Does anyone really remember what it was like before the internet existed? - General

Candystand Arcade was the shit. Though one of my early memories of the internet was doing a project on Cacti and my father showing me how to use this new site called "Google" Dot-Com bubble was still growing as far back as I can recall, so I don't really remember a time without it. Though looking back on it, the growth of the internet is incredible.

I remember towards they end of the 90's everyone started adding '.com' to their branding. I had some shoes and the box was branded adidas.com rather than just adidas. It looked really odd at the time and it doesn't happen as much anymore.

I did things.

I had an email address from my school before I had any other All I remember is using some really old version of eudora to check it

My dad's been programming, modifying, tinkering with, and building computers since he got a BBC Micro in about 1981, so my dad probably had a PC hooked up to the internet before most people. I remember the first time I went on the internet when I was about 6 (around 2001-2002), I used Internet Explorer on Windows ME, and I bet my dad that the URL "www.balloon.com" didn't exist; so we went online to find out, and lo and behold, I found myself browsing "balloon.com." Seems such a long time ago, and I'm turning 18 in June, so I'm a baby, really. I spent the rest of the day playing Need for Speed: Porsche 2000 using a Thrustmaster wheel controller, which ironically had a Ferrari badge on it. Shit was jokes.

I'm pretty sure the internet was around when I was born it just wasn't in every house hold. But I can remember when we used to have to use phone lines and if someone wanted to use the phone we had to come off the computer. Dial-up this is all. [video=youtube;iHW1ho8L7V8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHW1ho8L7V8[/video] Some nostalgia for you right their eh?

[QUOTE=d_cover;40178407]I'm pretty sure well the internet was around when I was born it just wasn't in every house hold. But I can remember when we used to have to use phone lines and if someone wanted to use the phone we had to come off the computer. Dial-up this is all. [video=youtube;iHW1ho8L7V8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHW1ho8L7V8[/video] Some nostalgia for you right their eh?[/QUOTE] I didn't have many memories of dial-up. We didn't get internet until dial-up stopped being commonplace. Although my grandparents did use it regularly up until a couple years ago. 10 hours of NetZero free every month!

Here is another not as old. But did any brits remember Telewest Broadband? Now known as Virgin media. They were great I loved my 2mb broadband connection. I can only remember having one down time with them that wasn't to long. Plus their brilliant modems. [img]http://www.simplehelp.net/images/cable_modems/motorola_sb5100.gif[/img] I don't care the build quality was great compared to Virgins current suppliers. These were amazing had it until virgin supplied some cheap plastic one.

i used to watch TV and play outside with my friends. [editline]6th April 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=d_cover;40178407]I'm pretty sure the internet was around when I was born it just wasn't in every house hold. But I can remember when we used to have to use phone lines and if someone wanted to use the phone we had to come off the computer. Dial-up this is all. [video=youtube;iHW1ho8L7V8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHW1ho8L7V8[/video] Some nostalgia for you right their eh?[/QUOTE] it was fun times. i remember i used to type name of website, pressed enter, than going to kitchen, get tea, and when i was back, there was still 20-30% to go.

My mum has had internet since before I was born in 1996, so I don't actually remember a time before internet. We didn't get broadband internet until 2004 though, back then it was insanely fact, at 256KBit.

Three pages and zero mention of Mikfoz, the Only Facepuncher who could have ever answered OP's question. I am disappointed Facepunch.

1989 here. It was simple as all hell, I just sat around and watched reruns of looney tunes till I got sick of the show and then watched it some more. There were also a shit ton more after-school camps and the like, and a lot more kids just wandering around playgrounds swapping secrets about mew's truck in pokemon. Then the net came around and no one knew how to use it but I figured if I could browse internet explorer then I'd be able to make video games (what). Ever sense then been a nerd on a computer Edit: I remember having a entire family of babysitters looking after me when I was a kid as well. They had a NES and Mario 3 and I remember them trying to teach me how to play video games. I beat the entire game before they told me I was holding the controller upside down :v: What a revelation that was!

