When did you start using the internet?

[Scarlet02 493]

I wouldn't say I'm a internet denizen who's all that much yet since I was first exposed to the internet when I was ten years-old. I got an Xbox 360 for Christmas that year and that was my first experience with the online world, though it wasn't all that pleasant unfortunately. The reason being for that is because of the kids on there who were really mean and reminded me of the kids who would harass me at school, but I'm getting off topic lol. I think one of my favorite games on Xbox 360 was Destiny and Happy Wars.

[ExplosionMare 18,063]

I remember all the way back in preschool, I used the computer for some type of colors game  Can’t remember if it was off a site or from a CD but I do remember getting in trouble for rearranging all the tabs on the desktop  

[Cash In 22,352]

I don't fully remember. I think it was around 2009, which was back when YouTube had the star rating system. I was about six, but I was a pretty responsible kid, so I didn't have too many issues.

[Savy 5,077]

Probably around 2006 or 2007, and that's thanks to games like Webkinz and Club Penguin. Hell, I even remember the OLD YouTube, like when they had the star ratings and yellow subscribe button.

[Rose Tea Written 60]

I first used the Internet when I was little, but didn't start using it regularly until I was nine or ten. (2003-2004) Around that time my parents got a connection in the house, and since they trusted me and I was an older kid, I was free to do whatever I wanted online.

I discovered fansites, which was utterly amazing to me, because I had always liked drawing my own fanart/making fan stories/theories/etc. but was told by everyone around me that it was weird. People looked down on me for being so into games and shows, and I didn't know anyone else who wanted to make their own content. Then, suddenly, there were entire COMMUNITIES full of people who not only loved Spyro the Dragon and Pokémon as much as I did, but created their own works based on it. That blew my mind!

That summer, I discovered forums, and they quickly became one of my favorite things on the Internet. I joined a Pokémon fan forum called Mew's Hangout, where I made a ton of friends, and many others, including a small forum where I met someone who I'm still friends with today. That same friend introduced me to my boyfriend nearly twenty years later, who I now live with, and we went and visited her in person last year!

I dislike the direction the modern web is going in, though. Personal websites and pages of fascinating written content almost extinct (the whole reason I started using the Internet!). Forums mostly gone (the other reason I liked the Internet). Social media, which is horrible, toxic, boring, and nowhere near as good as the personal websites of the past, taking over. Corporations and money owning the Internet rather than the users creating content for fun. Forcing "mobile friendly" designs on everyone, which look like garbage on desktop and make every sentence big enough to take up the whole screen. Proof that no one comes online to read anymore, which I also hate. I hate it. Usually when I go online, I post on forums, dig up old websites, or use Archive.org. There are few things about the modern web I like.

[Splashee 28,564]

Just before the internet got its official logo

[Pony Flutters 535]

Although I may have been exposed to it a bit earlier in my elementary school days, I probably really started using it at about 2005 I'd say.

[ZiggWheelsManning 10,422]

On 2022-02-17 at 12:02 AM, Pony Flutters said:

Although I may have been exposed to it a bit earlier in my elementary school days, I probably really started using it at about 2005 I'd say.

Unique the internet came for me as an elementary school student  

[cmarston1 5,959]

Honestly I can't really remember.  All I know is that I was exposed to it earlier than I probably should have been.