There’s nothing really new on the internet but This Website Will Self Destruct, a website that will delete itself if nobody posts on it for 24 hours, may be just the thing we all needed at this moment.

The concept’s an interesting one: The website has a counter — 86,400 seconds — which, if it reaches zero, will delete the entire site. All of it. Gone. Poof. The counter is reset whenever anyone posts a message in the simple form. A comment on the brief nature of life? Or an illustration of how connections keep us going? Or maybe it’s just a gimmicky idea to get folks clicking on the website.

It doesn’t matter

Whatever the reason for the site, folks seem to be using it to feel better, to voice fears (even if it’s into the void) or express hope about a terrible situation. There are confessions of love, shout-outs to bands, and exhortations to do something with the time that we have. It’s all surprisingly touching and rather wholesome. And we could all do with a little wholesome right about now.

Even if we know for sure it’s not going to last. Eventually, everyone will forget to keep posting and 24 hours will pass unnoticed and all of those hopes and fears will just disappear, as though they never existed. And that’s okay too.

Travel on over to This Website Will Self Destruct and leave a message or read a few of the anonymous messages others have left. We’ve had a click-through a couple and messages veer from whimsical to scared to hopeful. It’s all so very… human.