I'm 18 now and I think we got a computer with dial up in about 1999/2000, but my dad just used that to check email and we didn't get broadband until about 2006. So, yeah I do remember it. Going round freinds houses where they had proper internet in awe of newgrounds and stuff sticks out too.

didnt get dialup untill like 2000 and didnt have broadband untill 2005. i used to rent games for snes ps1 all the time and i played the shit out of demo disks. roller coaster tycoon was my favorite pc game. i remember at school they had a bunch of computers that ran dos or whatever and people would play games and print out really really long pictures of junk on the dot matrix printers that has the paper where its all connected with the holes on the sides.

They were simpler times I suppose. I used to buy this monthly kids magazine (It was K-Zone, you may remember it if you're Australian or Kiwi) and I learned about upcoming games and cheat codes that way. I remember my first exposure to the power of the internet was printing out cheat codes for games we played on the N64 at my school's after hours care program. [editline]7th April 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=d_cover;40178953]Here is another not as old. But did any brits remember Telewest Broadband? Now known as Virgin media. They were great I loved my 2mb broadband connection. I can only remember having one down time with them that wasn't to long. Plus their brilliant modems. [img]http://www.simplehelp.net/images/cable_modems/motorola_sb5100.gif[/img] I don't care the build quality was great compared to Virgins current suppliers. These were amazing had it until virgin supplied some cheap plastic one.[/QUOTE] Huh, I'm actually using that modem right now.

I remember dial-up blowing my fucking mind when i was like 10 I also remember it blowing up my ears whenever i wanted to look up cheat codes cause thats all i ever wanted out of the internet

[QUOTE=Demache;40155995]I used to go outside more often. And if you got stuck on a game, you were fucked until you figured it out.[/QUOTE] Pretty much that for me with the added I didn't know any creative ways to curse and knowledge of horrible, horrible porn. Thanks Internet!

I've been surrounded by computer for as long as I can remember, My dad did have the internet back in 94 or 95 and he just said it blatantly "This is not ready". So we didn't get the internet till like 2009ish, I mean he was right though, the internet was just shit, slow crappy not much to do cause not many people new it existed. I don't think he wanted to waste his time on it, let it [I]mature[/I]. So instead me and my brother/cousins played Nintendo 64 and eventually Xbox then Xbox 360 till I got a free month of Xbox live gold (cause my Xbox red ringed) and my dad said well, we will be needing the internet for you to use that. Had the internet ever since.

What is this "before the internet" of which you speak?

I remember I used to go outside a lot more than I do now and that I used to make my own fun. I don't know if that's just because I was young but I remember that word of mouth from your friends or whatever held a lot more weight when you couldn't look up the facts to verify them. [editline]6th April 2013[/editline] Also the internet's a legacy of the cold war, it's just its only become much more widely used in recent years.

If I wanted to find anything out we had an 11 volume encyclopedia - 10 books of information and one index volume. When out it was necessary to have change to call people from call boxes, unless calling parents, in which case you could reverse the charges. TV went off at night and the national anthem was played at closedown. Games were boxed games like monopoly, apart from party games which were active games like twister or charades. Other popular pastimes were construction toys such as airfix kits, lego or meccano, spotting things (birds, insects, trains) and I personally also liked reading novels, going to the cinema and doing jigsaw puzzles

Tbh I miss my childhood, hopefully someone finds this interesting or can relate. I was born in 90 and bought up round consoles and PCs. I hardly ever played PC much or console when I was a kid. It was mainly at night I played because I was only allowed to play 2 or 3 hours online due to 56k and that was spent playing Soldier of Fortune or Habbo Hotel, my mate racked up £25 worth of coins for furni, needless to say his mum was pissed, consoles I would just play when not on PC which was n64, gamecube, ps1, ps2 etc. (never owned multiple consoles always sold one for another) I also used to come home at lunch when in primary school and played Total Annihalation or The Sims for an hour I remember doing loads of stuff as a kid mainly hanging out with friends in the park, bike riding, exploring, trading pokemon cards, tamigotches, "pogs", we all had electric scooters when we were like 12 as well which was awesome blasting around the village. Also we played a game called Manhunt IRL where its hide and seek but you could hide anywhere in the village (fucking amazing) cause you pretty much knew every kid in the village so there was like 15 of us or more. When not doin that I was probably trading pokemon on my GBA with mates or chilling round theirs on our gameboys playing it lol. I played loads of games such as metal gear solid, duke nukem 3d, zelda orcarina of time, goldn eye, perfect dark, aoe 2, c&c, max payne, banjo kazooie, final fantasy, streets of rage sonic etc etc could go on. Used to play Halo on xbox when a mate had sleepovers. Lanned AoE2 demo in school sometimes on lunch breaks. I used to also go round my mates to download maps for SoF 1 & 2, think he was the first to get broadband in our village. And we pretty much had a social gathering round a friends to watch him complete zelda orcarina of time, was amazing seeing him beat ganondorf. Obviously went cinema as well, see pokemon movie, lotr etc was probably 10/11. As for cartoons it was stuff like digimon, pokemon, fresh prince of bel air, hey arthur, kenan and kel, dexter, cow and chicken, powerpuff girls, teenage mutant turtles, hey arnold, ren and stimpy, beavis and butthead, beast machines iirc and anyone remember excalibur? Hope that gives an insight to my life story haha, also we used to have good old nokia 3210s, aka 'the 'brick' phones. My childhood was fucking awesome having no worries in the world and I would relive it in a heartbeat.

