For our second giveaway, the bonus item is the June 2011 issue of MAD Magazine, featuring "The 50 Worst Things About Facebook". (#12: The charming way your boyfriend changed his status from "in a relationship" to "single" a full three hours before calling to inform you of this development.)
We'll randomly select one person who comments on this Future Friday post to receive both prizes. There’s no need to leave your email address, but do check back on Saturday to see if you’ve won.
This week, we want to know about your first online experience. When was it? What did you search for? If you can't recall those details (maybe it was too long ago, or maybe you grew up with the internet so it didn't feel significant), then we'd love to know your first favorite website.
Here are our answers:
CAROLYN: It was 1997, and I was at the public library in Ithaca, NY. My then-boyfriend's identical twin brother took me there to teach me about this thing called the Internet and how to use it. I was just attempting to write my first YA novel, so the first thing I searched for was, naturally, Judy Blume. I was amazed to discover she had a great site (still does!) with a wealth of information. I was sold. This Internet thing was amazing.
JAY: It was 1996 (oddly enough), and I was in the library at my community college. I was embarrassed that I had never been online and didn't want anyone watching me fumble around, so I sat at the most isolated computer. The first search I did was for Def Leppard, my favorite band. Pre-Google, I don't remember if I found their official site (here it is now!), but I did find an abundance of fansites. My people!
83 comments:
Hmmm, I don't remember the exact time but I can admit that I thought internet is only google.com :D
I don't remember the first time I went on Internet but the first thing I have searched on it was fanfiction based on my favorite manga : Card Captor Sakura by CLAMP. It was very fun and I couldn't stop reading. So my first favorite site was fanfiction.net !
My first online experience must have been when I was about 12 and I checked out the Furby homepage because I had just gotten a brand new Furby :D
I remember being 9 or so and having Prodigy. There was a really fun quiz game on there that I was really too young to know any of the answers too, but it would be fill in the blank, so I could guess. It was a blast!
I don't know if it was my very first, but I distinctly recall visiting lordoftherings.net in like 1996 when I first heard someone was planning on making a film.
Awesome times.
oh it was back in 1995. The internet was expensive back then (you had to pay for every minute you were on) But after midnight it was free. So I used to log on right after midnight and stay up ALL night on this chat program called mIRC. I was only 13!! :S Parents had NO clue about the internet yet....
my husband introduced me to online in 1989 with a dialup connection that moved at the speed of snails. I really started using the internet in 1994 when RI brought the Ocean State Free Net online. I've been an addict ever since....
I don't remember when maybe 2003, i would go to Google.com and search for pictures of Justice League and ask my dad to print it and i would post it on my wall and stare at it for the whole day :)
My dad works for IBM, so we were early starters into the computer world. We had a PC (before it was CALLED a PC) when I was in elementary school. My first internet experience was in 3rd or 4th grade, when we got Prodigy. My brother and I used to have assigned times we could go on the internet since it was dial-up and would hog up the phone line, and we played a TON of online Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?
I first went on the internet in 1998, at ten years old. Needless to say, I was searching for some very important people: *NSYNC. I ran into my first fanfic that day and while it was probably the worst story I'd ever read, I left the computer that day amazed that one could write stories and post them on the internet. that fascination hasn't left me yet.
I grew up on the internet. And my dad's an IT guy, so I've pretty much known the basics of how to work a computer since I was two/three. The first time online for me must have been around 2001/2002, when I was five or six years old. I was obsessed with The Disney Channel's website and played the Lizzie McGuire games constantly.
Hm..I think I was a sophomore in high school, but I remember how EXCITING it was to AIM with my best friend that I had seen just an hour earlier at school.
Definitely AOL and the HORRIBLE HORRIBLE chatrooms lol.
I can’t remember by first encounter with the internet, but I know it was during my middle school years (late ‘90’s). Thinking back, I remember sitting with my best friend in her family’s "computer room" and listening to that dial-up tone to get connected. I’m sure that we were researching something really important like which Backstreet Boy had a girlfriend (soul crushing) and what Jonathan Taylor Thomas’ favorite color was at the time…very epic stuff.
