Remember life before the internet?

[Lyris]

I wouldn't be able to survive without the web. It's hooked me up with contacts that I've really benefitted from (so far) that I wouldn't have otherwise met. And being able to talk to people online with lessened consequences when compared to real-life people was very important for self confidence when I was a fumbly teenager.

I've used the net since I was about 8, I think. I do miss the days of Netscape Navigator Gold and what the web was like before media douchebags descended down upon it and started shaping it into "Television Version 2".

[Wil]

Having grown up, pretty much without computers, let alone the net, I have a real love/hate relationship with the net.

I love it for the communication and for the amount of cool stuff it lets me see and hear (and that anyone can get on there and get stuff out) but I sort of hate it for the same reason. It's a one-stop shop. Any problem - just sit in front of the computer and look it up.

And despite the crazy prices I do miss the indie import shop bonanza of the late 80s/early 90s. The sense of discovery seemed far greater and satisfying.

Would I miss it? Yes, but I'd get over it.

[Darwock]

My first experience of the internet was when I started University. Web pages were so slow in those days that I can't say I really made much use of it, but one day I remember being amazed to find the FF7 music was downloadable. After that I went in to the computer lab to get one track a day (took a couple of hours for each one!) and then put them on a cassette tape so I could listen at home.

This is shameful but true - my real goal in getting a PC/internet at home was so I could download a copy of "Uptown Girl" by Billy Joel, I loved that song as a kid but was too embarrassed to buy a CD as an adult. Buying a 1500 pound computer seemed far more sensible. So in the early days I used it for getting music and joining chatrooms. Then came ebay, and there I discovered I could buy all the Zoids I had wanted when I was a kid too. That eventually led me into forums via a Zoids group, which progressed to videogame forums.

Once I started working full time I think it's fair to say I developed a bit of an addiction. That's not to say I can't live without the internet, as I have done... but when I do have the net available I tend to abuse it and spend far too long reading and posting stuff.

Life may be 'healthier' without it but I can safely say I would be a lesser person too. It has really broadened my horizons.

[Lyris]

This is pretty relevant to this thread.

Geocities is closing.

There goes the last part of the 1990s web :/

[buster_broon]

I got my first computer around July 2001 whic is when i joined eBay suprisingly enough

I was using the tinterweb for about a year before that, The Dreamcast was my original foray into the World Wide Web

Using the Dreamcast has a few drawbacks but otherwise it was an enjoyable experience

Unsure if anybody else can remember, but with the DC there was a few restrictions

anything that involved a tick in a square box was fine, but if you had to stick a dot in a circle it wouldn't recognise it and on websites which had the dot/circle to join i couldnt get onto their websites

[Big Seany]

I hate the internets.

[NW2013]

Ha ha, I forgot to add my first Internet connection, around '93, didn't last that long. My Mam was paying for it then one day I was very cheeky to her when my mates were around and she disconnected it without telling me!!

I wasn't very happy but totally deserved it.

[browngirl]

my first taste of the internet was back in 1997, bought my first pc, a p75 with 4 meg of ram and 750mb harddrive mostly used for chat rooms and surfing the net, then along game a game called quake, then quakeworld and then wireplay, hello £500 per quarter phone bills, then it went to monthly subs but still was costing me about £30 month.

oh the fun at downloading the latest quake patch at 3k a sec

yet today people mone about paying £15 - £30 per month for 10meg+ broadband.........................