Happy birthday, internet!
Hovering over the Google Doodle, I see "30th Anniversary of the World Wide Web".
We didn't get connected in our home until seven or eight years after www came into existence. I remember the plethora of AT&T trucks in the area, laying cables. Southwestern Bell was our provider back then. I remember my husband talking with the installation guy, the toaster-sized modem set up by my desk in the study.
The whirrs, clicks, and beeps of dialing up soon became household sounds. Logging in could be a five-minute process, so it wasn't unusual to click through, leave the study to attend to a household task, then come back just as the connection completed.
E-mail and messaging were the first real draws. Before texting on cell phones, email was the quickest way to reach someone without waking them up. With family spread far and wide around the globe, this came in handy.
Oh, I remember one of our first internet searches with my preschool daughter on my knee. She wanted to look for "Barbie". The original results were not child-safe...I was thankful they were in text only, no images, and she couldn't read that fast. (I learned to add "Mattel" to that search.)
It's mind-boggling to think of the technological changes to the World Wide Web over the last three decades: almost instantaneous (silent!) access; burgeoning commerce; text, image, audio, and video communication. With these changes come challenges, as well: screen addiction; brick-and-mortar stores failing; trolling, hackers, and viruses.
We've come so far in thirty years...but according to the World Wide Web Foundation, we still have far to go. We are privileged to have global access, but not everyone on the globe does. There are those who would like to restrict our access, too; there is already a digital divide, which could be widened even more, most likely along socioeconomic lines. We have to be vigilant in protecting our rights to privacy and protecting our devices from hackers. With great access comes great responsibility.
Happy birthday, World Wide Web. I wonder what the next thirty years will bring?
I remember the early internet days, too. We still have internet that lags behind most of the country. But we sure have come a long way. I can’t imagine going back to adding grades and worrying about a kid hiding my gradebook. And a student first introduced me to google!
ReplyDeleteMy colleagues and I were talking about this today! Oh my gosh, dial-up was THE WORST. The world has changed so radically in a relatively short period of time. Our digital output exceeds our ability to store it. I can't envision what the future holds ...I remember reading as a child that one day we'd have phones were we could see each other as we speak. I couldn't conceive of it -- but -- well. Suppose we'll communicate by 3D holographic projections a la Star wars in the next 30 years? Or does that already exist and I just don't know it? Great commemorative post.
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