Before the Internet

I'm reading the following article:



Innocence lost: what did you do before the internet?



It says:

How did [my father] sit there all day, I wonder, without the internet to keep him company? 

In this age of uncertainty, predictions have lost value, but here’s an irrefutable one: quite soon, no person on earth will remember what the world was like before the internet.

I used to read novels, listen to music, watch TV, go out drinking. But yes, the Internet has been a Godsend. 

I hope it won't be that soon before no-one remembers!

I think I first ever used a computer in possibly 1994.  I went on a course for beginners to learn about "windows" and how to send emails etc.  I had never heard of windows at that time.  Anyway, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.  This was in stark contrast to everyone else.  I'm not even sure I successfully sent an email.  Spent a long time trying!  I never went back after that one lesson.

Got my first ever computer in December 1998, first went on the Internet in 1999.  I was blown away!  Unfortunately, I was charged per minute so my time online was strictly curtailed.  It was a dial up connection of course using up the telephone line.  Although see this blog post by me too.

When I first went on the net

Got my very first computer ever at the end of 1998 (a place called Time computers and cost me around £1400.  It had a 10GB hard drive and everyone thought that was huge at the time). Didn't go on the net till about 6 months later. You had to connect your computer to a phone line and you had to pay for each minute you were online. So even when I figured out how to get on the net, I only spent very brief periods online.



However, in 1999 or 2000 my phone company, NTL, introduced a special offer. On Saturday you could ring a national number (as opposed to a cheaper local number) and speak on the phone to someone as long as you like, all for 40p!



So what I did is I used this national number for my computer to connect up to the net! Hence, each Friday at midnight I went on the net. And in the morning I connected to the net and was on it all day until midnight. So spent around 2 hours after midnight on net, then on all day Saturday too (never went on for the rest of the week of course since it would have cost me a packet).



It didn't even cost me 40p since NTL had another offer whereby if you spent a certain amount on telephone bills you got a discount. But they applied the discount before reducing my Saturday bills to 40p. They result was that NTL actually gave me money for going on the net all day!