EXISTING, LESS EXITING — I loved this year-in-biz recap from Sari Azout the founder of The Sublime, and one line really stood out to me: “Most businesses have an exit strategy. I wanted an exist strategy.” YES! More businesses (including tech platforms and apps) can be built for pleasure, purpose, and long-lasting impact.
🧶 MORE TEXTURE, LESS TOUCHSCREEN — This insight came from a gorgeous, illustrated essay by Amelia Wattenberger, where she argues that our interfaces have lost their senses because everything lives behind a glass screen. One line from this haunts me daily: “We made painting feel like typing, but we should’ve made typing feel like painting.” More texture, more tactility, and more handcraft in 2026.
🤝 MORE LOANING/OWNING, LESS… WHATEVER NETFLIX IS DOING — Last year I became obsessed with my local library. It started with borrowing paperbacks, then audiobooks on Libby. By summer, I was streaming music for free on Hoopla, then I bought a DVD player, so I could borrow movies too.
With the increased costs and proliferation of streaming services (not to mention Netflix’s attempt to ruin Hollywood), I think the new “cord cutting” will be cancelling your HBO Max subscription in favor of secondhand physical media. 404 Media wrote a great piece on this that’s worth reading whether you’re a Netflix fan or not.
🔐 MORE PRIVACY, LESS PUBLIC PERFORMANCE — In 2026, I think we’re transitioning to ProtonMail. We’re moving our group chats to Signal. We’re looking into privacy-focused phones. And as business owners, we’re putting more and more behind a paywall.
I’m not interested in being “performatively offline,” but I am all-in on being more private online. I agree with J Wortham that there will be a rise in the screen-free scene this year, but I’m more interested in radical rejections of online surveillance.
🌎 MORE INTERNATIONAL INTERNET, LESS US TECH SUPREMACY — Paris Marx is a Canadian journalist who hosts one of my favorite podcasts, Tech Won’t Save Us. For the past year, I’ve been following along as he documents his journey getting off US tech, and I think we’ll see more people doing this in 2026!
I’m especially thinking about this after my year-end conversation with Amanda Laird, where I learned a few ways that that Canadian social media is fundamentally different than US social media. You can listen to that episode here. Our Canada-chat starts around 33 minutes.
Amelia Hruby, PhD
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