Do You Remember the World Without the Web?

Today the world celebrates the 25th anniversary of the World Wide Web. Admittedly, this was news to me until I read this post on Google’s Official Blog this morning, written by the inventor himself, Sir Tim Berners-Lee. It was a good, quick insight into the beginnings of possibly the greatest invention of our time, as well as a call to protect the openness and freedom of the internet.

Later on in the day I received an email from Google’s Take Action team (I’m subscribed to their Internet legislations and initiatives list) where they asked, “Do you remember the world without the web?” This was prompted by an ask to share for either yes or no.

I do happen to be old enough to remember this, what can sometimes seem, prehistoric age, and I felt inspired to lead my reentry into the blogging world by reflecting on these times.

I was nine years old on March 12, 1989, living in northern New Jersey, the second state I lived in at the time (Massachusetts became the third a few months later – it’s no wonder I feel restless living in one location for very long).

March 12 was a Sunday that year, so I didn’t have school that day. I may have had to go to CCD in the morning, something I likely wasn’t very excited about. If it was a nice day out, I may have been playing basketball or whiffle ball in the park across the street in the afternoon. Or maybe I had a youth town baseball or basketball game that day.

It’s possible I was downstairs playing with my brother’s Tyco electric race car track, or with my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Micro Machines. Maybe we listened to my brother’s Beastie Boys record? Or possibly my favorite song back then, Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” on my top-of-the-line dual cassette player that I had gotten the year before!

Another big form of entertainment for us was the original Nintendo (NES). Our favorite games around that time would have probably been the early Super Mario Bros. games, Zelda, Blades of Steel, R.B.I. Baseball and Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!! That night we probably watched “Murder, She Wrote” (one of my Dad’s favorites at the time), “Moonlighting,” or “21 Jump Street.”

We didn’t have a computer in 1989. I do remember having a Commodore 64 years earlier, but was probably too young to ever use it. My earliest computer memories include using Apple II’s for who knows what in elementary school, as well as playing Microsoft Flight Simulator at my cousin’s house (both my brother and I loved airplanes and airports).

Who knew that Sunday that the computing world, and really the whole world itself, would change forever? And change was about to move A LOT faster!

Today’s technology must seem like an episode of “The Jetsons” back then! Even back in my 10th grade European History class, I remember my teacher remarking how unfathomable it was not long before that someone could send a 400-page document in a matter of minutes to someone on the other side of the planet. And that was with a fax machine. Who uses those anymore?

A few months ago my father got a Sony Smartwatch, one my parents refer to as his “Dick Tracy” watch. I imagine that is just completely surreal to them having read those comics or watched the cartoon as kids. Heck, having internet on a watch is surreal to me!

I guess you can say I was sort of an early adopter to the commercial internet. My first experience was at my cousin’s house around 1991 or 1992 where they had this thing called Prodigy (my cousin and uncle always had the newest computer stuff). I was fascinated with the ability to look up scores, news and play games with other people using this online service. My favorite was this business simulator in which you set the price and quantity to manufacture of products and your success depended on competition (other players), supply and demand.

Not too long later I had convinced my parents to buy a computer (this was a 386 with a 2400 baud modem) and sign up for Prodigy. I was among the first that I know of at my school or among my friends to have something like this. Eventually it seems everyone would have either Prodigy, Compuserve or America Online.

Sometime later I remember opening up my first World Wide Web browser with a couple friends of mine and asking, ‘How do we find or go to a webpage?’ We probably used Lycos or Altavista to search. Later this would be replaced by Yahoo, and sometime later, Google. There was something magical, or at least really cool, about those first “WWW” moments. I think being among the first of my peers to experience the internet always had me a step ahead of most people when it came to computer stuff.

Now it’s hard to imagine our lives without the internet. My job deals primarily with managing email for a website, a position that certainly didn’t exist 25 years ago. Much of my entertainment is internet-based, whether it is reading, learning something new, watching a live-stream of my favorite soccer team or losing myself in social media.

Even though I’m online constantly through my laptop, phone or tablet, I still make a point to get outside and be active (although sometimes life finds a way to remind me if I neglect this need for too long). It seems to me that this is lost on many of us today, some of whom have grown up with sophisticated online games and the time trap that the internet can be, as well as those of us who remember the way life was like before the web. I know I’m generalizing though, to be fair.

I actually appreciate the outdoors much more now than when I was growing up. There were many times my introverted nature would keep me inside wanting to play Madden or something on the computer rather than play street hockey or ride bikes with my friends. Maybe it was my escape from the conventional play outside every afternoon after school that was the norm for us back then?

Now I crave the simplicity of walking out in the fresh air, exploring a new city, or taking a run by the beach. I guess this, in a sense, is now my escape from long hours pounding away at the keyboard.

My how times have changed.

What about you? Do you remember the world without the web? Share your thoughts in the comments below.