I was assigned my first e-mail address as a Freshman at the University of Arizona. It was 1991.
Professors were suppose to connect with their students regarding classes and assignments via electronic mail, but no one had a computer in those days. Students and faculty alike were meant to use the computer lab in a building several blocks from my dorm.
I can count on one hand how many times in my four years I attended college that I visited the computer lab.
All of my college papers were written on a Brother ML-500 Electronic Word Processing Typewriter. I thought I was so state of the art with my dozens of floppy disks.
My first encounter with the Internet was also in college, circa 1995. My boyfriend at the time had a desk top computer (talk about state of the art), a giant piece of machinery that took up the entire surface of his kitchen table. He even had a printer. He used an online communications system called Prodigy.
He boasted how he could “look up” anything and information would be provided right there on the screen in front of us. Sure enough, as soon as I blurted out “Madonna”, he printed out a one page biography of the controversy-making pop queen. I was astounded.
Fast forward to 2011 and you will find “248,000,000 results on ‘Madonna’ in 0.16 seconds.” on Google.
To say that times have changed is a gross understatement.
By 1996, I was on a computer every day at work, but had yet to experience the world wide web. I did have an AOL account and would go home on my lunch break to IM friends. It was amazing, just like having a phone conversation, but better and way more fun.
Five years later, my parents bought me my first lap top on which I spent hours on e-mail and on-line shopping. My favorite shopping cart at the time was at Amazon.com. Since 2001, I have made over 100 purchases on Amazon.com (of course they keep track).
Sharing this new technology with my father was for lack of a better word, sweet and amusing. He never quite accepted the concept that what you found on the Internet would remain there for you to recall another time and so he would print out everything. Having hard copies made him comfortable not to mention killed a lot of trees.
What I have found in my 15 years of Internet experience is that as long as you own a computer (or an iPhone) and have Internet access, virtually (pun intended) anything is possible.
The Internet is the best and arguably the evilest invention ever. Everything is available right at our finger tips.
Today we get our world news, entertainment and weather on line. We Tweet, Pin and Stumble. We order groceries, diapers and the latest fashions, we research, find support, self-diagnose, fall in love, plan a wedding, prepare for a baby, book an exotic vacation and connect with our entire high school graduating class, even if we never said a word to them in person. We play Scrabble with our neighbors and laugh out loud to videos of giggling babies, we download, upload, bookmark, backup and can hide away from the world if we choose.
It’s sad when you stop and think about it. With the Internet, the need for real human interaction is almost unnecessary.
Knowing what I know now, I wonder if I could go back to 1991. Could you?
This post is for Write On Edge’s weekly writing assignment RemembRED. This week’s prompt: recall those early memories of being online.
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Interesting question…knowing what we know could I go back? I think I could, but I would not choose to. I have too much fun with the technology. But I also think you bring up a cause for concern in how the internet allows us to limit actual human contact.
Interesting post. I enjoyed it.
Call me addicted, I definitely would NOT go back to 1991, but it is fun to think about it.
It is amazing how things have changed since then. There is no way I could go back to 1991. Why? Two words: Dial up.
I hear ya, dial up was PAINFUL!
Could you imagine knowing what you know now about the internet and trying to go back to 1991? HA! I also used some spectacular typewriter for college and thought it was the best that it actually has script writing….SCRIPT!!! On a typewriter! It was state. of. the. art!
Typewriters… so old school.
I remember computer labs at the university, my first chunky laptop, the amazement of the World Wide Web, my first Hotmail account.
It all seemed so long ago!
It was, it was! Look how far we’ve come?
A few weeks ago I went on an ‘E’ Holiday. No Facebook, no blog writing, no blog reading, no twitter, no pinterest etc. I did check email as this is how I communicate with my daughter’s teacher.
It was amazing. I had t.i.m.e. I never really realised how much real time was being taken up just goofing off on line. I realised I had gotten to the point where I had to manufacture blog topics as I was not living the cool stuff I used to….
I think living real life is far more fun than staring at a screen. My kids think so too!
Great post. Good to remember times when things seemed simpler.
I love it! How long was your “E” Holiday? Did you write a post about your experience? 🙂
I have been tempted to try that too. Clean the mind and unplug. I’m sure only good could come of it.
As always, I love your honesty here Tonya. It is astounding how much has changed. But yes, I wouldn’t mind hearing your voice rather than getting a bajillion google results!
I laughed at the “state of the art” line. You nailed that one- what clunkers, huh?
XO
Thanks, Galit. We’ve come a long way, baby!
I loved your post today too. Great prompt. It was really fun to go back to the early days, wasn’t it?
My dad was actually the one who taught me. He was a technophile.
Lucky you. My skills even now are limited.
Times have changed SO much.
I can’t imagine life without the Internet.
Some of my best friends have come into my life through the Internet (Yes, I’m pointing at you, Tonya!).
My children would probably love it if it were unavailable during their waking hours, though!
The feeling is mutual, dear friend. If it weren’t for this crazy thing, we may have never met. 🙁
Well if I could got back with what I know now..I could buy Stock in GOOGLE. 😉
I loved your story about how far we have come, how we thought that things back then were so “new and advanced” that’s the interesting stuff, that even today we feel so “advanced” and in the next year or years to come there will be MORE…it’s hard to imagine.
I’m just glad that the internet gave me friends like you.
