The internet used to be a much smaller, weirder place. Before TikTok's hyper-polished influencers began dominating every waking second of our digital attention, there was a specific corner of the web dedicated to the mundane. It was called My Life Is Average. You might remember it as MLIA. It wasn't about the grand vacations or the perfect avocado toast. It was about the time you accidentally wore two different shoes to school and nobody noticed. Or the time you found a five-dollar bill in a pair of jeans you hadn't worn since 2012.
It was glorious.
In a world that constantly demands we be "extra," MLIA was a sanctuary for the "meh." It launched around 2009, right as the "status update" culture of Facebook was beginning to make everyone feel like they needed to be doing something incredible at all times. The My Life Is Average website flipped the script. It provided a platform where the most boring, relatable, and mildly amusing anecdotes of daily life weren't just welcomed—they were the entire point.
What Actually Made the My Life Is Average Website Work?
It’s hard to explain the vibe to someone who wasn't there. Basically, the site was a feed of short, text-based stories. Every post ended with the acronym "MLIA." It was the direct antithesis to its sister site, FMyLife (FML), which focused on the disastrous and the depressing. While FML was about the car breaking down on the way to a wedding, MLIA was about the car starting perfectly fine, but you realized you'd been listening to the same CD for three months and didn't mind.
The magic was in the lack of stakes.
Honestly, the site thrived because it tapped into a very specific kind of teenage and young adult humor. It was "random." This was the era of "the cake is a lie" and "ninja" jokes. If you look back at the archives now, some of it feels dated, sure. But the core sentiment—that life is mostly just a series of unremarkable events—remains surprisingly fresh. In 2026, as we deal with the fallout of AI-generated "perfection" and the pressure of the creator economy, the simplicity of a site that celebrated being average feels almost radical.
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The community was the backbone. Users would vote on stories using a simple "Average" or "Not Average" button. It wasn't about clout or followers. You didn't have a profile picture that mattered. You were just a voice in the crowd sharing a moment of suburban zen.
The Evolution of the Mundane Online
Why did we stop going there? It wasn't a sudden death. Like many of the great Web 2.0 staples—think bash.org or the original Digg—the My Life Is Average website eventually suffered from a shift in how we consume content. Mobile apps started to prioritize visual media. Text-heavy sites began to feel like homework to a generation raised on Vine and then Instagram.
But the spirit of MLIA never actually left. It just migrated.
- Reddit's r/notinteresting: This is arguably the spiritual successor. People post photos of a glass of water or a plain white wall. It’s the same celebration of the "nothingness" of life.
- BeReal: While it’s marketed as "authentic," the most popular BeReal posts are often the ones where people are just sitting on their couch watching Netflix. That is pure MLIA energy.
- Corecore/Nichetok: These TikTok subcultures often focus on the quiet, repetitive nature of existence, though they wrap it in a layer of post-modern irony that MLIA didn't really have.
The original site became a bit of a ghost town, overrun by bots and repetitive "ninja" stories that lost their charm around 2014. If you visit today, it’s a skeleton of its former self. Yet, the data shows that people still search for it. We are nostalgic for a time when the internet felt like a shared diary instead of a competitive marketplace.
The Psychology of "Average"
Psychologically, there’s a comfort in being average. Researchers often talk about the "Better-Than-Average Effect," where most people believe they are more skilled or likable than the median. MLIA was the one place where people actively sought to prove they weren't special. It was a collective sigh of relief.
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There is a certain nuance to this. By claiming to be average, users were actually building a community of like-minded people. It was a "special" kind of average. It was an identity. You weren't a "normie" in the derogatory sense; you were someone who appreciated the quiet irony of a life lived in the middle of the bell curve.
Why We Still Need This Energy in 2026
We are currently drowning in "peak" content. Every video is a 10/10. Every thumbnail is a shocked face. The My Life Is Average website reminded us that a 5/10 life is actually pretty great. It’s stable. It’s safe. It’s relatable.
When we look at the burnout rates among Gen Z and Millennials, a lot of it stems from the "hustle" and the need to curate a brand. MLIA didn't have brands. It had people talking about how they accidentally called their teacher "Mom" and survived the embarrassment.
Real Talk: Was it all good?
Not exactly. Like any unmoderated or loosely moderated text site from the late 2000s, it had its issues. The "randomness" could get repetitive. You’d see the same five tropes—Harry Potter references, "ninja" sightings, and "my mom is cool" stories—recycled endlessly. It wasn't high literature. But it was human.
If you compare the archives of MLIA to a modern LinkedIn feed, the MLIA posts are infinitely more honest. A LinkedIn post about a "boring" day is usually a setup for a "growth mindset" lesson. An MLIA post was just... a post.
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- Honesty: No hidden agenda.
- Brevity: Most posts were under 50 words.
- Anonymity: You could be anyone.
What We Can Learn from the MLIA Era
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the digital noise of today, there are practical ways to bring the MLIA philosophy back into your life. You don't need the website to be active to live an "average" and fulfilling existence.
Document the mundane. Instead of only taking photos of your fancy dinner, take a photo of the weirdly shaped potato you peeled. Keep a "boring diary." It sounds silly, but looking back at the small, insignificant moments of your day can be more grounding than looking at a highlight reel.
Stop optimizing everything. Not every hobby needs to be a side hustle. Not every workout needs to be tracked on an app and shared. Sometimes, the goal can just be "I did it, and it was okay."
Find your low-stakes community. Look for spaces where the pressure to perform is low. This might be a small Discord server, a local hobby group, or even just a group chat where you’re allowed to be "boring."
The My Life Is Average website might be a relic of a different internet, but its message is more relevant than ever. In a world obsessed with being the best, there is a profound peace in being perfectly, contentedly average.
Practical Steps to Reclaim Your Average Life
To apply the MLIA mindset today, start small. Try these things:
- The "Un-Instagrammable" Photo: Once a day, take a photo of something completely ordinary—your messy desk, a puddle, a half-eaten sandwich—and keep it just for yourself. It breaks the habit of performing for an audience.
- Low-Stakes Sharing: Send a text to a friend about something mildly interesting that happened today that has zero consequence. "I saw a bird that looked like it was wearing a hat." No follow-up needed.
- Audit Your Feed: Unfollow three accounts that make you feel like your life isn't "enough." Replace them with nothing. Enjoy the extra five minutes of boredom.
- Embrace the "Medium" Effort: Pick one task today and decide to do an "average" job on it. Not a bad job, but not a "perfect" job. See how much energy you save.
Life isn't a movie. It's a series of average moments punctuated by occasional excitement and occasional sadness. The sooner we embrace the vast middle ground, the happier we tend to be. MLIA.