Hello, Lainons. I've been on lainchan for a handful of years now, generally lurking, because I much prefer this site to 4chan, namely /g/ and /r9k/.
Recently, however, I've really begun to think a bit deeper about my relationship with the series Serial Experiments Lain. I watched the show when I was a much, much younger teenager (about fourteen at the time), and now I'm a grown man, and looking back after all of these years, I've come to realize just how much a simple 13 episode show (plus the playstation game and the one-shot manga, I guess) completely changed my life.
I watched the show for the first time at a particularly low point in my life when I felt incredibly disconnected from people while simultaneously attempting to fill that void through overusing social media, so I imagine that seeing Lain's progression through the show served as a bigger slap in the face for how I interact with the internet than I even really knew at the time. It showed me how beautiful the thirst for knowledge and control over one's technology can be while also demonstrating just how dangerous these desires can become when taken to extremes, and most importantly, Lain taught me how impossibly limited the internet ultimately is. There's no need to reword it, because Lain herself put it perfectly: "No matter how real the wired is, the real world will always be more real."
I've stuggled on-and-off with mental health, largely as a result of feeling robotic or simply misaligned in trying to interface with people in the real world rather than the internet, but if there really was anything to be taken from Lain, it's that that struggle to be seen and to feel real connections in the real world is worth it.
Personally, in the years that have followed watching Lain, I've gravitated to studying computer science in university (with the hopes of going into research), delving into philosophy, and exploring alternate means of technology that focus on giving users more control in exchange for greater investment in their knowledge (such as Linux devices, emulation hacking, etc.). Fundamentally, it's no different than the standard Lainon interests, and despite being so thoroughly unoriginal, I can't help but feel a somewhat personal connection to the series now as a result.
It's funny how an intentionally-confusing, long-forgotten series from long before I was born could have such a profound impact on my life. Let's all love Lain, okay guys? I owe her at least that much.