When did you send your first E-mail, instant message, text message, and MMS message?

[villageidiot1]

Originally Posted by tvdxer

When did you send your...

First e-mail?

First instant message (NOT text / SMS message, nor chat room submission!)?

First text / SMS message?

First picture / MMS message?

First video chat?

I was born in 1986. For me, my first e-mail was probably in 1995, when I got my first computer as well as connected to CompuServe. Did CompuServe let you send e-mails on the general internet? Otherwise, it was no later than 1996, when I also made my USENET debut. I was, by far, the youngest user of most of the newsgroups I frequented, and my lack of grammar and occasional typing in all caps raised eyes, but I was always assumed to be about twice my age.

My first instant message was probably in 1995 with CompuServe CB and in 1996 with AOL, although I did not start using instant messaging seriously until 1999, when I downloaded ICQ. I had a lot of interesting chats with different random people...a couple of graffiti artists in Brooklyn, an automotive engineer in Illinois, a student in Egypt. Back then, the internet seemed to be a more open place. I downloaded AOL Instant Messenger in about the middle of seventh grade (early 2000) and spent the following summer in my room talking to schoolmates.

I was a regular on certain AOL chat rooms in 1996, and again on IRC chat rooms in 1997.

My first text message was rather late...at some time during my senior year (04-05). I did not have much of a social life, and my new cell phone my parents bought for me so I would be in touch with them when I was driving would not connect to the digital network (hence forcing me to use the then-dying analog network) for a few months. I sent my first MMS message soon after, as my phone had a little 0.3 MP camera, probably to my seven years' younger sister, who had her own cell phone before I did.

My first video chat was in 2010 over Facebook's network. Interestingly, my computer in 1996 came with videoconferencing software (VDO), and I could plug in my camera to my TV card. I'm sure that would have been like 1 frame per minute over my 28.8k modem I had then.

My first e-mail was on a Westinghouse corporate e-mail system in 1985. I had to learn a text editor on an ASCII terminal. I was a vendor who they had given e-mail access to, but no one had taken the time to figure out how to use it. I started using e-mail extensively on a private in-house network for a consulting firm around 1988. Around 1990, I had online accounts with Compuserve, AOL, and Prodigy.

I never did instant messaging. First text message was when my kids pestered me to add texting to our cell phone account. That was probably 2000 or 2001. I couldn't understand why they wanted it and refused to buy unlimited texting at first (until they went over the limit).

[Malloric]

No clue really...

email: probably around 1990. I was born in '84 but started using computers when I was young so around 6 would be my guess.
Instant message: That would depend on how you define it. I was using IRC around '94 or ICQ in '97.
Text message: Around 2000. Not sure about the first picture message, whenever I got a cellphone with a camera which I don't remember.
Videochat around 2005.

[blistex649]

Born in 79. I first used real email in the fall of 1998 when I got my university issued email. It was to another 79er saying "hey, this email thing is cool!".

Now I did use my cousin's computer earlier in the year for some IMing as there was this chat site. Back then, everybody was friendly. You could msg someone on the side from the main Group one, and literally start a penpal relationship. Girls were also a lot more trusting back then too.

[Anhityk]

...
First e-mail in 2000,
first sms-message ... I got my first cell phone in 1999 but at first I used it only for making calls, so maybe in 2000, too but I'm not sure.
I have never sent an mms message intentionally but it happened that I have accidentally sent a mms instead of sms
First video chat- on Skype maybe in 2010 I think.

And I remember the first time I surfed the internet was in 1996 when I was taking computer courses. However, after that for a long time I didn't care about the internet. I remember I systematically started surfing the Internet in 1998, when I was an office worker. Not all computers in the office where I worked were connected to the Internet and mine wasn't connected. But it was allowed to use a colleague's computer and of course the computers didn't have any passwords back then.