12 Memories from the 2000s when the Internet came into our lives

Only those who arrived in these parts at the time when they were not, by far, “broadband”, know how many of us were warriors to break through life connected to the internet! Before fiber optics, cloud files and smartphones, the generation that witnessed the arrival of technology in homes went through many ups and downs.

like here in awesome.club we like to remember stories that leave strong memories and even a certain nostalgia, we asked our team to make a list of common situations for those who used the internet in the 2000s. We want to know if you identify yourself!

To be able to access the World Wide Web, it was necessary to subscribe to the service of a provider. The connection was made through a phone call—the famous dial-up connection. In general, parents only allowed access after midnight or on weekends. This is because outside these periods, for every four minutes of connection, the subscriber was charged the value of a telephone call.

The landline was our only way to communicate with the world, even if we were using the internet. So when your mother or older brother needed to use the landline, you had to disconnect. Oh, and a detail: it was only possible to connect one computer at a time. Therefore, in the homes of large families, it was necessary to create a rotation so that everyone could “navigate” the network.

Before social networks and WhatsApp groups existed, there was only one way to send “Good morning, family” messages, or that motivational video to start the week: email! Oh, and these productions were usually a PowerPoint presentation, as there was not so much video content yet — YouTube, for example, only arrived in Brazil in 2007.

MSN was not a social network, but it was the first portal where we were able to talk a little more about what we were feeling at each moment. In the status, it was possible to put the mood of the day or show friends the music they were listening to, in real time. Therefore, it was common to use the lyrics of the songs and send a message to the date or friends.

This function was funny and, in a way, very useful. When someone believed they were being ignored by their friend on the other side, they could use the feature to get attention. It was possible to choose between screen shaking or virtual tapping on the monitor glass. Also, the notification sounds became louder. The way was to answer the call right away, right?

Even before the arrival of Skype, MSN revolutionized our way of chatting over the Internet, through videoconferencing. The sound quality was very low, the conversation was stuck and the image had a bad resolution. Still, it was an impressive feature—for those who could afford a multimedia kit with a webcam, headset, and microphone!

When home digital cameras arrived, people were delighted to be able to shoot more, without having to buy or develop film, as it was before. Photos in front of the mirror have already attracted many photographers since the last century. With this facility, to become “a fever”, it was just a matter of time… The problem is that the resolution was low, the flash got in the way and the framing was never very good!

No Bluetooth, Wifi or NFC… When transferring photos from the camera, the computer table was taken by many cables and wires, memory card and CDs for installing applications and recording photos. In many cases, the computer and camera were not compatible and we were unable to access the photos for months.

In the early 2000s, the MP3 format was still in its infancy… Most music players were not very accessible, so the solution was to download songs and burn the selection to CDs to listen to in the car or on the Disc player. In general, this was an efficient way to please your crush, or give a friend an exclusive gift.

One of the most beloved and memorable social networks of all times, Orkut was a revolution in the way of expressing oneself and making friends. Unlike current platforms, which allow millions of friends and followers, grandpa Orkut only had 999 friends per profile. So, when the “quota” of connections ended, I was just proud!

It was so cool to have a “Who am I?” personalized on the home page of Orkut that many specialized sites set up tutorials to teach you how to do it. The more elaborate the design, the more prominent it had a status. And many people spent hours on this task, until reaching the desired result.

The classic way to start a conversation was with the question: “Do you want tc?”, an abbreviation of the expression “tap”, since the entire conversation was typed. Chat rooms were resources for meeting people—whether for friendship or for possible dating. It was necessary to enter a website and choose a virtual room. Sometimes there were hundreds of people from all over the country, talking — or rather — typing, at the same time.

Wow, how nostalgic! Although we agree that the internet is much better today… Do you remember that time? Is there anything we didn’t include in the article that you miss? Tell us in the comments!