The internet is such a part of the fabric of our society and lives that it can be startling to remember that it’s only really been around for thirty or so years, give or take.

Which means there are millions of people who remember life without it, and are, as it were, sort of pioneers.

If that’s you, you’ll definitely remember at least a few of these things.

Ah, memories.

Pictures loading one line at a time.

clicks nude

Goes to kitchen, opens freezer, removes burrito, unwraps burrito, puts burrito in microwave, sets time, hits start

goes back to computer

“Wow, pretty eyes. Nice lips.”

microwave beeps

Goes back to microwave, removes burrito, goes to fridge, gets can of Mountain Dew, carries food back to computer

“Mmmm, shapely neck! Nice shoulders. I bet her rack is awesome.”

Checks watch, debates opening Minesweeper, but afraid it might slow down the nude pic rendering, decides not to open Minesweeper

The best of the best.

ICQ,

winamp skins,

CDs to access internet,

and the best of the best : the glorious 56k modem dialing sound

You can’t just stare.

Having a stack of magazines or something else by the computer to distract yourself while a webpage loads.

or worst when you have to download updates…

The good old days.

Chatrooms that were filled with people instead of porn-bots.

16/f/HI.

Cause 16 sounded old when I was in middle school and saying Hawaii let me think that predators could never find me

A little time capsule.

Napster.

And Limewire. I still have that huge hard drive full of music.

I’m gonna open it up on an air gapped machine one day and have a good laugh at what I find I’m sure. Especially the random file names.

It’s like my own little Xennial time capsule.

I had forgotten all of this.

Personal web pages. With counters & the construction sign image.

Sign the guest book!

Judgement allowed.

Netscape Navigator.

“Optimized for Netscape Navigator. Best viewed at 800×600 or higher resolution.” Back when websites would judge you for the rig you could afford.

Can you imagine?

Amazon.com being a bookstore.

Their MCC (Merchant Category Code) is still “Bookstore.” US Bank used to have “Bookstores” as a 5% cash back option with the Cash+ credit card.

They eventually removed that as an option, but not until after I spent $10,000 at Amazon and got 5% off.

“Real” maps.

Using Mapquest to download turn by turn directions for vacation and it being a massive stack of papers sometimes.

Killed the toner one time in the printer had to go get more before we could get the last few pages.

Le tired.

Google had no ads, and bragged about it.

YATTA!

That is a sweet earth, ROUND!

.. and weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

It really happened.

Using Mapquest to download turn by turn directions for vacation and it being a massive stack of papers sometimes.

Killed the toner one time in the printer had to go get more before we could get the last few pages

Floppies. Lol.

AOL CDs

AOL floppy disk

Like a fever dream.

Encarta encyclopedia!

The labyrinth quiz game is like a fever dream now.

Virus or song?

Having to download a song overnight on dialup through some shady torrent site, and the next morning was like playing Russian roulette finding out if you downloaded a song or a virus.

Dangit Mom!

I remember when you couldn’t use the computer and be on the phone at the same time unless you had 2 separate phone lines.

And you had to dial-in to the internet. The provider gave out a list of numbers in case one was busy.

Getting kicked off the internet when mom needed to make a call. And then waiting what felt like hours while she just casually chatted on the phone.

Who needed pictures?

Infoseek.

Turning images off so pages would load faster and to save bandwidth.

Ad bars.

Beenz.

Usenet.

Yep, some nostalgia for sure.

Even though I am so not telling you my age.