Your earliest memories of email/internet

[Thepigeonsarecoming]

I was at university, the internet was nothing but text and boring. But we could send an email. Although since I had to use a log in on a uni computer I’d call home to see if if was received. Anyone else?

[RatinaMaze]

Around 1994/5, reading an article in Kerrang magazine about the information superhighway and how we could use a computer to actually talk to our favourite band members. So me and a friend headed off to the newly opened internet café in town – very geeky, dingy and full of 30+ men – paid our money and then found we didn’t know how to do a bloody thing. Eventually the manager took pity on us and helped us get onto Pearl Jam’s website. There were lots of exciting pictures but not much else going on; we couldn’t figure out how to get Eddie Vedder to send us messages so we gave up and left. Decided this would never catch on…

Started Uni in 1996 and had to attend mandatory email training during freshers week. Until that moment I genuinely had no idea what it was all about. I knew that my uni had promoted itself by saying every student would have a dedicated email address and I genuinely though that this meant there would be a dedicated computer for each person on campus and couldn’t possibly imagine how that would work. During the training session we had to message a stranger in another part of the room. Once we were confident that we could use email, we then had to attend a session about the dangers of email and internet addiction. I spent so much time at Uni in the computer labs, emailing friends who were invariably sitting right next to me, or looking up random websites (hamster dance, more bands…) or in chat rooms. Being at uni during this period also meant that I experienced huge changes in the way that assignments were submitted. At first, everything was handwritten and literally handed-in to the academic office. Then, after a while, essays were typed but still printed and handed in physically (I remember the queues and panic at the printers on a deadline day), then eventually we started submitting via email. I remember though, the very first time we were instructed to submit an assignment as an email attachment – nobody know what this meant, we panicked and eventually organised a sit-in protest on the basis that the assignment should be a test of our subject knowledge and not our IT abilities.

It didn’t help that I grew up in a completely technophobic household. My dad hated anything related to computers and swore he would never allow one in the house. To this day, my parents own no technology. When tech really started to take off during my uni days and I asked if they would help me buy a laptop or pc (all my friends were starting to get their own devices) rather than sit all night in a computing lab. They bought me an electric typewriter! I do wonder what on earth I’d be doing right now if I were younger, still living with them and expected to be studying/working from home.

[TrickorTreacle]

@Grumpybuttons

Although I’ve just remembered using the computer at primary school and the edges of the paper had perforated strips with holes on! Pretty sure the paper was joined from sheet to sheet - not 100% sure

😆

Yeah that was the paper used in dot matrix printers. Continuous feed of paper which you'd tear off when printed.

[peppapigisscottish]

Watching images of Shoemaker-Levy and Jupiter in July 1994.

[CMOTDibbler]

The first computer I remember using had punch cards, then it was Spectrums with cassettes.
At Uni we learnt to programme in BASIC on BBCs, but I didn't have an email until my masters when I had a uni one (on Pegasys I think) which I only used to flirt remotely.
I didn't have my own PC at work until 98 I think and we had limited internet access.

[peppapigisscottish]

now my iPhone has more capacity than that mainframe of 1981 and it fits in my pocket.

and even the cheapest smart phones have more power than the computers on the Apollo space craft.

[ChangeThePassword]

1995.

Getting a bill for £20 for a 'free' trial of incredibly slow Internet because we didn't have the right kind of phone line to get it free. Which wasn't made clear.

[Curious78]

Listening to the modem dial-up tone here too! My dad used to buy computer magazines for the included cd that offered a free trial with AOL or something. He used to get peeved off with my mum because she would hog the phone line, so we ended up with a seperate line in purely for the internet.

[LynnThese4reSEXPEOPLE]

Meeeeeeeeee - meeeeeeeee - bah DUNG bah DUNG - ksxjsjxkskxk

That sort of noise. Good old dial up. And "Get off the internet, I need to use the phone!"

[ChilliCheese123]

We got a pc with dial up aol internet when I was 8. It was beyond exciting. It was in the lounge and we had to fight over using it . I had a daft email address and used to go on the aol kids chat rooms. Probably absolutely full of weirdos but I never have any info away, just chatted about ponies and dancing. I also loved the Barbie website and one where you could dress up a doll online.

