Things I miss about the old internet
Back in the early 2000s, the Murphy family got our first taste of the internet. We checked the family internet account occasionally. I spent hours playing Flash games and Neopets without any paywalls. I asked my friends: “You going on MSN Messenger tonight?” You couldn’t chat online and on the phone at the same time. So what do I miss about this simpler time?
The computer was a destination
To use the internet, you had to wait for the computer to start, sit through the dial up tone wailing, and plonk yourself in front of what was usually a shared computer. Once you walked away from the computer, no one could reach you unless they had your phone number. And that phone didn’t have apps or social media. Bliss. If you spent too long at the computer, chances are that your parents or siblings would put an end to your surfing session so they could have a turn or use the phone.
The best thing about this set up was that the computer was a place you go rather than something you hold in your hand. Once the internet disconnected and you stepped away from the computer, they would have to reach you by landline or dumb phone. There was also pressure from other family members to get away from the screen at some point.
Not receiving 50 emails a day about shit I don’t care about
Today I received emails from my gym, Amazon, Preply, a vegan meal delivery service I used once, Etsy, PayPal (which I never use), a university I haven’t been to and a crossword website. And that’s a slow day in my inbox. Some of these senders gave me the gift of several emails in a day. Delightful. Every sender wants us to confirm this, notify us of that, and try to convince us to send them more money.
I miss keeping hard copy tickets as souvenirs. I miss hitting ‘send/receive’ and hoping for a fun, new email. I miss not having my attention drained by subject lines and being expected to have access to my inbox at any given moment.
Uploading whole albums of bad photos from a digital camera
When I was at university, social media was really taking off. Facebook was everywhere, but Instagram was in its infancy. I took a tough, waterproof digital camera to house parties and nightclubs, and took mostly unflattering photos of friends and strangers. The next day, I uploaded every photo to albums called things like ‘Mary’s 21st, ‘Town’ and ‘Claudia’s Party’. I exposed my Facebook friends to some truely awful feats of photography which should not have been part of anyone’s digital footprint. I accidentally uploaded a photo of a friend holding a bong. It took years for him to find it and ask me to delete it.
It was anything but the curated instagram feed of 2026. There were no filters. I didn’t have Photoshop and couldn’t be fucked to edit anyway. Playing photographer helped me meet new people, and gave me an excuse to add new friends to my Facebook. My friends would often pester me to upload the evidence of our debauchery as soon as possible. I really feel that this era of digital photograph really brought people together. It was more about documenting a good time than constructing the perfect image of having your shit together.
What do you miss about the old internet?