Are you older than the internet?

[The Blackangel]

Am I the only one here who remembers a time when the internet didn't exist? When I was growing up, there was no internet. Computers were restricted to government agencies, unless you were incredibly wealthy. Computers had tubes, just like their monitors. In the early days, 16k memory was a tower the size of a grown man. For those too young to remember, 16k was the average size of any random image back then. So as a kid, I was playing outside. I was running around and playing with no form of technology aside from my cassette tapes and vinyl records.

The internet is younger than most people think. I was in my mid teens before it came into being. I'm much older than the internet, and to be honest, I miss the days when technology didn't rule our lives.

[Crazycrab]

I remember when there was no internet (at least commercially) but there has a been computers in some form or another since around the middle of the 20th century.  You would have to be in your seventies to older that the first computers, and even that if you disregard other "Computing" tools like the Abacus or the sliderule.

[Akun]

I was too young to remember the decade before the Internet boom, meaning I was born 1990. By the time I got old enough to think for myself, my parents have already bought me my first computer with Internet access around 2000. Before then though, my only source of entertainment was my television, so it was a pretty good time back then too, maybe even better considering the amount of people I've argued with online ever since I got that computer...

I've certainly went out to play with the neighborhood kids a lot less frequently now that I have an entire entertainment machine at my disposal. I would remember inviting my friends over to play with my PC though. Good times...

[runswithspatulas]

On 9/29/2022 at 1:21 PM, The Blackangel said:

Am I the only one here who remembers a time when the internet didn't exist? When I was growing up, there was no internet. Computers were restricted to government agencies, unless you were incredibly wealthy. Computers had tubes, just like their monitors. In the early days, 16k memory was a tower the size of a grown man. For those too young to remember, 16k was the average size of any random image back then. So as a kid, I was playing outside. I was running around and playing with no form of technology aside from my cassette tapes and vinyl records.

The internet is younger than most people think. I was in my mid teens before it came into being. I'm much older than the internet, and to be honest, I miss the days when technology didn't rule our lives.

I am older than the internet. My first computer was set in front of me and turned on and I had to figure it out from there. LOL!

We played outside but had to be at home and inside by the time the street lights came on in the summer. School nights we did homework and had to be in bed by 8. Summer nights we had to be in bed by 9.

We played with toys, drank from the garden hose, rode bikes, went for walks, went to the park, I played with Barbies, we ran through the sprinkler cuz the folks couldn't afford the pool. We played at other kids houses. We didn't have cell phones or internet. We also talked to people more. Now I barely speak to anyone because they never make chatter cuz they're buried in the smart phones. If they do let ya talk to them they're not listening. It affects every aspect of their lives because they can't turn them off to do anything. Plus they're always in their pockets. 

[Justin11]

Here in my geography, internet is too young to be frank. I was given birth in the early 2000s, but to be frank, internet came into limelight at mid 2000s. I started using an internet gadget around 2011, by then internet wasn't that popular in some sections here in my locality. It became so popular from 2013 upwards, when computer age children adopted the use of internet so rapidly. 

[Kyng]

Not really.

I was born in 1990, so my earliest memories are from the early-to-mid 1990s. At that point, the internet was in its infancy, and it hadn't yet made much of a cultural impact - but it certainly existed. 

Nevertheless, I didn't get connected to the internet until around April 2000 - so I have about 6 years' worth of memories of an internet-free life 🙂 . 

[svjiminfxv]

Nope. I am a lot younger than the internet. I was born in the early 2000's and I didn't start using the internet until around 2014 - 2015. 

 

[killamch89]

Not at all - the internet was around in the early 80s and I was born in the late 80s so I'm younger than the internet lol.

On 2/17/2024 at 3:34 PM, svjiminfxv said:

Nope. I am a lot younger than the internet. I was born in the early 2000's and I didn't start using the internet until around 2014 - 2015. 

Why was that?

[The Blackangel]

On 2/18/2024 at 9:42 PM, killamch89 said:

Not at all - the internet was around in the early 80s and I was born in the late 80s so I'm younger than the internet lol.

There was no internet in the 80's. I'm a child of the 80's and no such thing existed back then. Home computers were extremely rare, and the technology wasn't up to a point that was required for the internet to exist. There were a few tests, all of which failed. But there was no internet. In 1981, universities came together to form BITNET, which allowed thousands of new users to experience innovations such as file transfers for the first time. All of these new networks showed the possibilities of computer networks and helped stoke demand for a robust nationwide network like NSFNET.

[killamch89]

On 2/20/2024 at 1:15 PM, The Blackangel said:

There was no internet in the 80's. I'm a child of the 80's and no such thing existed back then. Home computers were extremely rare, and the technology wasn't up to a point that was required for the internet to exist. There were a few tests, all of which failed. But there was no internet. In 1981, universities came together to form BITNET, which allowed thousands of new users to experience innovations such as file transfers for the first time. All of these new networks showed the possibilities of computer networks and helped stoke demand for a robust nationwide network like NSFNET.

I was going off of this which said the internet started in the early 80s. I was introduced to it in the mid 90s - when it really started to boom.

[Debashis]

In India, people got access to the internet in 1995. Until then from 1986 onwards, only research institutes had access to it. I was born in 1996, so, no, I am not older than internet. 

[Bilita]

I will confess that I'm not older than the Internet, but I do remember these Apple Macs that were THE hottest items in the school computer room

[Knight Plug]

Yes.

I was born in 1986. 😄

[Ravenfreak]

I was born in 1990 so nope I'm younger than what we consider is the current internet. There were only a few universities that could connect to an early version of the internet in the mid to late 80s, but the average computer user didn't really get online until the mid 90's since it was much easier to get connected to the internet once services like AOL came to the market. I didn't have a computer growing up, but honestly I wish I did. I would have loved to be able to interact with users on forums when they were more popular in the early 00s. I didn't start using the internet daily until late 2008 after I got my laptop for graduating high school, forums were still popular but shortly after unfortunately social media started to get popular and take off.

[Shortie]

I remember the days with no internet very well. Kids played outside, socializing was more than it is now and you had to research things using the library rather than searching on Google. 

The first time I used the internet it was dial up and boy was that annoying if someone wanted to use the phone!