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    If You're Under 16, You Won't Believe What The Internet Used To Be Like

    "Get off the internet. I need the phone!"

    1. We connected to the internet using this kind of setup:

    2. And we had to connect through the phone line. THIS kind of phone:

    3. We had to sit through this noise in order to connect:

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    4. We could only use the internet OR the phone, not both at the same time:

    A sentence I'll never hear again: "Beth, get off the phone I need to use the internet!"

    "Get off the internet, I need to use the phone" - words we used to say

    5. And that's only after we installed the internet using one of these:

    6. We surfed the internet using browsers like this:

    7. And search engines like this:

    8. To find websites like this:

    9. That is, if the page even loaded properly:

    10. Plus, we had to actually type "www" before the URL, or else it wouldn't work at all:

    11. We found directions on MapQuest, but had to print them out to take in the car:

    12. We memorized our ICQ numbers so we could chat with our friends:

    13. And we came up with the perfect AIM screen names (because we didn't want anyone on the internet to know who we were):

    14. But we eventually switched to MSN Messenger because it was so much better:

    15. W3 4ll l34rn3d 70 7yp3 l1k3 7h15.*

    16. We downloaded music on LimeWire and had to hope it wasn't really a virus:

    17. And it took FOREVER:

    18. Then we played the music using programs like this:

    19. But we worked tirelessly to create our own webpages because we loved the internet so much:

    20. Making sure to add these GIFs to the page so everyone knew it was a work in progress:

    21. And no matter what else happened, the best part of our day was hearing the "You've Got Mail!" sound.