The internet has been around a bit longer than me, but I do remember my life before being a heavy computer user. Endless hours on the playstation 1 and playing with Bionicles. Although I have observed how much the internet has changed. Really awkward and vibrantly colored pages with cute animations were common. Online games were incredibly simple too. Now we have full 3D games in our browsers and websites are ten times more friendly to navigate and more well designed.

I remember a world without cellphones. But a world without internet... A lot of calling to friends to ask if they could come over - It was ...rather normal? I feel like the internet is like one of them TV games back then... A world with NPC's which you have no idea who they are - unless there is a story behind them. Same with internet - you want a new world? Change site (change cartridge)... I mean none of you guys are really real - Internet is just a game. A never ending story. Perfection in gaming. There is info out there - about everything - But what difference is knowledge about rocket science and finding out that Samus is a female? It's all the same. I mean right now I type a post. I feel like I'm playing an intelligent version of Zork.

Before there was the internet in the early 90s, Children used to play outside at the playground with each others, or spend time playing with toys or build buildings and vehicles with Lego. Children watch television and woke up early on Saturday morning to watch their favorite Saturday morning cartoons. Teenagers would hang out at the shopping mall or go cycling or skateboarding in the city or park. People would line up at the theater to watch movies at the cinema on Friday nights. Teenagers would buy audio cassette to listen to their favorite tunes on their Walkman music player or even carry a big boom boxes radio. Before there was social networking sites and mobile phones, they would use to call using normal home phones. Adults in the working world before the internet and the email have to rely on postal service and couriers to deliver their letters and documents. Fax machine was the only way to send word documents. Computers was so much boring back in the early 90s

Did anyone else used to build a fort out of leaves as a kid too? we did, and burried each other

I had a fear that maggots lived in leaf piles so no

[QUOTE=Kinversulath;40174469]Candystand Arcade was the shit. Though one of my early memories of the internet was doing a project on Cacti and my father showing me how to use this new site called "Google" Dot-Com bubble was still growing as far back as I can recall, so I don't really remember a time without it. Though looking back on it, the growth of the internet is incredible.[/QUOTE] Oh my god candystand was the shit.

[QUOTE=ashxu;40181768]They were simpler times I suppose. I used to buy this monthly kids magazine (It was K-Zone, you may remember it if you're Australian or Kiwi) and I learned about upcoming games and cheat codes that way. I remember my first exposure to the power of the internet was printing out cheat codes for games we played on the N64 at my school's after hours care program. [editline]7th April 2013[/editline] Huh, I'm actually using that modem right now.[/QUOTE] Really? Unless you are with a different provider I think Virgin would of sent out their new modems to everyone. I think if you are on above 20mb you have to use the superhub. [img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pF98fzBsuww/UEJgPB2RIOI/AAAAAAAAACY/PLduhmq1xI8/s1600/Superhub.jpg[/img] Although they look nice they get real dusty and just feel cheap compared to the surf board motorola. Let alone they are bigger so if you prefer to have it tucked behind your desk or under it, it will be a struggle. Probably crack it anyway. Let alone my friend had one die on him and he had to argue with the provider to get his self a replacement. On the flip side they do have in built wifi so no need to use a separate modem or anything and they gave me a free USB wifi adapter with it. But I will always prefer the surfboard.

I used to play outside and I enjoyed it.