Whenever I meet with my friends (I only have a few, and it is dwindling), we
always reminisce about good old times, well, of course, on top of health talk
and how annoying it is to grow older. Another topic is about technology and the
internet as we put on our best grumpy behaviors while squinting on the phone
and cursing that everything needs to be an app nowadays.
I am a younger Gen-X (Gen-Xer?). I was a bit late, but the first time I
accessed internet was in the year 2000 when I just graduated from University
and was looking for work. It's hard for users nowadays to pick email addresses
they like without numbers and weird combinations of unusual words, but back
then, we could! My email was exactly what I wanted, and my password was a
six-letter word, no uppercase, no punctuations, no numbers, and it didn't
look like a cursed word.
I had to take at least a thirty-minute public transport ride to access a
facility called Internet café. It had a bunch of PCs with fat screens, and I
paid hourly to access the internet. With internet, I meant email, because that
was the only thing I knew, and it took me almost a full hour to check and
reply. How many inboxes did I have? One! Yeah, it was the combination of a slow
connection, my navigation skills, and drafting an email in English, a language
I barely knew or used back then. It was also my very first inbox and reply (of
course, on top of the usual automated welcome from the provider), and I created
the email for this purpose not too long ago before my interview.
Thankfully, it was good news. I got my first job, and it was my top choice.
I would be back in a few days, wandering around the neighborhood, catching
public transport, clearing the café's administration, waiting for the green
field and blue sky background to appear, waiting for the connection with the
soundtrack of EEEEE OOOO EEEEE OOOO TEEEEEEEEEEEE, logging into my email with
my very easy to remember password, and check whether they replied me. Woohoo!
Easy peasy. Hopefully, they would have replied to me by then because it cost me
a lot to get there. Otherwise, I'd be back in a few more days. I might
have to break my piggy bank, but woohoooo!
So, that was my first experience with internet. I still remember the layout
of the café and the relief I had. I was considered lucky because we didn't have
Google Maps back then. I had no idea where I could find one but to explore
around. The content of the internet back then? It was pretty much the same as
what we have now regarding the concept. There were creeps in ICQ (a chat room),
kind Nigerian princes (so many of them) who tried to give me money, hoaxes,
advertisements about enlarging stuff, and unsolicited access to uncensored
beheading videos.
How was your first internet experience? Was it fun, traumatizing, or
something you fondly remember like mine? Nowadays, on top of all the
negativities and stupidities I always have a hard time processing, I am still
grateful because I get opportunities like this to connect with all of you
without having to meet in person. I am an uber introvert, but I love exchanging
minds and learning about worlds outside my own.