[Giggorata]

At the World Science Fiction Convention in Brighton in 1987, Arthur C Clarke was one of the guests of honour, but wasn't well enough to travel from Sri Lanka.
A link was set up, where we could have a typed Q and A session with him, but I am not sure whether it was referred to as email. It was probably the precursor to email.

[bsc]

Did anyone use the Doomsday Project discs? The doomsday project was this enormous project to put together a gazetteer of the UK, like the original Doomsday book, from 1086.
It was on Newsround and Blue Peter, and everything.
When it was published, every main public library had a copy, which came on two discs that were just like CDRoms, but were the size of LPs!
It was like a 1989s Google earth and Wikipedia mashup.

[labazsisgoingmad]

luckily i lived on my own so no one wanted to use the phone but the dial up noise used to do my head in!
anyway anyone remember the paper clip thing that used to tap on the screen? spose to help you but he nearly gave me a heart attack when i wasnt expecting him

[JamesTKirkcompatible]

sadly I read all the threads @CakeCakeCake21

[SlightyJaded]

AOL CD Installation discs. I read that at one point over half of all CDs being produced were AOL discs.

We had computers at work at my first job, but they were using wordperfect 5.1. Everything was shift F1 and Ctrl F4. But we could send very basic email - that was about 1992.

Then in 1995 I WON a brand new PC with windows '95 installed on it. And used to spend hours dialling up AOL so I could go on chat rooms and message on ICQ. It was amazing. I would get about two emails a week and no spam. A little yellow envelope would swirl and whoosh and make a big song and dance about arriving and it was SO exciting.

My friend was on Compuserve so his email address was shit - something like 7738333.33@compuserve, whilst I was called something very 'early email' like [email protected] :)

[SlightyJaded]

And yes, Joanna Lumley telling me 'you've got mail'.

[pipnchops]

I was in sixth form and we all used to make a beeline for the computer room during free periods. We all set up hotmail accounts and would just send endless emails to other even though we were all usually set in the same room. It was like the new version of passing notes in class. We also got addicted to chat rooms and flirting with random people in them who were probably not at all who they said they were, and we were mostly lying about who we were too. I remember a website with a song that went badger badger badger badger mushroom mushroom that we all found hilarious.

[sayanythingelse]

My dad used to the us to library to use the internet when we were kids. I spent all my time on the S Club 7 website, Ask Jeeves and some games website that I forget the name of.

I think we finally got dial up at home around 1999 because I remember my dad being really concerned that he'd spent loads of money on a Dell computer and it might get the millennium bug

[AdaColeman]

I used to quite like the bossy little paperclip, (sad I know)!

[Goyle]

Started uni in 1997 and it was my first experience with the internet. I remember we had an IT lecturer who instructed us how to search for a website. I made friends with a college graduate in the USA through a pen-pal style site. Innocent days.

[Grumpybuttons]

@pipnchops badger badger badger was from “weebls stuff”. I remember it was half the reason why I went to uni and did an IT degree that included animation 😂

My husband and I met at college and we used to ignore each other in real life and MSN each other all night and at weekends!! So funny! Teenagers are so weird

[crosstalk]

Did a course at uni on the early systems - and in RSA on the first media systems which had internal mailing. Talking Seventies.

[TippledPink]

I was 12 when we first got dial up, I would go on AOL chat sites and gave my home address to a 30 year old man who started writing me letters and sent me a photo of himself!! Can't believe it now, what an idiot! No internet safety awareness back then.

[SamsMumsCateracts]

I was in high school when Nickelodeon started saying that you could enter their competitions on a postcard, or by email. I didn't understand the point of buying a computer just to email and remember clearly thinking "but why send an email when you can just send a postcard?". I thought it'd be a phase and peter out because no one would ever send emails. I can also remember trying to imagine what films would be put onto if not video tapes and concluding that there would be taped forever. Clearly I am not a good judge of future technology.

I did enjoy a good after school msn chat eventually though!

[Roselilly36]

I remember AOL dial up.

[nitgel]

In 1999 I had no internet access at home but spent hours at work looking at ghost cams also loved the online marketing for Blair witch film. Emails were just for online job hunting.