How has the internet changed your life?

[Paddy]

Just interested?

I have hardly known a time without it. From when I can remember dad had a 14.4K modem.

So I think its a standard part of life, but im sure there are members that can compare 'now and then'

P

[sav0]

I remember when I first got t'internet back when you had to pay an ISP for internet access and then you had call costs on top of that oh those were the days

[Toosh]

I reckon i would of done alot better at school and college if it was out when i was a young un.

[shawty500]

I remember when it was awful, and thought it was pointless lol. When there was no Google ebay or OCs lol!


At the time I couldnt imagine what it could be used for other than an online library, how things have changed! I can remember the old 14.4k modem on my old 186 with the 5.25" floppy bay. and 20mb hard drives!

I think we went with it all the way though, having IDSN before broadband came along, now got a stable 24mb connection which is great, just gets you frustrated when you come across really slow loading sites lol

As for it changing my life? Well I have met lots of people through Owners Clubs, learned lots of information about all the cars I have owned, purchased things I would never have come across in the shops, its fantastic!

[davelowe]

Sounds like we are all showing our age! What a good question. When I were a lad etc... we wrote letters using pen and ink. If you wanted to find something out, you used a library, or even asked someone who could answer, or at the very least could point you toward someone who knew more. I certainly remember going onto the leading search engine of the time (Excite) and entering some terms. I kept getting 'no results found' - and eventually it kicked me off for "Exceeding your daily number of queries". Telnet was a standard and before that modems were used to dial up to bulletin boards, or even another machine (provided you called the other owner to pre-arrange it!).

I think that the internet has made people impatient. Information is too readily available in correct or incorrect forms. People too often skim instead of reading in depth about a given subject. I'm guilty of it - I'm torn between the two sides...

[Stranger]

The World is just a few keystrokes away now but it's not all good. Social things such as going to libraries, community groups, etc have all suffered not to mention the fact that people can sit on their backsides and get all sorts of information instead of having to walk to the library thereby reducing their exercise and increasing the levels of obesity.

One of the things that I love when we're away on holiday is not having the internet although of course I could go to an internet cafe if I needed it

Social networking such as facebook / twitter is a joke; if people didn't spend time posting about the last time that they went to the toilet and actually got on with real life I'm sure that the World would be a better place. That said I do have accounts on both so, just like davelowe I'm torn.

[shawty500]

I agree about social Networking. Me and My partner are probably two of the only people with No Social networking at all. No Facebook, no twitter, no MSN nothing lol.

Granted I may spend too much time on the OC, but we all have our flaws lol

[downsyndromedhorse]

I think we had 54k dial up when we first got the internet, with freeserve.
It was shocking; i don't think i even knew what google was; and not being able to use the phone at the same time, madness!
Big change in just a few years, now i have 50meg broadband which actually runs faster than 50megs, and just about everytime the pc is turned on, the web is being used for something; especially downloading ridiculous amounts of crap.

[wanda]

Thanks to the internet I can use the excuse of "I submitted the work on Friday so it should be with you by Tuesday using Royal mail."

Cant blame Royal mail for late work anymore...... Good times Good times.