Image via Complex Original
The Internet has come a long way since its early days. It was first used in academia during the 80s, and became a worldwide network during the 90s. But even then, the Internet had a lot of wrinkles it needed to iron out, which were only going to come with years of trial and error, leading us to what we have today. Around the year 2000, the Internet made its way into households and classrooms around the world, and as computers and laptops became more affordable, do did Internet services. As we head into 2014, there are some kids who have never heard the sound of a dial-up modem (or who have never even heard of the term.) So, for the record, here are the Lamest Things About The Early Internet Era—be glad you lived to see today's generation.
But keep in mind: one day what we have now will be considered prehistoric.
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Slow Dial-Up Modem Connections
Wireless broadband Internet? Please, in your wildest dreams. What we have today is a luxury. Once you were (hopefully) hooked up to the Internet back then, you'd have to give yourself a few minutes for a page to load. It would be the "perfect" time to get some cereal or snacks (what else were you going to do with your time?), and by the time you got back, MAYBE, just maybe, it might be loaded.
Kazaa and Morpheus Viruses
Before we could easily plug in a YouTube link into a site and have it rip a song in seconds, or download complete albums through torrenting sites, we had Kazaa and Morpheus, a place where we could get all the low-quality music and flicks we wanted—just after we went through three different kinds of viruses and buggy downloads that might take two days to finish. Viruses are still a possibility with torrenting now, but at least sites like Pirate Bay have comment sections where users can warn you. Back then, it was on you if you caught something.
No Wikipedia
Wikipedia, for all of its mistakes, is an expansive source of knowledge. Free information you and reference to any time you'd like. It beats having to buy 15 huge stacks of Encyclopaedia Britannica to collect dust on our shelves—though they are more reliable.
Internet Explorer Was the Best You Could Get
Today, the most popular browsers are Safari and Chrome, but back then, Internet Explorer reigned supreme. And when's the last time you used that?
Not Being Able to Use the House Phone
In the early days of the Internet, people had to hook up their computers to through their phone connections in order to get online. God forbid if your mom picked up the phone to call her friend, because if you were online—BAM—disconnected instantly. "Mom! I'm on the computer!" echoed throughout households across the country. If you were talking to your boo on AIM, you could have been waiting for her to respond back to your message for minutes until you realized you had been disconnected long ago.
Hourly Rates for Access to AOL
Back in 1993, you'd get five hours of America Online use for $9.95 (though the company became famous for sending out CDs in the mail that offered free online time.) An AOL press release from that year can about give you a picture of what Internet life was back then:
"America Online expects that 90 percent of its customers will not use more than 5 hours per month so they'll just pay a fixed rate of $9.95. Heavy users will be able to purchase additional online time (beyond the initial 5 free hours) at the rate of $3.50 per hour."
No e-Commerce Sites
Amazon was around back in 1994, but its main focus was books. eBay was founded a year later, but the Internet wasn't as big as it was today, so it didn't truly emerge an alternative to going to the mall until the last decade. Think of all the gas money you've saved thanks to e-commerce sites. It's a luxury we take for granted today.
Spam
As our grasp on the Internet advanced, so did our ability to fight spam. Spam has been an enemy of email from the beginning, and all of those "I'm a Nigerian prince and I need your help" emails were a regular occurence. Now, the worst email you can get is a Reply All from someone who doesn't know how to use email correctly.
X-Rated Site Passwords
If you thought it was easy getting into adult sites now, it was a lot harder in the early 90s. Many sites were in lock down mode, and you either had to pay to get a username or password, or you could pass the time trying to guess someone's username and password. Back then, a free, open place like YouPorn would have been inconceivable.
Long Wait Times for Images to Load
If you thought wait times for pages were slow, imagine if that page had a handful of images. If the text was able to load, your images might still be blurry, pixelated representations of themselves. Now we have high resolution images that load within seconds—a decade and a half ago it would have taken 15 minutes to load.
No Smartphones
If you wanted to be online, you had to be at a desk, on a chair, and staring at a 17-inch screen. Now, you can do it all on your phone or tablet, while walking, or laying down, or in the movie theatre (you know you're guilty.)
That would have been crazy to think of in the early 90s.
Chat Rooms/Bulletin Boards
Chat rooms were a huge part of the AIM generation culture. Hit up a chat room for Sports, Video Games, or Dating, with the idea you'd connect with like-minded people, but you'd end up getting spammed to death, or get into messaging fights with users named DOG1234 or LilSexToy6969. You think comments on Facebook are harsh? It was even worse on an AIM chatroom. Complete anonymity—no names, no pictures.
Text Based Online Gaming
We can play PS2-looking games on our phones now, just to pass the time. In the early days of the Internet, people used text-based games because they used less computer processing power than graphics-based games ("graphic-based games," doesn't that just sound odd?)
The video above is an example of one of these text based games, and why you should be glad we don't ever have to look back to a time like that.
The Sound of Dial-Up
Many of you have never heard this sound in person. Everytime we had to connect to the Internet, we'd have to watch our screen as our computer attempted to connect with the World Wide Web, as this sound played. If that sound stopped and didn't finish all the way to its final static-filled ending, that meant you were going to have a bad time trying to connect.
No Grumpy Cat or Lil Bub
How much better is the world now that we have cat-based memes like Grumpy Cat Lil Bub and Nyan Cat? Dogs might be man's best friend IRL, but in the digital realm, cats have emerged as our best online friend.