I remember being super impressed by a search engine called Dogpile. I could type in anything and it would find it! I don't know if this was pre-Google, but I do remember arguing with a friend over Dogpile vs Ask Jeeves. I kinda wish I remembered something other than search engines...
I was 4 or 5 and I wanted to go to pbskids.org because I loved the shows on that channel!
My first time using Microsoft Word, I was too young to understand that you didn't have to press Enter constantly to start a new line- Word did it automatically! Haha (:
Oh my gosh, it feels like such a long time ago! I think the first time I went on the internet it was to create an email account with some REALLY EMBARRASSING username :P
I grew up with a computer, so I'm not sure when I first used the internet. However, the first website I can remember being obsessed with was Neopets.com
I don't remember--to either of those questions. I remember having a computer and playing games on it, but I don't remember the website or when I first got on it.
thanks!
my first online experience was at the library. I googled, I just can't remember what I googled.
I grew up with the internet, or it was pretty popular when I was really young. let's see, my favorite site when I was younger...I wasn't really allowed to use the internet much when I was little just because we had dial up internet and it would interfere with the phone line, but I did play lots of games on my mom's computer that were CD-ROMS. So we'll just go with google and wikipedia, cause I remember using those in school all the time. :D
I don't remember the VERY first time, but all I did for a while was check my email since I didn't know anything else about the internet. A fifth-grader doesn't get too much email, but I still checked it constantly until my parents set certain times for us to go online because we hogged the phone line. I'd guess it was the late nineties :)
I've basically grown up on the computer. I think was I around 10 or 11 when I first started getting online. I know it was in Middle School. Which means it was 1994-1995ish.
I am a full blown computer nerd! ;)
--Christina
Oh the memories. I used to be obsessed with a program called ICQ I suppose it was the twitter of that day (way back when). I met my first boyfriend through ICQ, he was local and we met up (Kids I do not recommend doing this). But worked out luckily to be a great experience for me. I met several great people that lived right down my street and I have been on the internet ever since. Always meeting great new people and making friends.
my first online experience? I think it was at my son's elementary school. I learned everything through the kids! : )
I saw www.LATIMES.com on my dad's newspaper and I knew it was "magical" I actually cut out the ad, folded it and kept it with me so when I actually go to the internet I could look it up. Finally, I went to my friends house in '95 and she had a comp w AOL...i typed in the address and the rest was history! Sigh..memories!!
My first time on the internet was when I lived in Seattle in my mid twenties, and I used to log on to this awesome gaming website called Sierra Online and play cribbage and spades! With total strangers! And sometimes we'd exchange comments! It was mindblowing technology.
My very first internet experience was in 1997. I was five years old and my mother bought a computer because she had just started college. At the time I didn't know how to read but, I do remember AOL was my first website. I tried to imitate my mother by clicking the mouse and pretending to type.
My first memories of using the internet are of waiting for the dial up to connect (yuck!) so that I could chat on aim with my friends!
WOW - I guess it has to be sometime in the 70's - I think my first type of computer was an Atari and we hooked it up to the TV (I think) I first started with computers 9big one) was in 1963 with the computer center at BofA. I also remember using MS-DOS operating system on my first regular computer, but can't really lock down a year when we first started using the internet - guess that you can tell I'm over 50 LOL
Post college '97. I still miss those words,"you've got mail." And I remember getting instant messages from someone called 007 who knew me, but I didnt recognize his username. Freaked me out, but being a sleuth, I figured it out.
I don't remember the exact first time I went online but I'm pretty sure it was 1995 and I was a sophomore in high school. The first few years of my online experience was more about talking to friends on AOL instant messenger than searching for stuff.
I also remember that we only had one phone line so I was always tying it up by chatting with friends. Gotta love dial-up!
