Kevin In the world of observances and holidays, today’s is especially important, since as time and technology marches on, the internet has proven itself to be an invaluable tool for living. Today is National Internet Day 2024. It’s hard to believe that this time, 25 years or so ago, more ppl didn’t have access to the internet than the ones who didn’t have it.
Here we are, that many years later, and the internet is something more and more have access to, if they don’t have it at their houses. Personally, I didn’t have regular access to the internet until college, which was in the late 2000s for me. During that time, I did some volunteer work, and some of the kids I dealt w/ didn’t have a computer at home. I could relate, since by then, it wasn’t that long ago that I was there myself. One of the things I heard while I was volunteering was that a computer was a hell of a way to separate the haves from the have-nots. It wasn’t in those exact words, but the sentiment’s just the same.
That statement’s stuck w/ me ever since. I feel like that since more are recognizing that access to the internet isn’t the luxury it used to be, and instead seeing it for the invaluable tool it actually is, the separation between the haves and the have-nots isn’t as obvious as it otherwise would be, if that makes sense.
The internet came to be on October 29th, 1969, w/ the advent of ARPANET. This was the day technicians working on the project sent the first message to another computer. However, work started on what would become ARPANET in 1966. The goal was to share resources among remote locations for the Department of Defense, so this wouldn’t have been something those of us in the private sector had access to in the first place.
When the internet became available to the private sector, it was something only those of certain means could have access to. Personally speaking, I had no idea what the internet even was, and I didn’t even know it existed until it came to my school in the mid/late 1990s. Our class sent an email to another class, and I had no idea wtf was going on. I thought the internet was something that could only be had through school, and thought no more of it.
As we made our way to the 2000s, the internet was something i kept hearing more and more about. Like the whole Y2K freak-out, and how ppl were convinced the world would end or whatever. I was in middle school, and had some idea as to why.
Spoiler alert: we got through it, and nothing happened when the clock hit midnight on January 1st, 2000. It just had something to do w/ the possibility of some computer systems going back to January 1st 1900 on their calendars or whatever.
During this time, we’d get CDs in the mail for free hours of AOL. They were useless for me, cuz we still didn’t have a computer at home, and that wouldn’t happen until long after this quit being a thing. Fun fact: I actually still have some of those AOL CDs knocking around the house, but I got no idea what to do w/ these stupid things.
The rest is history, as they say. However, it’s important to note that while the internet’s a lifeline and a priceless tool everyone oughta have access to, there are some evildoers and wrongdoers out there who abuse this and use it to harm others. They can do this by misinformation, or by using it as a means to scout for victims to act like total jerk fucks against.
At the same time, we need to remember that for everyone on the internet who’s acting sus and treating others like shyt, there’s more out there who are honorable, law-abiding citizens who do the right thing.
I feel like this could be a post unto itself, so lmk what I should cover, and I’ll see what I can rustle up for ya. Otherwise, over to you, readers. How are you gonna celebrate National Internet Day 2024? I’d love to hear your thoughts and takeaways, so drop it all like it’s hot, and let’s talk.
