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I remember using Lynx, a text-based web browser, in the early days of the 'net ... '92? And then came Mosaic, and Netscape, etc., etc.
This was all at work, and it changed work quite a bit. We didn't get connected at home until ... well, I know it was after '92, but not by much - dial-up, of course.
In my working life before mid-1980s motherhood, I never used a computer. Everything was on paper. In the early 1990s we bought a home computer (an IBM PS-1 running DOS) but did not have internet for several years because then-husband refused to spend the money. (He was a lawyer and although they had a computer to do forms on, he refused to get internet on those either.)
So it was the late 1990s, and on an upgraded home computer (Windows 95) before I had access to the internet. At that time we got our son his own computer which was NOT connected to the modem; only mine was. He could play games on his, and write and print, but no internet connection for his until he was about 14. Mine was password-protected access.
When I went back to work in the early 2000s my employer used Macs instead of PCs. I was not a fan, but put up with it. We had only limited access to the internet at work; for example, sites such as eBay and Amazon were blocked by our company's server.
Because I'm a research geek by nature I absolutely LOVED the access to knowledge gained via the internet at home. However, none of my friends were using email in the 1990s and so there was no difference in communication until the early 2000s when more of them obtained it. I never did like the whole social media concept and so never got involved in it, nor would I ever. The internet can be a great tool but like all tools it can be misused and has the potential to harm as well as help.
My son actually met his wife on match.com as a matter of fact. On the other hand, he'd previously met the woman I privately called The Girlfriend From Hell in some chat room or other, resulting in almost four years of enough drama and angst to fill multiple seasons of an R-rated soap opera, LOL
Funny story: When I was a young teen in the early 1960s I always wanted to have a Russian pen-pal of my own age, because I was convinced that despite all the political differences we would probably have a lot in common. Of course that never happened, given the times and all. There was just no way, back then.
Fast forward to the past few years during which I've communicated with people from all over the world via one of several blogs that I have. Earlier this year I received a query/message from a lady in Russia about one of my blog topics. That turned into about a dozen emails, during which I mentioned to her about my 1960s unrealized wish for a Russian pen pal. Well, it turned out that this lady is about the same age and confessed that when SHE was a teenager in the 1960s she always wanted to have somebody in the United States to write to but of course that was an impossibility for her as well! Just like me, she had believed that we girls would find that we were more alike than different, if we could only communicate.
And we have both been amazed at the fact that even though it took 50 years and an invention we'd never imagined (the internet)...better late than never.
I started using a terminal to a mainframe to access my squadron's military records in 1981. When I got a job after being discharged in 1984, I was introduced to a PC for the first time and taught myself Lotus and word processing on the job. It wasn't long until I had to have a PC at home, and Santa brought me my first one in probably 1986 or 7. I was P.O'ed because it had a monochrome monitor. I wanted to spec out my own computer, but my ex thought he knew better and had some friend of his build it. It NEVER worked right, I was getting constant errors. Oh my goodness...remember DOS! I remember I worked a short time at a major government defense contractor in 1988 or 89. I was an admin asst to a department head and the engineers were asking me to help them assemble a bid for a project. Unfortunately none of them understood the spreadsheet program well enough to construct a cost estimate. They asked me to do it, then they gave me an Apple to do it on! I'd always used an IBM, but somehow I muddled through enough to perform the task.
I first heard of the internet as a bunch of linked military and government databases that could somehow be accessed. At the time I didn't have any idea what I would use that for. I think I got my first dial up modem in the early 90's. Pages took forever to download. Mostly we used it for e-mail.
Was it mostly in your work, or was your first experience at home? What year? What was your initial reaction?
My initial reaction in 1972 was: "whatever". It was beyond my abilities to see how spending $100K on a box to connect a $1M computer to others was going to lead to free porn and online shopping.
I was on the leading and bleeding edge of this technology. Back in 1990 I made a presentation to the Board of Directors of a Fortune 100 company explaining how we could make a bundle because people were going to do their shopping, watch TV, conduct banking and personal business, and work at home. Landline phones were eventually going to be dinosaurs and people would set up their own wireless(and wired) networks at home. Wireless technology was going on to become a tracking device for businesses like trucking companies and used for instant inventory control using scanning technology. And everyone would have a cell phone. I also told them people would read books delivered to their electronic devices. Students would no longer carry book bags and notebooks.
My proposal was to take a test city and market access to the public. I suggested Boise Idaho, because of their university and population demographic. I wanted something relatively small to start with and work out the kinks. And then use high speed carriers to expand the service between cities/areas. Build on the the network that already existed. It was my one brilliant idea. My one moment of being a visionary. I had a whole business plan worked out.
And what did they do? They more or less laughed at me. So here I sit posting on CD when I should be richer than God. One of the best and worst times of my life. Such is life!
My husband and I were into computers since they first came out even the VIC 20 LOL!
We were early subscribers to AOL which I still use today.
My husband was in the Computer industry the first 20 or so years of his career, though they were mainframes and fault tolerant computers.
I have always researched things, anything that interested me, used to use the library for that, so the internet when it came along was a huge boost to me. At least after the time when you had to pay by the minute to use computer time.
We got an XT 386 in about 1985 at home. My husband has worked with computers since the late 1960’s. Being a scientist, he uses the internet extensively. We have never been afraid of technology. I found some of my best art friends because of the internet- through an email newsgroup list I found almost 30 years ago. It morphed into a group who traveled together and put on shows together. We now have a Facebook group. My late mother embraced the internet. Keeping in contact with friends and family through emails and later Facebook. She used it to do genealogical research. She used it to say goodbye as she was failing.
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