You could make the former 2006 and the latter 2016 and it would still work. Things changed really fast and some time ago already. It‘s sad.
this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2026
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Hell, by 2016, reddit had already gone to shit. So certainly every mainstream user was already on Facebook and Twitter and IG and whatever other shit service. YouTube.
I think the transition really happened between 2005 and 2010.
Back in mah day as a teen in 1999 who didn't have parent supervision, I went on the internet and learned HTML to update my geocities page with more pictures of anime and hotties.
I downloaded 4 songs and it took me 10 minutes a piece, and one of them ended in .exe.
I played web games that didn't know how to make money so sometimes they'd beg people to give them money or put banner ads all over the place.
The I found some cool software on Usenet. It was broken in 80 rar files (I am still testrunning winrar), and when I unzipped it, it was corrupted.
Then I reached out to my AIM/ICQ to chat with a 22-yo man pretending to be a teenager and cyber'd with them. But before I got to anything good, my mom picks up the phone and my connection dropped.
Oh god, don't stop
To use the internet was an intentional act. You had to check the time to make sure you weren't gonna hit some long distance charges, login, and wait for it to connect.
YouveGotMail.wav
You received a dancing baby gif in your inbox from a friend.
Four kids, one computer. The internet was America Online and had parental locks that disabled it after 10pm or so.
My siblings and I had to schedule when we'd get to use the internet.
Funny thing, MSN Messenger didn't obey AOL's timers. For a while I was able to stay online late chatting with friends, even after AOL cut me off. It worked until my mom got up to pee at midnight one night and caught me. She asked who I could possibly be talking to so late, and I had to remind her that the internet is global and it was noon for the Australians I was talking to.
This post smells of second hand smoke and downloaded a copy of Encarta onto my computer that now has a turbo button
Also,
People in 2026 using 1999 as an escape from reality
Not to forget:
People in 1999 using SciFi about 2026 as an escape from reality
started visual astronomy as a hobby to escape earthly reality
Thank goodness for SpaceEngine.
Today I went to a shop, ordered a new kitchen table and bought a few other things. It felt really good to interact with the shopkeeps.