The title of this post at moblog today made me think back to when I first used the internet. It was some time around '94 or '95, I was 13 or 14 and my Dad (always being an early adopter of new/computer technology) told me we were getting 'the internet'. I had no clue what on earth this was, but after a brief explanation it sounded cool. Soon we have the 'Compuserve Internet Browser' installed on our desktop PC in the kitchen and the computer was hooked up to the phoneline, which seemed a little strange. It amuses me greatly now that the only thing I was interested in doing back then was downloading and printing off reams of Nirvana photos and lyrics! I remember seeing things relating to 'email addresses' and not having a clue what it meant. My Dad told me "We haven't got one of those yet". Thinking about it...who would I have emailed anyway?! I spent ages doing searches (using compuserve's primitive search engine - because Google (I suspect) was still a twinkle in someone's eye back then...or a program on a PC in someone's garage at least!) for all of my favourite bands and finding photos of them...after all, there wasn't that much around on the internet back then, was there? Well there may have been...but at that time no one had a website address! You didn't see them printed on everything, or advertised on TV, and I'm pretty sure there weren't any major marketing campaigns in the UK for websites back then...I certainly never saw any or can remember any! Yet 10 years later I spend all day, nearly every day connected to the internet. It's my workplace as well as a place of leisure. I get the majority of my news through it as well as a lot of my music (if not buying/downloading, discovering new music). I spend way more time using the internet (not including work time) than I do watching TV. The television seems so boring and one-way these days, as does radio. Why be spoken at when you can be spoken to, reply and interact? (Interactive TV my arse!)....why wait for the news to come on a 'x' O'clock when it's sitting there waiting for you to find it, being updated every few seconds? I communicate with my friends and family through it, some local and some far away and every day I learn something new about the world and the people that fill it. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the internet has had a MASSIVE affect on my life, just like the majority of other people on this planet and I for one think it's been a good affect. I'm glad I was exposed to it so early on and at a young age - and also that I'm one of the people can remember 'Life B.I.' - Life Before Internet. My 16 year old brother can't remember ever not having the internet at his disposal, which freaks me out sometimes. Thanks Dad [tags]Internet, Compuserve, Dial-up, ISP, Nirvana, MoblogUK, Email, Dad[/tags]