I'm too young to remember my first internet experience, but right now I love my med school google group and facebook group because we share a tremendous amount of helpful study materials!!
wow, first time on the internet? I believe it was in my junior or senior year of high school. We had this brand new computer lab installed and we were learning how to do research online for an English class. I believe I did research on the Druids for a paper I was writing. I definitely remember my first time on internet chat was my freshman year in college 1996. I was lonely and far from home and it was pretty great to be able to chat with friends I was missing. By the time I was a Junior in college I had a laptop. It was still dial-up back then though...crazy.
1996 I was a parent helper in my son's 4th grade classroom. The class went to a room filled with computers and it was my job to help the kids use the internet to find out the weather. Talk about the blind leading the blind!
I don't remember exact details anymore, but it was some time in 1996 when I was a senior in high school and the school had gotten hooked up to the Internet for the very first time. I'd become a big fan of ABBA that year, and I recall many study hall periods where I sat glued to the computer searching for and collecting pictures of the band members.
It was 1997 was the first time I used it. I heard about it for the first time in 1996 when I was selling my Apple IIGS and someone asked me if it was internet ready. I had no idea what they were talking about but said yes anyway. LOL.
The first time I used it was in 1997 at a friends house. He let me on it to show me how to look for stuff on AOL. I was hooked. I think I went home that day and made a plan to start saving so I could by my own computer and get AOL. LOL. Dial up was so bad then. I can still hear the "YOU GOT MAIL" to this day. I kind of miss it.
I don't remember the exact time but me and my sister share a hotmail accout for a couple years back in 1999.
My first online experience was at my friends house in 1995. She had AOL and I remember going over and using her computer. I don't think I did any searching, just went into chattooms. It took my parents another 3 years to sign us up for internet service.
I probably first used the internet around 1998 when I was in middle school. I remember using a WebTV though. After getting my very own yahoo account, all I ever did was search those E-Card websites and send family and friends multiple animated cards that I'm sure were totally annoying. But I also remember realizing I needed glasses because I couldn't see those greeting cards from my dad's armchair across the room. So the internet saved my vision!
The first time I logged onto the Internet was in 1996 when we got a disc in the mail for a free trail of AOL. My mom, sister and I still use the same e-mail address that we set up that night! And I remember that sound of dial up while you're waiting for everything to connect!
My first online experience was in 1996 and I remember getting one of those AOL cards for x amount of free hours and spending all of it on message boards chatting about my favorite books.
I remember back in middle school I decided that if I was going to socialize outside of school I had to convince my parents to get AOL Instant Messaging. They finally caved in and I can remember IMing my then girlfriend at the time (one of those little flings where you sit together at lunch and thats it). I would stay up all night conversing with her over the internet, but when we got to school we barely ever said two words to each other.
The first website that I truly enjoyed was some joke website that my friends and I used to look up degrading jokes to tell at school. Don't worry I am much more mature now.
My dad signed me up for AOL under the screenname auntaubrey, because I had two nephews I really, really loved. I was thirteen, and it made me sound like an old lady, so I was totally embarrassed of it! I'm pretty sure it was 1998.
Awesome! Hmm.. my first computer experience was when I was in the 2nd grade. I was actually really smart when it came to computers! I played on a virtual site called Neopets, and actually didn't stop playing it until around 5th grade!
Thanks for the giveaway!
candycane16@roadrunner.com
-Yolande
oh man, I don't remember my first internet experience...I remember when my mom brought home our first computer with internet access with Prodigy...man..I would browse the chat rooms meeting people in the teen chats ..lol...one of the friends I met there over 16 years ago I am still friends with...even though we have yet to meet in person!
My first time online was probably in 1992 or '93, when I was 11/12. My friend had Prodigy at her house, and I think we were in some kind of chat room or message board trying to talk to boys! After that, I didn't go online again until I was about 16 and convinced my parents to get AOL.
I don't remember when, but when I finally decided to get on the internet it was for unethical and illegal music downloads. I've since reformed and buy all of my music. Honest!
It's so weird thinking about a time before the internet, it's such a staple now.
I wanna say it was around 1998 or so. I was ten years old and my mom bought AOL. I tied up that phone line almost everyday.
