Who here is old enough to remember a time without internet?

@ocean4 (236)
Canada
July 11, 2008 10:44am CST
Internet isnt so old is it? Im just wondering if any mylotter rememberd a time when there was no internet. Im not sure when the internet was invented so I could be totaly wrong and nobody alive could remember a time where there was no internet.
5 people like this
18 responses
@Ravenladyj (22902)
• United States
18 Jul 08
LOL Yea i remember when there was no internet..I also remember when personal computers didnt exist, cell phones hadnt been invented then I remember the FIRST cell phones which were HUGE LOL..I remember NOT having cordless house phones and when penny candy was ACTUALLY A PENNY ...just to name a few things..and I'm sure there are ppl here who remember farther back than that seeing how I'm 37 and there are ppl here in their 50s and up
1 person likes this
@beeeckie (802)
• United States
23 Jul 08
Heehee, vintage cell phones. Paging Zack Morris!
@umart13 (841)
• Ireland
23 Jul 08
Hi Ocean4, I went on my student exchange program to Germany in 1995 and the internet only had a few addresses back then. It was really in it's infancy and you pretty much knew all the major names online. We were using the computers mostly because of the messaging services, as our class were scattered all around Europe. Within a short space of time the internet growth went exponential and you had no feel for how big it had become. See ya! Umart
1 person likes this
@alokn99 (5717)
• India
11 Jul 08
It isn't all that way back. My memory about learning about the first internet was 13-14 years ago. We started by using e-mail first. Till then we were using the slightly more conventional forms of communication being faxes, couriers and letters. Reading of books and magazines was done the conventional way. Main source of entertainment ws the television.
1 person likes this
@musicman6 (2407)
• United States
12 Jul 08
I can remember the time when we didn't have internet! All we had at that time was home phones, and plain TV! What's really funny, is that when cell phones came out, I was hesitant to start using them because, I don't like change, and was reluctant to get started! But I landed a job driving a truck, and they furnished a cell phone, and was required to use it, so I got used to using one! When, I left that job, I had to get my own cell phone, because it was necessary to me by then! When the internet came along, I was the same way, I was hesitant to get started, and I was the last one to get a computer and the internet, and now I have taken off like a rocket, and I use one at work, and at home, and I do all my business, and music business on the computer! I have learned so much, that I help other people how to use the computer and the internet now! Even the trucking business uses computers in their trucks for communication!
• Dayton, Ohio
12 Jul 08
I am 40 years old. While the roots of the internet actually go back to the '50's, I don't think there would be much that would be recognizable as the internet until the mid '80's. I got my first computer (an Apple 2e, the first and last apple product I would ever own) when I was about 12. When I was in college I was a big time bbs user. I had heard about this thing called arpanet that the government and some institutions of higher learning were on that was a shared computer network. I wanted in, but no one seemed to share my vision at the time. So, I definitely remember a time before the internet was a public venture.
• United States
11 Jul 08
A time without Internet? Heh... I remember a time without: Cable TV VCRs (not to mention DVDs) Digital cameras cell phones Personal computers Video games Now I feel old...
@ocean4 (236)
• Canada
11 Jul 08
Didnt know so many people remember a time without internet. Thanks for the replies everyone!
@cortjo73 (6498)
• United States
11 Jul 08
I remember a time without internet and I am 35. I do not recall when the internet was born but, for more than half of my life, I lived without it. There was a time in my life where not everyone had a computer. I would say that I was maybe 25 or 26 before I really started using a computer. And, I would have to say that I was 26 or 27 before I started using one on a regular basis. But, I know the internet was around before then. I actually think it was born in the 80's or 90's but, I could be wrong. It may have been earlier than that. I just know that throughout my entire education, I had to research things using a card catalog in the library and search through books. I couldn't find anything online from the comfort of my own room, dorm or home. I had to go to the library and thumb through the card catalog then find a book on the shelf and go from there. If I wanted to read about a celebrity, I bought a magazine. If I wanted to buy something, I went to a store, picked it out and I bought it at the store. I paid all of my bills with a written check from my checkbook, put the check and the stub from the invoice into an envelope, addressed it, stamped it with postage and sent it on its way. If I wanted to know the balance of my bank account, I either called the customer service number or went to the bank. I couldn't access that info online anywhere. Or, I just waited until my account summary came in the mail and I balanced my checkbook that way. And, the only people that I had contact with from around the world were old friends or family members. I never spoke with a perfect stranger unless I had met them somewhere else face to face. I wrote letters if I wanted to say something to someone far away. Or, I called them on the phone. No email, no chatting online. So, I remember very clearly a time without the internet. But, I wouldn't trade the ease that the internet has brought to my life, for how I grew up.
