Wanted to ask you about this article, how do you remember the early days of the internet (I was sadly too young at that time). Do you wish it back? And do you think it can ever be like that again? I would be very interested

  • @son_named_bort
    link
    71 year ago

    I think what I miss is the novelty of the internet. The fact that it was fairly new was what made it exciting, whereas now the internet is old hat. That being said, a lot of the issues people complain about today’s internet existed back then too. There were pop up ads that were annoying as hell, but fewer ad blockers. There was spyware and adware, which if you click the wrong thing would track your every move to add even more pop up ads. There was less security and awareness about that stuff back then, so it was easy to become a victim of spyware and adware. Hell, I remember when I first accessed the internet, it was through AOL, which was a major corporation back then with it’s own browser and ecosystem that was designed to keep you on their webpages and seemed disinterested in letting you explore the web beyond that.

    • ivanafterall
      link
      fedilink
      21 year ago

      Early on, as a kid, AOL basically WAS the internet for me. Why would I ever need a browser? And when we first got non-AOL internet, it felt so barren–where do I go!? Where are my chat rooms and IM friends!?