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Born in 1953...went back to college as a late bloomer. My major required us to do communicate with our professors via email. It was the first time I realized the internet was exploding everywhere and PCPs came into the home. That was in 1989. My first text (SMS-short message service) and MMS (multimedia messaging service) was in 2010. Late getting my smartphone. Never used MSN or any instant messaging. When skype came out that was the best...when ever skype surfaced is when I did my first video chat.
It wasn't technically email and it certainly wasn't IM but I worked at a place that had very early PCs that used floppy disks. We used to embed messages to each other in the data on the disks. We'd pass them around and pop them in our terminals and wait for the flashing cursor to appear followed by the dirty joke of the day so we'd all have a laugh.
So I'll claim sometime in the late 70's for computer messaging.
We also used dial-up modems that had to have the hand set of the phone placed into them. Total pain in the neck, lol. They weren't very reliable but it was a bid deal to get info from someone on the other side of the country that way. Dark ages.
Last edited by DewDropInn; 12-27-2012 at 08:30 PM..
Email, probably 92 or 93 on Compuserve.
IM, 1996 on ICQ. I hated buddy lists and soon after deleted ICQ/AIM from all my computers.
SMS/MMS, 2003 - was in Sofia and cell phones were already an established ad medium, so had to design and test several ad campaigns.
Video Chat - I've done one, in 2002 for fun. Haven't found the need for it.
I first used email around '94 or so using either a Mac or an IBM Mainframe with text browser interfaces, very DOS-like. I had used IRC around '94 or '95. Not much later, I had used AOL IM for the first time probably in '96 and ICQ shortly after that. I don't like cell phones much, so probably my first text was '08 or so? I never have done video chats at all. I have used Skype for IM and long distance calls for about 4 years.
First email 1990, I just kick myself for being an early user and not figuring a way to make $ out of the Internets. I had a company cell phone in 1990 too.
wow - trip down memory lane. Lived in a household of longtime [punch-card/tape drive]geeky people where words like floppies, ftp, telnet,usenet, dos games, LAN fests, & bbs bring back a glint in their eyes! 1st pc in the house - as soon as they could fit through the door &/or get built - you buy the case and the guts - - abt 1985??
What counts as an email? I guess an "actual" email using a "real" browser - probably Netscape on some dailup - probably Compuserve in the 90's. B4 that was bulletin boards.
IM - ICQ - briefly fun abt 1997? but became just annoying
Phones - meh - 1sts on phones were just not memorable.
Big 1st in our house was graphics -- wow ! 7th Guest. Doom, & Myst were big deals. A mouse -now that was neat.........[gamers]
Big 1st in our house was graphics -- wow ! 7th Guest. Doom, & Myst were big deals. A mouse -now that was neat.........[gamers]
Ha, I remember being pretty young and watching my dad play Myst for HOURS. Such a clever/innovative game for the time. I still remember the Doom god code I think.... 'iddqd' maybe? That was such a step up from Wolfenstein which was also an absolute classic.
Since we are on the subject, I can still play the first Civilization to this day :-)
Also loved the Kings Quest, Space Quest etc....good times...
I'm a late bloomer.I sent my first email in 2000.First message,when I joined Facebook in 2012.Don't even know about those other things.I remember the first time I saw someone with a laptop, on a train from Charlotte in 1993.I was jealous because I knew I'd never have the money for one.Finally got it in 2011.I could have bought it sooner,I just became a cheapskate.
First private email was the summer of 1997, but I had been emailing as part of my job earlier than that. I bought my first Mac around June 1997, and installed Navigator.
I ICQ'd a little bit, but I haven't done any of the rest to this day. I could do video chat now, but have never gotten around to hooking up with my internet friends to do so.
...and I still don't own a cell phone. But this is the year I will probably cave in and get one.
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