How would your old self react to the modern internet?

[Phoenix]

Imagine you could go back in time to the era of the 90s/2000s internet. If you told your younger self about the modern internet, how would they react? Would they be amazed at how far things have come, or bitter at how "sanitised" and divisive it is? For me its hard to imagine because I didnt start using the internet properly till the 2010s (I had used the internet in the 2000s but it was a lot more limited since I was a kid), so im curious to know what people who were on the internet more back in the day would think!   

[nana7828]

Probably she would be very sad and say "uuhhh AI? what is it??" And i had to explain...She would get a little impressed too...I don't know 

[ralfwause]

I started using the Internet back in the early 90s (before that it was BBSing on my dads Atari ST), and looking back i think the modern Web is somewhat of a mixed bag.

On the one hand my old self would perhaps think: "The possibilities we now have! Webapps! Oh my god... use your browser as a VM! No more platform dependent programming, just code for the browser and run it anywhere! THE BANDWIDTH!!!"

On the other hand: "What? Why has the net become a more fancy version of BTX? Why are so few people on Usenet? WHAT?!?! A megacorporation can track me everywhere, know what i buy, what i look at online and most people DON'T CARE? Is this some Shadowrun game!?"

My more youthfull self would love the new and old communities that have either survived the test of time (who would have guessed that Gopher is still around?) or started out new (the whole Smolnet / Indieweb etc. scene).

[wofee]

I think I would be less attracted by internet in general if I'd seen how it has evolved, maybe I would've been less dedicated to finding things interesting in there, or maybe, on the opposite, I'd be more curious to find the alternatives ? That's a great question, I think I'd still try to make a little personalized website though! Also I would have more avoided twitter like the plague and stayed on Tumblr I think lmaoo 

[tarraxahum]

Hmmm. In some aspects I think she would even fare better than I do - she definitely had a lot more energy and power to constantly battle comment arguments and controversies which currently run the negativity mill. And she definitely lacked the paranoia of "saying the wrong thing" that I unfortunately developed through the years. Less mental blocks.

I think she would also be impressed by how easy it became to find certain stuff now. Not in terms of the search functions themselves, they're notoriously getting worse of course, but rather the. Availability? I can now find anime and comics on pirate sites that I had to DIG for back then (and very often came out empty-handed too). Well, me knowing English now sure helps...

...but she would probably ask where all the fun virtual world sites (not to be mistaken with big MMOs, no, the fun avatar chats ones, like Zwinky) went. And wouldn't dig the lack of customization everywhere, that's for sure. I was the queen of highly saturated contrasting colors and glittery backgrounds.

I can't help but feel that the thing that would blow her mind the most is the sheer quality of most videos on YouTube now. Remember when 720p was considered HD??? She sure does! :D

[Eunice]

I would be as disappointed as I am today. I loved the old 'net (as I have said many times before).

[JINSBEK]

Depends on how young we're going. 5-year-old me had different experiences and expectations than 15-year-old me. But overall, I think we'd be devastated by the loss of Flash games and animations. That whole era spawned a generation of animators and storytellers, and I haven't seen an equivalent of it in today's online culture. Yes, there's Blender and SFM, but it seems like young people these days spend less of their abundance of energy on creative endeavours, and more of it on arguing and being anxious and policing random strangers on the Internet for their personal views (as opposed to... actual, realised conduct) and generally spreading misinformation instead of researching things intently.

Young us& was always active on forums, engaged in long-form discussions and debates, expected to and excited to back up points with actual references and empirical data, and so on. Now, the most important thing seems to be that you have an emotionally heightened "take" on literally everything, information/objective accuracy and wisdom through lived experience be damned.

Young us would be intrigued to know that it would become acceptable to be openly queer in the "mainstream" Internet, yet displeased to found out that queer-focused online circles tend to be. Well. "Unproductive" might be the most charitable way of phrasing it.

Probably the most impressive thing would be Crunchyroll simulcasting English-subtitled anime at the same exact moment it airs in Japan. It used to be hard to find the shows you wanted to watch, you know? And they would take forever to download... No, I can just watch the final episode of Attack On Titan, any time, with zero wait.

[lunarrose]

I started using the internet frequently around 2002.
Seeing how the internet is these days, I'd be severely disappointed. There was a charm about the DIY feeling of it all, the connected communities through web exploration and webrings and the such.

Heck, even 2017 me is disappointed in the trajectory of the internet..   

[Phoenix]

I started using the internet frequently around 2002.
Seeing how the internet is these days, I'd be severely disappointed. There was a charm about the DIY feeling of it all, the connected communities through web exploration and webrings and the such.

Heck, even 2017 me is disappointed in the trajectory of the internet..   

I wish I had gotten to be part of the internet like this 

[WK_0]

If I went back in time and talked to my younger self about today's state of the internet younger me would be interested yet probably not understand a single word I'm saying and would just nod his head the whole time I'm blathering about all the neat things we have now. He'd also probably do the same if I tried to warn him about the social changes to transpire too.

I was never the smartest kid and kinda learned a lot of what I know now through experience. Self-propelled reading and listening to my elders only got me so far, but unfortunately I'm one of those folks who has to either see it happen to understand it or learn it the hard way, myself. So even with the imagined time loop scenario, I'd probably still make the same mistakes even with the foreknowledge. ;^_^

At the very least younger me would totally be pumped to learn I end up getting into website-making anyways. If anything, going back to say it happens would probably push him to get over his uncertainty and do it sooner.

[BlazingCobaltX]

Loosely I'd say I've been using the internet since 2005. I think kid me, seeing the internet, would think: "Where are all the flash game websites?" I guess Habbo Hotel still existing would be fun for kid me, though I would be disoriented by the complete graphic and interface overhaul. And oh yeah, I would miss PE2K.

Preteen me (before Facebook usage) would think: "Holy fuck, you are no longer limited to watching 3 anime episodes a day?!" That Megavideo notice has been seared into my mind. I think I would have had an even worse anime mania than I already had back then, having the ability to binge whole shows like I do now. Maybe I would try to look for forums and end up on Amino or some shady Discord server instead.

But regardless of specific time period, I think past me would be deeply impressed by what we are able to do with the internet of today. High-speed communications, top quality videos and photos at your fingertips, and many lively social settings. I honestly think I would get sucked into all modern social media with little resistance, because everything is mainstream now. I think seeing the internet grow over time made it possible for me to think at every step "do/should I want this?", but for kids being born into this modern era of the internet that seems like an impossible task. It's almost expected everybody adopts every popular thing.

[wygolvillage]

"Where are all the games? You can't just shut down Flash that's not allowed. Is coolmathgames still online at least?"

[Absentmind]

I don't think young me would really care, I didn't care about design when I was a young teen. When I started to "properly" use the internet I was 12 in 2005. I'd probably be interested in AI, back then all we had was akinator!

[serenefork]

I was a kid in the 2000s, but I spent a lot of time watching people use the computer, it was like an interactive TV to me. I think the most notable thing that I think a younger me would react to how sanitized everything is, though a younger version of me would probably ask something like "why is it all the same website?" This isn't even necessarily about how the web is being overrun by companies and their ads, it's about how every major site looks overly similar. Mainstream internet is very bland now, so I'm glad there are still groups like this that enjoy keeping the internet lively!