When did you start using the internet?

[Vy'drach 133]

When did you start using the internet?

 

Started seriously using it at about 10 or so.

 

Would you have rather started using the internet at another age?

 

Nah, had some good times.

 

Are you addicted?

 

If by "addicted" you mean "On the internet all day."

 

Anything you wish you could have unseen?

 

 

Are you for censorship?

 

Not in the forced sense, I just wish everyone had the decency to go, "Hmm, this might bother some people, let me use this convenient button that hides it from general view but people who want to see it easily can anyway."

 

Any funny internet stories?

 

After a day of playing Battlefield 3 (I have 1236 wins and 241 losses currently in that game, btw, which is kind of relevant to the story), and seeing about seven people with "kush" or "420" or a combination of the two in their name, I check my messages and see a message from a player by the name of KUSH118 that says, and I quote, "u need to quit killing me thinking u own bf3 but u don't pussy'

 

I sent a message back basically saying I have absolutely no idea who he is due to the amount of people that day I saw with a generic pot name. I have saved that message because it cracks me up every time.

[Evilshy 5,089]

I first used the Internet back in about 97 or 98, but that was just tiny little forays onto stuff I don't even remember. I didn't start regularly using it till 6th grade, which would've been 00 or 01 I think. I wish I had started a bit earlier, just so I would've had first hand experience of the start of the Internet.

 

Do I wish I could unsee any of it? Nope. If you had asked me that 5-6 years ago, then I would've said yes, but these days, I'm too desensitized, and wouldn't want to lose any of Internet experiences, good or bad.

And yeah, I've seen some really fucked up stuff. You're talking to a 4chan oldfag. I've been around the Internet block a few times

 

I am against the censorship of pretty much anything.

 

Stories, yeah I have a few, but nothing comes immediately to mind.

[Creamy Arty 6,251]

We first got internet service in 2004 shortly after moving into a new house. I was a latecomer to the party, but that couldn't be helped since I lived in the middle of nowhere. It was dial-up too. By that point in time a lot of content on the internet had transitioned or was making the transition to HD content and scripts and junk that usually demanded a better connection than 49.2kbps. By 2011 my dial-up connection was almost useless, but it's all that was available to me. Now that I've moved to a proper town I have DSL.

 

There's something wrong about a guy who makes his living as a systems administrator in a first-world country having dial-up at home.

[gamecubeguy214 2,511]

When I was about two or three. I liked to use kids websites which were Noggin and Starfall, and maybe a bit more. I then grew out of those and started using YouTube and stuff. Though I once revisited Noggin for nostalgia.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

Started at age 6...with AOL. Went on for mostly games. 

[Gain 13]

I started using it daily when I was 10 and would RP on the Adventure Quest forums XD

[Invincible 2,090]

Iv'e been using the internet since i was 7 years old. I mostly used it in school when i was instructed to operate some form of educational website for kids.

 

I'm gonna sound like your average grandpa here but, back then there was almost nothing interesting online. Most of what you take for granted now is internet technology invented over the last two decades, the internet has definitely come a long way since i first saw it.

 

Flash animation, YouTube, social media, Wi-Fi, etc weren't things you'd so casually stumble upon in the 90's.

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

When did I start using the internet?  Um...about five minutes ago.  I'm taking a break from my top secret project.

 

 

...

 

OH...you meant, like when was the first time I ever used it?  Well, I'm an old timer (30), so I actually remember when the internet didn't exist!  Funny thing is, I don't remember when it was invented.  It just wasn't...and then suddenly...it was...and it was an integral part of life.  My parents and I were talking about this over dinner the other night.  The WWW is a funny thing, because unlike literally every other human invention, it wasn't "invented" on a specific date, and released, like the first television set, first automobile, first cell phone, etc.  It's not a product, and not something that hit the shelves for sale.  It's also not something that was really invented on purpose, per se.  I mean, we know how it started, as a way for universities to exchange data sets, or so the legends have it, but it's not like one person or company then invented "the internet" overnight and just turned it on.  It evolved gradually.  I'd be interested to know if there's some specific moment, some pivotal milestone when experts would credit as being the moment the internet was invented.

 

Anyway, because of that, I don't remember waking up one day, hearing about this new thing called the internet, and asking my parents if I could try it out.  Conversely, I remember the first time I drove a car vividly.  The internet just seeped into our lives.  That's a good word for it, too.  Seeped.  Implies that it's a slow leak that infests everything with mold and takes over, which is a good description of the net.  Oh yes, and I couldn't live without the net, either, btw.     But anyway, I must have started using it around...like 15 or so, I should think.  The timeline just happened to work out where my parents never had to worry about me or do much policing.  What I mean by that is that the internet didn't exist when I was little, so they didn't have that to worry about, and even when I did start using it, the net (probably) wasn't as big or dangerous as it is today, so my parents didn't need to face the dilemmas of new parents today regarding children and internet safety.  As I grew, so did the net, but then I was an adult, so no problemo.

 

In answer to some of the poll questions, no, I've never really seen anything I wished I could unsee, because I'm not really bothered by anything.  And I'm definitely not in favor of any form of censorship.  I'm a supporter of a free and open internet, and net neutrality and all that sort of good stuff.

 

Funny stories?  Sure, tons.  ...I can't really think of any at the moment...:/

 

Ooh, ooh, I just thought of a couple mildly entertaining anecdotes.  I spent a lot of time playing Halo CE on PC from about 2003 to 2007 or so.  Like a LOT of time.  I ran into a lot of funny characters on there.  What cracked me up the most was some of the usernames.  The best one I ever saw was Thunderf*ck.  One time I was in a 1v1 deathmatch of Death Island with this other guy, and from his perspective, I was jumping around like crazy due to lag.  Everything was perfect on my end, and I typically don't get any complaints from people I game with, so I think he was the problem.  I didn't know he was experiencing any problems at first.  I just thought he really sucked.  So, I was mopping the floor with him like nobody's business, and then all of a sudden he says, "Warping b*tch", then promptly quits.  Every time I think of that phrase, it makes me chuckle.  It's just the funniest phrase.

