The World Wide Web is officially 25 years old. That’s a quarter of a century! It will now go through a quarter life crisis, have to find a real job (because everyone knows the internet’s not a real job), and either travel the world or start thinking about settling down.
Okay, I know I’m a little late to the party. The 25th anniversary of the internet was actually August 6 and now it’s nearly September. I’m sorry. That aside, I thought a fun way to celebrate the birth of this no-longer-newfangled-but-still-really-strange thing we call the internet would be to look back at some of its finest moments. And by “finest,” I mean “classic.” And by “classic,” I mean those games, videos, and websites that gave the internet its reputation of being a weird place.
First, there was dial up.
I mean, you had to start with this one.
This relic
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the first internet browser.
Social media:
Before Facebook and Tumblr...
There was MySpace. Not only was there Myspace, there was...
And before Snapchat, there was AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)
Also, before whatsapp, there was meebo.com and it was awesome.
Websites:
Neopets
Were you a kind soul who put your neopets up for adoption once you stopped playing or are they still waiting for you and starving to death?
Runescape
Released in 2001. It's been 15 years, my friends.
Maplestory
This one came out in 2003.
Everyone, go do yourself a favor and revisit all of these websites. Even better, make an AMV out of your Maplestory characters. Remember when that was a thing?
Quizilla
Unfortunately, I can't provide a link because it's no longer in existence. But just know that Quizilla was where people posted fanfiction in the format of a quiz. Weird? Yes. A good place to waste time? Also yes. But now we have things like fanfiction.net and AO3.
Videos:
Please note that these are a bit younger just because Youtube just turned 10 years old. While Youtube is not the first or only video sharing website, its platform did make viral videos more readily available.
Yes. The badger song. Good luck getting that one out of your head.
Speaking of Charlie, I feel like i should also mention "Charlie Bit My Finger."
Last but not least
Ah. An internet classic.
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Happy birthday, Internet. You've come a long way in 25 years and yet, nothing's really changed at all. Except you're a lot faster, thank goodness.
