SCENE: early 90s. I’m in the local college’s computer room, where I snuck in to play games. The computers didn’t need passwords and people stashed games on the local fileshares, so everything was golden as long as you didn’t make too much noise. I was just leaving when I noticed my friend Pat was working at the consultant’s desk. I went over and said what’s up. Check this out, they said. It’s this lab in Switzerland, they put up this “What’s New” document about something called the “World Wide Web”.

SCENE: mid 90s. I got a job at the college and had been using their email and local BBS system to chat with people about gaming and sci fi and stuff. All of us who used the BBS knew each other and had pseudonyms and would meet up IRL occasionally. I was walking through a library and noticed the person working the front desk was my age and was using email! I walked up to them and say “hi, I’m (pseudonym), who are you?” They looked at me like: wtf is this person talking about? That’s when I realized that “others” were using the system too.

SCENE: late 90s. I’m at the movies, waiting in line with my cousin. I say: “Hey, you should hook me up with some more mp3s, that last CD you gave me was pretty good.” Nearby, a couple of dorky-looking guys glance at each other knowingly.

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