Edited November 27, 2015 by Justin_Case001

[Nightfall Gloam 18,236]

I think I started using the internet in the early 2000's, when I was still pretty young. The sites I remember going on were Neopets, ABC Kids, Cartoon Network (Australia), and a few Flash games websites, including Newgrounds, Miniclip and Y8. If I remember correctly, our ISP was Optus and we had a cable internet connection (cannot remember the speed at all, I think this was also part of a package which included Optus TV for a little while). My mum would always use the internet for e-mail and Mecu Online Banking (now known as Bank Australia). Unfortunately I cannot remember much else of my early internet days, aside from some more Neopets memories, like the fact that whenever I made a new account on the website (had to constantly do this as I kept forgetting my passwords), I would always make a blue Shoyru my first pet, and his name always had to have Blue, Flame and Cool in it.

[mars 4,861]

I was six when I first joined the Internet, but most of my life was spent roleplaying or on virtual pet sites. Didn't join a forum until 2014.

[Detritus 258]

I think it was 1997 or so, and I connected with a 28.8k dial-up modem. My computer at the time was a 486 with 8 MB of memory, a 1.2 GB hard drive, and MS-DOS 6.22 with Windows for Workgroups 3.11... It was a dinosaur even back then.

[Vulcan 3,254]

 

 

I was six when I first joined the Internet, but most of my life was spent roleplaying or on virtual pet sites. Didn't join a forum until 2014.

 

Neopets??

 

 

 

I remember my first use of the internet was to play warcraft and ragnarok , those were good times 

[mars 4,861]

Neopets??

 

 

 

I remember my first use of the internet was to play warcraft and ragnarok , those were good times

Oh yeah, I was a Neopets baby for sure. It's where I first started roleplaying. I stopped playing in like... 2009 or 2010. Hope my Neopets aren't dead. ):

 

Also just remembered. I was also a frequent visitor of Disney.com and Barbie.com. Both I went on without my parents permission.

[galaxysquid 2,121]

I was about 5 when I started using the internet. Loved to play the little kids games on Nickelodeon/Disney and such.

[Vulcan 3,254]

Oh yeah, I was a Neopets baby for sure. It's where I first started roleplaying. I stopped playing in like... 2009 or 2010. Hope my Neopets aren't dead. ):

 

I read that in Marcie's voice XD

 

 

 

I'll never forget you , Bori!!! D:

Edited November 27, 2015 by Vulcan

[Hovershy 3,812]

I started using the Internet when I was like 5. Too early in my opinion, the Internet can be a scary place.

 

I'm definitely not for censorship but parents should be more cautious about their kids using the Internet.

[best poni 1,518]

I got my first computer when I was 8 and I've been using the internet ever since.

[Cosmik Vek 764]

I first used the Internet back in 2005-2006, I was 8 years old.

I mostly played the heck out of flash games, mostly from miniclip.com and jeux.com

I also was addicted to Neopets

Edited November 29, 2015 by Cosmic V0rtex

[Lord Bradley 1,319]

When i was but a small lad... But if ye mean when i started using it consciously, it was about 4-6, i believe.

[~Chaos~ 3,966]

We didn't really have a computer until about the mid 2000's, but I would go on my cousin's computer.

 

I'd say somewhere around the age of 8-10.

[Light Diamond 950]

I was around 7 or 8 when i started using it. I went on it to go on the Disney and Nickelodeon websites and play the games they had. 

[Sir Cal Stonehoof 596]

I think I was anywhere  from 13 to 15 years old. It was when the internet was really becoming popular, and the dot com craze started... I remember dial up, and if you didn't have an extra phone line, you had to get offline so others could use the house phone. lol

[Bogrick Grey Mane 2,594]

OMG I had to laugh at some of the posts on this thread, and feel really sorry for others.

Back in my day the interweb was steam powered, n' no I don't mean the steam community page.

In fact the internet didn't even exist. Even peer to peer networking was a new thing, and a computer filled a whole room.

But thankfully after years of work we jumped on the back of a military system, hi-jacked it, and through diligent hours of work brought you the system you have today

I'm glad that we were able to bring so many people happiness  

But I'm really sad about how it has been used and abused over the years as well

I hope in the years to come that the net can become a much better place

[EVBP 94]

Haha, probably before most of you were even born! 1994 would be the year. I remember going to the library and being so enthralled with seeing websites dedicated to my favorite bands - Pixies, Butthole Surfers, etc. I feel oldish now.

 

But that being said, it is interesting how much the internet has permeated and even mutated culture. Can you imagine our world without it? I think it has both positive and negative connotations. On the positive, it has allowed people over great distances to connect and find common interests, and feel a sense of belonging. On the negative, it has created a culture where everyone is expected to market themselves. You have to sell yourself to the world online. Everything from your visual image to your interests and your group of friends is under scrutiny and I would like to think that things shouldn't be that way.

 

This is me getting temporarily philsophical.

[Scrubbed user 3,415]

I've had internet for about as long as I can remember. The only time I ever really used it was for school if I had to research something. When we got a laptop as the replacement of the desktop we had in 2007 (the desktop was running Windows 95, that kind of old) was when I was able to venture on the internet, even though we still had 56k dial-up. It was only in 2008 when we finally gotten a broadband connection that we were able to use the internet in a timely fashion. Unfortunately we had an 80 GB data limit that we went through pretty fast.

 

These days, I'm using a much more stable and faster connection with no data limit!. Perfect for online gaming.