The World Wide Web as we know it celebrates its 15th birthday today. MSN has devoted an interesting webpage (sic) to this momentous occasion, which I'm more than happy to link to.
What changed when the Internet came into your life? I have posted the same question on Magic Smoke, so leave a link to your reply on a comment there. Here is my answer.
Before the WWW:
1. If I wanted to look something up, I would go to the library and read a book
2. I would make phonecalls and write letters
When the Internet came into my life:
3. I found I could gather information from across the globe at a click of a mouse
4. I could listen to radiostations from all over the world without fiddling with a shortwave radioset. That did spoil the thrill of listening to Radio Australia on SW.
5. It was possible to interact with people in real-time from all corners. It did spoil the thrill of receiving a letter, weeks later after writing your own, from a far-flung outpost.
6. It became possible to learn about any part of the world in an instant, without leaving your desk chair.
And I can go on for yonks.
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Wow, 15 years. I must have gotten on shortly after it began ~ a friend told me about it, he was reading Jimmy Buffet lyrics on line and I thought he was bs-ing me as surely there could be no such thing! I think that was 1995. Yeah, I usually only get one card anymore via mail the rest are all e-cards.
ReplyDeleteLisa
amazing its been 15 years; it seems like we have always had it and our kids hardly know anything about life before the web
ReplyDeletebetty
I bought my first computer at the end of 1995. The salesman said "This will change your life." He was SO RIGHT!
ReplyDeleteI find that I read less books. Seems that I get my reading "fix" online.
Pam
I love that term "I can go on for yonks"...I went ahead and did an entry on the subject matter. (Hugs) Indigo
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to imagine that it's been around this long -- longer than my daughter has been alive!
ReplyDeleteLori
I remember the very first time I got online. I was in college and went to a friends home. We jumped online (which took awhile) and when we finally got there we looked at the screen, totally blank like.........what do we do now?? HA HA HA HA. The internet for me has been a super highway of information and connections. Love it. Sometimes miss the realness of the world though.
ReplyDeleteHugs
Ang
I remember well having to go to the encyclopedias and look things up. My kids just stare at me like "huh" when i talk like that because they have almost always had a PC to go to.
ReplyDeleteTime marches on!