Happy Birthday to the Internet, turning 30 today

The Internet turns 30 today. This music swells me with pride, knowing I’m older than it.

The internet – half for checking in with friends, watching Youtube videos, sending adorable cat videos, meteorologists able to properly warn you of life-threatening weather.. and the other half for trolling. Most of the planet uses the internet, in their own way. Even
me, using it to post this very thing to you folks.
But today, we look back to its humble beginnings, known simply as the ‘world wide
web’, designed to one day connect the entire planet with information they couldn’t normally get.
–
Back in the day, there was no such thing as ‘broadband’ or ‘WiFi’. The internet was given to you, via your own landline telephone (of having to use what was known as ‘Dial-up’). And that, was music to your ears; hearing the modem dial a number, and then after 30-45 seconds later, you were connected.
After, you would receive a friendly “Welcome!” message, followed by “You Got Mail!”. Back then, using something like AOL was the only way to check your email.
—
So the next time you watch a meme compilation video on Youtube, go shopping on Amazon, or put on your headset and talk with friends in VRChat– think about how it all started; with two guys putting their ideas into reality… and just how far we’ve come as a species to where the internet has become a ‘second skin’.
And technology isn’t stopping there. One day, the internet will be used to finally get humanity to leave our planet and become a space-fairing species.