Ephemeral : What if everything disappeared tomorrow ?

Inspiration. A seemingly simple topic, yet it has led me to wander and reflect on a broader reality.

Everything is ephemeral.

And failing to prepare for that can be devastating.

How did I get here ?

I was born in 1991. I’ve witnessed technology evolve—from the Nokia 3310 and limited internet plans to a phone more powerful than a computer, fitting right in our pocket. Today, with a simple internet connection, an infinite amount of knowledge is within reach. And with tools like Perplexity, research has never been faster…

I used to feel a sense of freedom, as if the internet belonged to us.

But the habits the web has instilled in our daily lives are now being challenged, particularly with the rise of AI.

Some fully embrace it, others reject it outright. Me ? I have mixed feelings.

Like nuclear energy, AI can be a force for progress—or a potential threat. It all depends on how it’s used. But that’s a discussion for another time.

So far, nothing groundbreaking, you might say. But the realization was about to hit me.

Every day, I follow a routine : browsing Pinterest, Behance, and other platforms for inspiration. But lately, everything feels less authentic, especially on Pinterest.

And then, the rules keep changing unpredictably. I used Pinterest to gather drawing references, like Gesture studies, but now, some images are suddenly removed, even though they never posed any artistic issue before.

Hours of research lost, and the constant fear of my account disappearing at any moment looms over me.

We can disagree, we can be frustrated. But what many of us, especially those who experienced the early internet, seem to have forgotten is that we do not own the internet.

Content can vanish overnight—whether due to a platform’s decision, regulations, or simply because a creator chooses to delete their work. How many times have I seen invaluable articles disappear without warning ?

The Return to Local Storage

Recently, I wrote an article titled The Chimera of Perfect Tools— https://twigg.social/@metahussard/the-chimera-of-perfect-tools, where I shared how I found a note-taking and task management method that truly works for me.

Building on that and reflecting on the fragility of our digital world, I started exploring a workflow that would safeguard my hours of research and prevent valuable content from vanishing into thin air.

For that, I turned to two applications: Obsidian and Eagle.

Eagle is a tool that lets you collect, search, and organize your files (images, etc.) in one place. It’s like Pinterest, but local—and even more powerful.

Instead of saving my discoveries on Pinterest, I now store them in Eagle. Everything stays local, and I remain in control.

But there’s a flaw. Eagle isn’t open-source, meaning it could disappear overnight.

That’s why, alongside Eagle, I turned to Obsidian, both for note-taking and storing my inspirations.

For my notes, I created a Vault with minimal plugins to keep the experience similar to Bear. In the future, the FolderFile-Splitter plugin will allow tag-based organization, making file management more flexible. I hope it will work similarly to Bear.

For now, I’m sticking with Bear. The app suits me perfectly, allows Markdown exports if needed, and syncs smoothly via iCloud Drive. Apple would have to disappear or make a drastic decision for this setup to become a problem.

For images, I created another Vault using the Media Companion plugin. It generates a gallery of all my images and enables searching by tags, file extensions, or even colors. Additionally, the sidebar allows me to add various details like notes and tags.

One way or another, I’ll always have a functional backup solution.

Better Safe Than Sorry

This isn’t a rant against any particular platform—just thoughts that surfaced. As the saying goes, better safe than sorry.

Not long ago, some things seemed impossible. Today, what still is ?

AI and recent events have made me realize that nothing is guaranteed, and nothing is set in stone. What was true yesterday or today might not be tomorrow.

We cannot control everything. Some things slip beyond our grasp, and that’s just life. But we can adapt. It’s better to anticipate than to suffer the consequences.

This is the way (I had to place it).

We must remember that our data is not truly ours as long as it’s stored on external platforms.

And above all, we should focus on what really matters and keep in mind that we are still the true masters of the game.