From Dial Up OMGs to AIM LOLs, Share Your OG Internet Memories!
On this, the 25th birthday of the World Wide Web, we’re taking a stroll through memory.lane/nostalgia here at Brit + Co. and a look back at our early days and nights spent surfing it. From the fond (“You’ve Got Mail!”) to the frustrating *insert dial up noises here* let’s reminisce!
1. Celebrity You’ve Got Mail! Yes, that existed. I am pretty sure that my childhood BFFs had Britney Spears saying, “You got mail” in a super peppy Southern accent. But I could have dreamed that up in the last, um, 15 years too.
2. Dollz: OMG, remember these?! I think these little avatars inspired me to wear more shirts that showed my stomach. My mom must have hated them.
3. LiveJournal: You know you had one! Now if only you could remember the name of it. Can someone please please please come up with a search engine for finding our forgotten websites and LiveJournals. Please?
4. Dreaded Dial Up! Yes, this is one memory that we do not miss. The next time you can’t stream a TV show on an airplane, remember when you used to have to fight with Mom and Dad for the telephone line.
5. AOL CDs: Look at all those free hours of Internet totally wasted, guys. It’s almost like we knew it could be free someday… or at least would not need a CD to work.
6. Embarrassing AIM Screennames: Our Editor Kate’s was caterpillarliving. In her own GChatted words, “WHY WAS IT THAT!??!” Mine was MMMLilLis — that’s “MMM” as in “MMMBop” and “Lil Lis” as my fake rapper name. Yup. (h/t Man Repeller for the pic!)
7. Netscape Navigator: You think you’re so cool now-a-days with your Chrome and all of its add-ons, but Netscape will never forget your time together. Never.
8. Hamster Dance: The first animated gif you sent to your friends way before snark was a part of your vocab. Relive the memory here… and good luck getting the “dee dee deeee” outta your head this time around.
9. Napster: Don’t tell Spotify, but we miss Napster and all those illegally-downloaded songs filling up spindle upon spindle of CD mixes.
10. Tom: He was our first online friend. That we didn’t meet in a chatroom. PS: he aged well.
So those were some of ours, can you relate or what? Share YOUR favorite OG Internet memory with us on Facebook!