It was 4th grade and everybody was singing some song about pb & js so I went on youtube and there it was. A banana dancing with maracos singing about peanut butter jelly and baseball bats. That was the height of my year.
Today is my first internet experience and like, whoa, it turned out to be you asking about it. :)
Well, I was pretty busy with my two little baby girls when the internet became widespread, and we didn't het a home pc until about 1999 or 2000. I'd say my email was my favorite site! How exciting that was!
I’m not sure exactly, My family kind of grew up with the internet so it’s hard to say my first experience. I do remember starting off with online communities (message boards) and meeting new people through them. I believe I was 12... I was 14 when I started to become addicted to the internet with posting at one of my all time favorite sites (FanBolt.Com), which is an Entertainment Blog/Message Board (Still up and running). I spent hours on that site (Sometimes all night on school nights) meeting new people (Some of whom I eventually met in real life) and discussing TV, Books and Movies. I honestly don’t know how I got through school days after barely getting any sleep those nights.
I think my first time on the internet was in like 4th grade and I either searched for Alicia Keys' website or something about A Sereis of Unfortunate Events, my favorite books at that time :)
My first online experience was installing AOL 2.0, I think. Yikes! I remember the noise of the modem hampster dialing the number. Wow.
I really don't remember my first online experience but I do know I was young, really young. My first favorite website was neopets.com when I was around ten. It's been years since the last time I logged onto that site.
I can't remember the year but one of the first things I searched online was Harry Potter.
It was 1997 and I used it for building a website. I will never forget the hideous clank of dial-up connection.
Well since I've grown up with internet I don't really remember, but it's all good man.I'm using it right now aren't I? That's counts for something, right? Not sure. Well, guess I'll find out!
Can't remember how old I was, but the first time I used it was to play online games. >.<
Anyway,I have to say that my favourite thing was mIRC. It was very funny xP
I do remember actually! My stepdad bought a desktop computer, and I had absolutely NO IDEA what it was. So when I went in it, this page pops up randomly! Like a bubble gum explodes xD, about funny greeting cards and sketches. Naturally as curious as I was and still am -I was around 7- I clicked on it, and became obsessed with the site. Each day I would go on it and laugh at the greeting cards and sing the silly songs they had. Definitely made my year and my first experience with computers. Another thing is, fictionpress.com. It was the second thing I discovered, still obsessed with it, if you don't know what it is, it's a site were aspiring writers, put they're stories, poems of whatever they want on it. I used spend hours and hours reading there,I still do! :D
I don't exactly remember the year, I believe it was '97 or '98, so I would be between 5 and 7. I remember that the public libary had internet and it was during the summer because my brother would take care of me during the summer, while my parents worked. he would take me to the libary as he would used the computers, I don't remember the sites he went to but before we would leave he would always let me use the computer and I believe the first site I went to was Cartoon Network as remembrer I would go there to play the games on the site. I remember playing a basketball game of HORSE featuring Quick Draw Magraw and a football game with Bugs Bunny.
This question brings back memories of sitting in the computer lab on campus in 1997 chatting in one of those Gen X chat rooms and thinking it was so amazing to connect with different people all around the country.
The first time I went online was when we got a dial up CD for AOL and we checked out all of these random chat rooms... I still can't believe how naive I was then - but I'll admit it was fun :)
Winter Break from college1996. My father, who is an early adopter and was then working for AT&T was so excited to share The Intformation Highway with me. He told me to search anything. I dug deep, trying to think of something that wouldn't possibly be represented on this highway, and typed "Fast Times at Ridgemont High". Then I waited. And waited. And waited some more. Until finally --sure enough, up came a site about FTaRH -- complete with hyper-links to Sean Penn, etc. I was shocked and immediately hooked!
Yay a giveaway:)
Hmm first online experience. That is a tough one. Not too sure but I can tell you the only reason I am an online junkie is I love to connect with people in the writing industry and really enjoy reading blogs (agents and writers).
That's a great question!
