I love how our culture took a steep dive into technology addiction during the 90s and particularly around 2000. This is a long, rambly entry and the only purpose is my nostalgia.
For all those who complain about how "addicted" everyone is to their phones, internet, computers--and how these addictions are crippling peoples' ability to socialize: you're only half right. Some people may no longer try to have friendly conversation with strangers while waiting for (class/bus/work/checkout lane/etc), because their nose is buried in their phone, but the rest of us never would've held a random conversation with people in the first place. So the technology is almost irrelevant, but there has definitely been a cultural shift.
My generation was the first to get computers in the schools (since my school had the budget for them). If you remember using the giant Apple computers and played Oregon Trail at school, then you were probably in elementary or jr. high in the early 90s. For me it was elementary school, and the moment I sat in front of a computer, I adapted immediately, it felt natural to type and I loved it. In elementary school, I could type 50wpm almost right off the bat. Once I learned how to type without looking at the keys, my speed increased. But that was just some kids playing Oregon trail, some math games, typing tests. We didn't have internet, but why would we? This was the early 90s.
I had minimum access to the internet back in 1995ish. I was 11 years old but I managed to get onto a chat room system a few times. (It might have been called IRC through IRQ or netscape internet). I loved it. To no real surprise, most of the people in the chat rooms were not my age. Back then, a couple of people refused to talk to me in private messages because I told them my age. I didn't have intentions of telling anything about where I lived, I just wanted to talk to people. I participated in chat room conversations where multiple people typed and I stopped sharing my age, because I could type quickly and maturely, no one knew any differently. I wasn't able to maintain internet access, but I got my first taste of communication through text. AKA: zero communication barriers for me.
In 1999, AOL came out with their new unlimited monthly internet access instead of their old style of limited minutes + outrageous overcharges. I loved it. Chat rooms, message boards, private conversations. It was perfect for me. All this access to conversations and I wouldn't be confused. It was my choice if I didn't want to know what was going on in a certain message board thread. The chat rooms were my favorite because you could talk to multiple people at the same time--to me it felt like it was making up for all the offline group conversations I could never truly participate in.
I vaguely remember having a beeper for a short period of time in case my parents needed me to find someone to call them, but that didn't last long enough to really build any solid memories. When I was 17, my parents got me a cellphone, but I couldn't really use it. It was just something I had on me in case of emergencies. I would be able to speak for myself and share my situation during emergency calls, but that was its only purpose. I was and am still unable to use the phone for small chat with friends.
But then text message slowly entered the world. First it was 100 texts per month, but not everyone had the capability to text. When everyone could send/receive text, they'd be charged if they didn't have a texting plan. Then came the 300 texts. Then 500 texts/month plans. Eventually, AIM was offered on phones, so I was able to talk to my friends who didn't have texting plans. Finally, unlimited texting was offered through T-mobile so I instantly switched (and I stayed with them up until my Sidekick 3 broke). Other companies started to add unlimited plans and this allowed more communication access. Today, enough people use texts that it cuts into the profit, so the phone companies are trying to eliminate the unlimited plans.
Nowadays it's really not uncommon or unusual for people to talk about conversations they had online, to read the news online, to watch TV online, to meet people they talked to through websites (dating or otherwise), to make plans with their friends through text, e-mails, Facebook posts. To all those who complain about how people can't seem to make a simple 5-minute phone call anymore and instead choose to text or e-mail people, I say: WOOHOO!!!!!
I love you, internet.
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