1 person likes this
@reinydawn (11643)
• United States
15 Jul 08
There are plenty of us out there that actually had lives before the internet. We were able to talk to our friends and famiy that did not live close. We researched things using this place called a library. Going to the bank was at least a weekly event. It wasn't that long ago that home computers were though of as something in the far future. It would probably be like me wondering if there are people out there that are older than TV's - I know there are, a lot of my relatives can remember that. My kids will probably remember a time without internet - they were about 10 and 12 when we got our first computer and got online (about 12 years ago I guess).
• United States
12 Jul 08
I'm 35 and I often think how life was before I brought a computer into my home so that I could hook up to the internet. I know that the internet has been around for quite so time but to actually have it in one's home was a different story. I guess I never thought about it until around the year 2000. I began working at a cable company and one of the benefits was free internet service. I then had to go and get a computer so that I could access it. Ever since then, my life has changed. I was single at the time and didn't realize you could literally reach all around the world as well as right around the corner. I began internet dating and soon after that, found the man of my dreams! Truthfully, I did and believe me, it took a lot of time to find him as well! Sorry for getting off track, since the internet came into my life I have done a lot less reading books, watching movies and outdoor activities since I'm almost always online. Either reading emails, researching stuff, playing games, or now reading myLot stuff! That's a good thing, by the way! So, to answer the question, yes, I do remember a time without the internet. Thanks for reading!
@cricket1 (486)
• United States
13 Jul 08
I definitely grew up without it. My first pc was a windows 98 in 2001. At first the average person couldn't afford one but now a pc and internet is within almost anyones reach if they want it. I'm 53 years old and no internet existed when I was growing up as far as i know.
@beeeckie (802)
• United States
11 Jul 08
Internet has been around since at least the 60s, but it exploded into popularity in the mid-90s. I do remember a time when the internet wasn't "around", per se. You know, when kids had to go to the *gasp* library or encyclopedia for reports?!
@tessah (6617)
• United States
13 Jul 08
pfffft i remember no internet.. no dvds, hell not even vcrs.. when the newest most advanced technological thing in home entertainment was a black screen on yer tv with two white bars and a dot.. a new rage of a video game called Pong! and im not that old
@setroc (853)
• Philippines
23 Jul 08
me, i was born 1980, i only learned how to use this age 23 or 24
@Barb42 (4214)
• United States
11 Jul 08
When I first got a computer in 1991, there was only BBS's to get on. They were privately owned, most of them, at the time. My son had one. It was like a message board, very neat. You got to get to know people through their posting. The Prodigy board came into existence in 1988. There was Compuserve, Delphi, and others, including AOL boards. We got on Prodigy almost as soon as we got a computer, and then they started charging for their forums, so we tried out AOL - didn't like it, and it was HARD to get off back then. I went to Delphi and others, and when Mindspring opened up their Internet service, we took that and stayed there until after Earthlink bought them out, which I did not like. We went hunting for another ISP and finally got BellSouth and later DSL through them. Since we first got on MindSpring, the Internet has definitely grown by leaps and bounds!
@amigula (119)
• Philippines
16 Jul 08
i can remeber my dear it too easy to remeber just feed it in ur computer
• United States
11 Jul 08
I don't think the internet is all that old. I remember a time when no one even had computers at home at all. And, I remember a time when there were no VCRs or any kind of recording device for TVs, either. Answering machines were unheard of when I was growing up, too, but answering services were around. When I was in high school, computer bulletin boards were just starting to get popular among the public. They were around in the colleges, etc, for research purposes, but the general public didn't use them. It wasn't until I started graduate school that the internet was going full force with the invention and simplification of windows and Mac OS.
@cream97 (29086)
• United States
11 Jul 08
Was it the 1970s???
@bmorehouse1 (1028)
• United States
11 Jul 08
We certainly didn't have Internet and definitely no computers when I was growing up. I am in my mid 50's, so you can tell what era I grew up in. I am guessing that the Internet has only been around maybe 15 - 20 years at the most. But I am no expert, so I could be wrong.
@AlephWren (135)
• Argentina
11 Jul 08
Err... If I can, in 95 there wasn't at least in the city I lived in, and more precisly in 94.