15 Ways That the Internet Has Gotten Better Since the '90s

With how reliant people have become on Google Maps or mapping systems built into their phones, it's a wonder that anyone was able to get anywhere before we had these technologies available. Who prints out directions or uses paper maps anymore? Honestly, anything without real-time updates seems kind of useless, doesn't it? Did people actually take road trips before Google Maps was available? Did they own maps of every possible state that they were going through? These question need to be addressed. The answers have been lost to history.

Since Napster, negative opinions on file sharing and streaming have cooled considerably, and the technology for it has only improved. Today, with Netflix, Spotify, and a plethora of other streaming services available, movies and music have become more easily useable for all. Plus, the cost of consuming culture has been cut down exponentially. Combined, Netflix and Spotify accounts will cost you $20 a month, which is roughly the cost of one CD or Blu-Ray. Is it unfair to the producers? Yes, and the process of working out the kinks of this new system will be long and arduous. But, for now, consumers have no right to complain about what the marketplace looks like for digital streaming compared to where it once was.

The emergence of websites like Amazon, eBay, and Craigslist have been a boon for anyone looking to easily buy and sell products. Before marketplaces like this existed, consumer and vending options were considerably limited, and would require extensive travel in order to reach niche markets. Now, distances like this have been bridged by the speed and accessibility of the Internet, creating connections that would have never been able to exist otherwise. On top of that, the ability to easily pay for goods and services via e-payments can't be overlooked. Instead of worrying about putting a check in the mail for things like gas and electricity and Wi-Fi, finishing up your monthly payments is just a few clicks away.

As more and more mainstream media outlets like the New York Times or CNN have shifted their focus to online content, consumers have been flooded with choice with regards to their informational sources. Even if you live over in Europe, you can still access the Times, and if you're American who decides that they want an outsider's perspective on the country, then you can easily read up on the Guardian. More importantly, this information isn't slowed down by borders or geographic distances. In the '90s, most of these older forms were completely ignoring the Web. Now, they're all stuck trying to play catch-up.

Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, and Yahoo! Answers are just a few of the websites that have allowed humans to reach out to one another for help. Whether you need a creative project funded, or are trying to figure out where you should eat for dinner, the Internet's ability to appeal to the generous nature of human beings has been considerable. Trying to scrounge together some cash to record an album with your band? Need to know exactly people mean when they say, "a pinch of salt?" The World Wide Web is here to help.

Remember floppy disks? Of course you do. But what you probably forgot about that outdated storage technology is that even the largest floppy disks could only hold about 240 MB worth of information. These days, that paltry amount of space just isn't going to cut it. Lil B releases mixtapes that are bigger than 240 MB. You probably wouldn't have been able to fit one Beyonce video on a floppy. Oh, and don't forget about how stressful it was to carry them around and worry about breaking them. Thankfully, you don't have to fret about that anymore, as cloud technology has made data and file storage accessible from any phone, tablet or computer with Internet access, and has massive amounts of free space. In 2014, even a flash drive feels outdated.

The rise in online gaming over the past 14 years has given way to one of the most fascinating sub-cultures of the Internet age, allowing a gamer playing in Texas to go head-to-head with an opponent all the way over in the Japan. Also, the development of mobile gaming on phones and tablets has created an entirely new platform of entertainment, free from larger powers like Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft. Granted, playing Snake on your old Nokia was pretty awesome back in the '90s, but 2014 has about 1,000 other games that can stand up to what your clunky Nokia had to offer.

During the days when Microsoft was still the top tech company around, their partner-in-crime was Netscape, an Internet browser that once accounted for over 90 percent of the market share. Nowadays, we're blessed with a wealth of different options, including Chrome, Safari, and Mozilla Firefox (a browser developed in close conjunction with Netscape). Because of their built-in accessibility on Macs and PCs, Safari and Internet Explorer hold the largest market share today, but each browser has its own advantages. In the end, regardless of what you choose, just be glad that you at least have more options.

Back in the '90s, having Internet access on your phone or tablet computer was still an idea reserved for The Jetsons. Now, it's expected of almost anyone who has a phone. Some will say that having a web of distractions literally at our fingertips has made us more anti-social and less present, and those concerns are valid. But don't act like the ability to answer questions in seconds and communicate with people all around the world hasn't had its benefits too. The creation of a refined portable web has been an essential innovation of the past decade.

What was life like before we had Wikipedia as a consistent reference source? Believe it or not, people actually used real, printed encyclopedias, and even programs like Encarta. Compared to the vast network of user-sourced knowledge we have with Wikipedia, old-school programs like these seem clunky and cumbersome. Even better, Wikipedia is completely free, and devoid of any advertising influence. In an Internet that is constantly under duress by corporate powers, Wikipedia stands above the rest as a mecca of accessible and (mostly) reliable information.

Anyone else still have nightmares about the sound of a dial-up connection? It sounded like your computer was on the verge of exploding or being ripped apart. Thankfully, access to the Internet is now just one, almost silent click away, and what's more: it's a lot faster too. 15 years ago, you'd have to wait days if you wanted to download anything worth more than a few MBs. Now, the waiting times have been reduced to mere minutes, allowing for greater efficiency and better sharing all around. Plus, the ability to access the Internet without a dial-up connection has allowed people to work away from home or the office, and even enabled entire cities to provide widespread Internet access via Wi-Fi.

Social media may have created the TMI generation, but that complaint fails to recognize how truly innovative social media has been in human communication and mobilization. The uses of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and various blogging platforms have given entire communities of people a place to voice their opinions, and the means to find people with whom they can share countless ideas and information. In the '90s, we had chatrooms. It's safe to say that they've gotten a considerable upgrade since then.

Even when you disregard Google Chrome (more on that later), Google is still one of the powerful additions to the Internet landscape since the network was first formed. What started as a search engine has become so much larger, as the company has made their way into the wearable computers market, the car industry, and more. Do they have an unsettling level of influence and power over your personal information? Undoubtedly. But you also can't deny that the Internet would be remarkably different without the development and emergence of this tech giant.

With YouTube, we were also given the idea of the Internet celebrity. Consider that an artist like Soulja Boy used YouTube as his platform to popularity, along with an entire roster of viral superstars. YouTube has allowed everyone to get their 15 minutes of fame, creating a new generation of one-hit wonders larger than ever before. Aside from the celebrity aspect, though, YouTube has also made Internet media far more dynamic, marrying text and video information to create a far more informative and compelling form of news reporting. Also, cat videos. The '90s has no answer to the divine healing powers of cat videos.

In the 2010's, GIFs and memes have become another form of language, corresponding certain pop culture moments to specific situations and emotions. Since blowing up on social media outlets like Tumblr, these forms of media have become the new soundbyte, serving as a pithy signifier of a social trend or a punchline made E-Z. In the '90s, developers were still trying to figure out how to embed images on their websites, much less make them an art form.