My Early Experiences with the Internet

First day of Kindergarten, before I knew that the Internet could be used for evil 

(evil being homework, not cyber warfare or porn... not that I knew of those either)

Its hard to think about my earliest experiences with the Internet. I can remember our first computer. It was on the second floor hallway of our first house that we lived in until I was 4. It was huge, off white, and you could hear the fan buzzing if you used it for too long. It followed us to our next house and then lived upstairs in the playroom. I remember some of my computer games from early Elementary School. I played JumpStart, Sims, SimCity, Rollercoaster Tycoon, and of course, Oregon Trail. I also remember the majesty of discovering spell check on Microsoft Word, and that ridiculous paperclip man. Though the Internet has become a large part of life over the past decade, it used to make up a fairly small fraction of my time on the computer. I don't think I have strong memories earlier than the 4th or 5th grade.

 Sims people really know how to set appliances on fire.

In the beginning, I used the Internet for about two things. The first of which was AOL Instant Messaging. I was Doodlebug208. My dad used to call me Doodlebug. I liked to doodle. I used AIM to talk to friends for hours. About nothing. I would have 4 or 5 conversations at one time, minimizing and maximizing chat boxes to keep up. This sort of Internet use reminds me of what Nathaniel Hawthorne was worried about in his essay, "Fire Worship". He feared that the Airtight Wood Burning Stove would change social interaction for the next generation. Without the need to gather around a fire, families would not gather and socialize. Hawthorne was so pessimistic about this change. He thought about how sad this would be, I thought about how a fully heated house would mean freedom. People could read books, have private conversations, really anything besides huddle around a fire for warmth. There is a value to family communication, but I think it is irrational to put that fear ahead of progress. My use of Instant Messenger was not the Airtight Stove. In a house with heat, television, homework, and teenage hormones, I was already going to be locked up in my room. The Internet just changed how I used this time. And it was not a waste of time. I have always hated talking on the phone and with AIM, I was able to talk to friends when I otherwise wouldn't have. The Internet increased my communication.

 Q: Jeeves, how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

A: A woodchuck would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood

My other use of the Internet was for school. As I got older, our elementary school tried to increase our competence with computers. We played games that helped our spelling, math and typing. We also had to use the Internet to research for little school projects and papers. In the 5th Grade I had to do a project on Czech Republic and in 6th Grade I remember papers on Roman Gladiators, Russian Tsars, and black holes. We got to choose our topics. My papers were awesome. I found some easy information in the library, mostly through the Encyclopedia. But there was only so much I was willing to Dewey Decimal when I had the Internet at my fingertips. I remember using Netscape and hating how slow it was. To open a page I would have to sit and wait for 5 minutes only to find that the pictures came up replaced with small red "X"s in the corner of a blank box. As I got older the Internet speed improved and we used computers outside of the class to complete these projects. Ask Jeeves, Dogpile, and Yahoo gave way to Googling soon after. In this sense my Internet use reflected Vannevar Bush's "As We May Think". My early use of the Internet as a research tool falls in line with his vision for the Memex. He wanted a machine the size of desk that could store incredible amounts of information, including the works written by the person who owned it. At this time, the school desktops were about the size of a desk. The Internet may not be updated by subscription, but it is constantly growing and evolving. For one of my papers in the 6th grade we had to upload our work to the teachers website. This in a sense, was like adding our work to the Memex. Scholastically, the Internet has served the same purpose as Vannevar's vision.

 Our desktop survived Y2K, but it did not survive the trash can.

But in my opinion, these two old old fellows can only offer a glimpse to the use or impact of the Internet. Especially for a 10 year old. I can relate their visions to my experiences, but for me, at the time, the Internet was basically for fun. Any real learning I did was because teacher's assigned it, or the Internet games happened to be educational. And the socializing on AIM I did was only because I was already bored with Boy Meets World and my mom was cooking dinner, not as a replacement for family bonding that would have been happening. I used the Internet to Ask Jeeves really stupid questions. I used the Internet to look up cheats for The Sims. I used the Internet to download silly backgrounds and screensavers for my desktop. I used the Internet download music illegally. I used the Internet to buy cheap electronics on Ebay. I bought a portable DVD player in 7th grade for 60 dollars. It was a real steal.

For Hawthorne, the Internet would be the undoing of social interactions. For Vannevar, the Internet would be the evolution of knowledge. But for me, as a child, it was just that cool gadget that let play Sims with 1 million dollars in the bank and listen to Nelly's "Hot in Here" for free. It was pretty awesome. The Internet has evolved since my childhood, and my use of it has also.