Recently I read a short article on the origin and history of the Internet. That article caused me to recall how and when I became involved in using computers and the Internet. I shared that article, and my own experiences, with some folks and invited them to let me know about their experiences. The responses I received were all interesting, and in many ways mirrored my own experience. However, one lady who was in a genealogy email group with me several years ago shared a rather unique experience that she had. Here is what she had to say.
I got my first computer around 1992. I don't even remember anything about it. My kids were on it more than me. My kids were learning how to use computers in school so they taught me about computers. My youngest son says, "Mom taught me when I was around 4 how to cut pictures out of magazines and paste them on posters. When I was older I taught Mom how to cut and paste on the computer."
An unusual thing happened in the late 90's when we had dial up Internet service with Net Zero. I was having trouble connecting to the Internet. After about 30 minutes of trying I decided to give up. It was just not worth my time. I went outside and there were 5 police cars sitting in my drive way. It scared me so bad because I had no idea why they were there. One of the officers came to me and said "Are you ok?" I told him yes and asked what was the problem. He said they had been getting 911 calls from my phone and no one would answer when they called back. Standard protocol was to come to the address and check it out. I told them I had not dialed 911. But they had to make sure that I was not just saying that because someone could have been forcing me to say that. I told him they were welcome to come in but the only people that were there were my sons. They came in and walked around and we discovered that when I was trying to connect to the Internet, Net Zero was dialing 911. I thanked them for checking on me and promised never to use Net Zero again, and I haven't.
I am now on DSL, and at any one time there may be 3 or 4 computers going. And now we get the Internet on the phone too. I don't know how I ever lived without my Blackberry. Now I get to play on the Internet while in bed without having a light on to disturb my husband. Funny how we can't live without things that didn't even exist when we were children.