Good point about the stock. We’d me gazillionaires now!! Sigh…
I totally agree. I used to read more and draw more and daydream more. Now I look for things to Pin on Pinterest. And what, really, is that getting me?
I guess the answer is JOY. If you do something you like, whether it is “worthwhile” or not, it doesn’t really matter what it is. Some people use their money to buy old coins, some to travel. I guess our time is the same.
If we went back to 1991, we would also be sitting at home waiting for people to call us back!
We’d all have so much more time on our hands if it weren’t for the Internet. Sigh…
Prodigy…my parents had that at home. And yes, my dad printed everything out. On that paper with holes on the side. Love this post.
I also remember using the computer lab at college. I seem to recall how fancy it was to find one with color options.
Thanks, Angela. Glad you could relate.
Isn’t it crazy how times change?
I started college in 95 and our school had a technology initiative… all freshmen were given a laptop(figured into our tuition, of course). It was my first computer. We had email, but it was on the school’s server, not online. We had to type in commands like “read 12” or “delete 2” or “reply 7” to get it to do things… and of course, typing out “send” Orange letters on a black screen… no pics… it was still very cool to get to talk to my friends, but wow, have things changed.
So bummed I didn’t see this prompt earlier… so instead, I type practically a whole post in your comments!
I love it. I forgot about all the antiquated comands. What a huge pain that was. Thanks for the memories. 🙂
My 77 year old mother prints out EVERYTHING. Drives me nuts. I give her credit though for keeping up with the times– to the best of her ability. The internet frustrates her to no end sometimes and she can’t figure out why so much of life MUST be conducted online. I love the internet and can’t imagine how I ever got along without it (even though I lived more than 2 decades on this planet before getting my first computer)and yet, I get where you’re coming from with the whole harken back to 1991 thing. They were simpler times in some ways, and yet so completely inefficient. It’s a strange dichotomy.
Nice post on the prompt. Thanks for taking me back in time.
It was my pleasure. It must so difficult for older (our parents’ age) generations to comprehend the mysterious ways of the Internet. The paper thing aside.
Floppy disks!! That’s right. I had a special little box to keep them all on file. Now, a usb is all you need. And Amazon? LOVE it. I don’t do any shopping anymore without price checking there first.
Yep, even today I check on line before entering a store. It has become common practice. You couldn’t do that back in the day.
We are friends GOOD Friends!!! I love steak err, I mean COW!!! So let me ask you this? Did you cry yet? Do you EVEN know how to turn a vuuacm cleaner on??? Yeah, ok.. so like you make money online and all that jazz but come on?? Hiring a cow to do the dishes, the laundry, etc Sheesh!!!For all we know, the COW set this all up himself just to get the hell out of your house!!! BTW and this is TOTALLY unrelated. I was researching on Wikipedia about cows a little bit. Um if I happened to have a cow as a pet, how often does one need to feed it? Again totally unrelated question more less just curious. Garry Conns last blog post..
It would be so difficult to go back to a time without computers and the Internet. Going to school the Internet made it so much easier to write essays, research papers, etc. It also saved me from countless trips to the library.
I used to be so jealous of friends that had encyclopedia sets. Funny, huh?
I wish we could find a happy medium. A place where we can still use all this wonderful technology, but not have it distract from personal interactions.
Could I go back, no way. I like sitting on my couch with my laptop. Computer labs were painful!
I know, I hear ya. I need to learn to unplug and enjoy life and face-to-face communications.
No, I would not go back to a technology-free world. Also, by the time our kids are our age? I can’t even imagine what it’ll be like!
Shut the front door! You went to U of A? I used to live at Swan and Speedway. I road my bike to graduate classes at there. Small world…and Bear Down.
Ahem. I love this post because it makes me think. Would I go back? Part of me welcomes the release from distraction, the ability to be more present, to be thoughtful during phone calls and that ol’ eye contact thing.
But then..it’s so much fun!
I did write a post about my ‘e’ holiday. Here is the link.
http://bbeingcool.blogspot.com/2011/08/i-took-e-holiday.html#.TnAgoHPtFe4
Can I just say, I think it is amazing that you respond to every comment! I have often wondered what the blogging etiquette is here. I am going to try to do that more. Very cool. Good on you, you lovely thing!
I love that we are the same age! I was a Macintosh when Apple wasn’t cool. An old black and white that I used only for word processing was gifted to me to replace my Brother Word Processor. The crazy thing is that it cost just about as much as a Macbook does today.
I didn’t start using the internet until maybe 1997.. but I think I would need a happy medium. Maybe not the sick dependance I have on it now but not having it totally disapear either.
In 1991 I’d just graduated college (yep, I’m that old) and started my first office job. The work environment was really different then, since people didn’t have PCs. We typed letters and MAILED them. Yes, snail mail. Which let you work at an incredibly slower pace than how you work today. It was nice!
Wow, 1991? I thought I was early in 1994. I remember my first time on the internet it was so slow I remember thinking it would never take off. 😉 So um, no, I couldn’t go back to 1991!
Hm, I was 12, and had no interest in computers. I did however, still love horses and was beginning to notice boys and music.
I am thankful that I got to be a child in a world without daily computer usage.
I didn’t discover e-mail and the Internet until just before I graduated from college in 1997. However, my addiction was swift and merciless – within a year I was hooked. I don’t think I ever *could* go back to a time before Internet. But some days I’d sure like to.