Musings of an early Net user

You may enjoy this radio commentary from the early days of the Internet. I wrote it for CBC Radio more than 25 years ago.

It was a time when Netscape was the dominant browser, AltaVista was the “Google” of the day, and a 14.4kb dial-up connection was your on ramp to the “information superhighway”. Good content was scarce and downloading a file was a huge commitment. It could tie up your phone line for hours.

Does anyone call it the “Net” these days?

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July 1995

Musings of an early Net user

By Richard Ostler

Friends laugh at me when I tell them I’m on my computer. “You were on the computer the last time I talked to you,” they say. I can’t deny it. I was on the computer the last time they called … and that was a few days ago. I have spent hours and hours surfing the Net and it’s becoming an addiction.

It all began about a year ago when I first signed on to the Net. I was researching a story and I thought the Internet would be an interesting place to start. As I began to explore the Net, I came across a wide range of cool topics. I found the current issues of Time, People and Entertainment Weekly. There were also links to radio stations, TV stations and newspapers.

What I thought was a quick browse turned into a three-hour surf. I never did find what I was looking for.

There is something for almost everyone on the Net from the odd and unusual to the obscure and obscene. I have enjoyed the music of Mozart, Bach and Brahms, listened to radio news from around the world, watched videos of the Rolling Stones in concert, and connected with family and friends overseas. I also subscribe to David Letterman’s top ten list … all from my computer. Last week, I went on a tour of the Louvre in Paris and moments before I was listening to the fateful crash of the Hindenburg in 1937. Next week, I’m planning a vacation. I can check out flight times, tourist information and destinations to almost any city in the world.

But like a video game or a game of golf, the Net can become an obsession. I stay up until the early hours of the morning just to find the Elvis screen saver. I spent nearly an hour downloading a thirty-second video of comedian Rodney Dangerfield only to find there’s no sound … and I play an endless game of Blackjack hoping to beat the stupid computer.

Maybe I am a Net junkie … or maybe I’m just a collector of junk. My brother-in-law finds his treasures at garage sales … I find mine on the Net. He might find an old tea kettle on his quest … my search comes up with an online coffee pot in a computer lab at the University of Cambridge. A video monitors the coffee pot around the clock so everyone knows if there’s any coffee to drink … sounds silly, but at least my home is not collecting more junk … although I suppose my hard drive is.

And so what if he's out in the sunshine on a Saturday morning as I slowly lose my social skills … but hey … listen to this … my latest discovery. Molson Brewery is now on the Net bringing beer-loving computer users together for sports trivia and interviews with rock stars. I hear it’s going to be a real party. But don’t worry. I know my limit … I’m turning off my computer after I look up one more thing.