Mine was in 1994? My dad's classroom had just been fit with 10 computers for his class to use and I decided to hop online to check them out.
I'm not sure what website it was, but for some reason I looked up Dinosaurs and got sucked into some page on the backbone of stegosauruses--and I wasn't even that into dinosaurs yet.
LOL-the start of the great internet time suck!
This wasn't my first online experience, but one of my most vivid early AOL memories. I was 10 or 11 when we first got AOL on our computer. I loved going to the chat rooms and IMing people. One day my cousin and I were chatting with a guy who was in his 20s and we thought we were so cool. When my mom called us for dinner, we told him we had to go because we were having "chicken cord on blue" for dinner. I can only imagine what he thought about us. We still laugh about it to this day.
1995 and the public library I was working at just had automated. After my shift I signed up for my 30 minute time slot and spend the entire time looking at the Smithsonian website. Spent the first couple of weeks just visiting different museums around the world. Sometimes I think I need to revisit some of them in the future.
My first online experience was my freshman year of college (1994-1995). I don't remember my first website, but I do remember signing up for my first on-campus email address.
The first time I used the internet was probably about 1996/1997, and at school. I remember they began teaching it when I was in high school. I'd say my first major experience was getting a Hotmail email address! I do also remember spending a lot of time in the school library looking up pics of Hanson and other boy bands I was in love with! :-D When I had internet access in my room at Uni a few years later - finally for personal use and without supervision - I became obsessed with LiveJournal and fanfiction! I feel like such a late bloomer compared to the kids who grow up with it today!! ;-)
September of 94, I was a freshman at Michigan State. Trying to open my email account, and getting on the web to search other schools for my friends email. Never even heard of email before that. "Electronic Mail? Hows that work?"
1996. My friend sent me a "Conga-Rats" e-card with a kickline of mice. It was moving, and I couldn't believe it!
I remember hooking up a modem for the first time and listenting to it dial up and connect . . . but for the life of me, I can't remember what I did when I actually got online. Probably set up an email.
Oh man. Must have been around 1995, we were just getting online in our Mac Lab in my elementary school. We were doing a "50 States Project" and we had to write to other states to basically penpal with another school, or something. Anyway, one school sent us an EMAIL ADDRESS and after we finished oohing and ahhing over this, we hopped on the one Internet-connected computer to send them back an email. The librarian told us that we couldn't backspace or it would crash the program, or something stupid like that, and being as how I was a fifth grader and hadn't had much typing practice yet (computers = still new), I fired off a lovely typo-filled email. I don't think we ever heard back.
I grew up with the internet, so I couldn't tell you what my first experience was... but one of my earliest favorites (that I remember) was fanfiction.net. I loved writing stories there and reading others stories too!
Come November, tho, I'm sure Nanowrimo will become my homepage again. :)
Well, sadly my first experience on the internet was watching 9/11 happening over and over again on CNN becuase our tv was broken i was 5
I remember I was tiny and sitting with my uncle while he had googled Harry Potter and taken me to all these different sites!
That was the very first time!! I actualy had thought it was magic and was soooo excited!
The year I first got my own laptop+internet I remember I used to play those stupid dress-up games and visit barbie sites ( so mortifying now that I think about it) . And then I was on this hogwarts rpg site! The first proper thing I used internet to communicate with people I actually knew was YahooMessenger!
X
Since I'm so young, it was in 2005 when I discovered Yahoo Answers. I think I was 7 or 8? I was pretty cool then. Dunno what happened.
My first favorite website(Can't remember my first experience)was Google, I think. Lol:D Can't wait for this book!!!
I read 13 reasons why and ADORED it!!!! Can't wait for this book!!!!!
Maddie
I remember using a dial-up bulletin board for the Girl Scouts, looking for other leaders and trading ideas. it might have been around 1995.
My first time was in 96/97. I was taking a computer class at my community college when I somehow found out that there was an upstairs computer lab with computers connected to the Internet. I eschewed the class to spend my entire evening on those computers looking up random subjects on Gopher, Infoseek, Hotbot, Lycos, etc.
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