# How long have you been a regular user of the internet?



## aendern (Dec 28, 2013)

Note: regular user of the *internet*, not of a computer.
[HR][/HR]
I remember when I was about 10 or 11 years old (a little over 10-11 years ago) was the first time I got internet in my house. We had had a computer for a number of years prior, but one could only play solitaire or CD-rom games. Which to me was the funnest thing. I loved CD-rom games.

I remember when I was around 8 or 9 (2001-2) or so I was urging and begging my parents to get internet. I can't remember why I wanted it so badly or where I even knew about it from.

But the whole idea of it just captivated me, and I wanted it really badly.

So finally they caved in and got dial-up internet back in about 2003-4 or something.

It was so horrible. It took minutes just to connect to the internet before you could even use it. And it made a horrible noise as if it was performing some sort of exorcism.

But at the time I thought it was the coolest thing.

And a while after that we got RoadRunner internet which was way better. This was probably circa 2004 or 5. Definitely prior to 2006 (2006 was a big year for me online).

With the installation of roadrunner in our home, I became a very, very avid internet user. I would spend maybe upwards of 10 hours a day on weekends online. It was my favorite damn thing.

So. . . I can't really say I was a very avid internet user prior to 2004-5 because we had dial-up, and one couldn't really use that avidly because it disrupted the phone system. So one could only use it sparingly.

So I would say around 2004.5 I became avid.

So this is about 10.5 years.

So how long have you been a regular user of the internet?


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## Dao (Sep 13, 2013)

Since around '97, though I remember sporadically using Netscape Navigator earlier in the decade.


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## aef8234 (Feb 18, 2012)

5.

I got bored.

Weird white box mom used for "work".
Pressed buttons.
Pressed more buttons.
Accidentally funnel 300 pesos to mom's bank account.
Get yelled at by cops <friends of mom>, get high-fived by said cops.


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## Red Panda (Aug 18, 2010)

'bout 15 years


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## Stelmaria (Sep 30, 2011)

'96ish


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## HAL (May 10, 2014)

I've been a proper hardcore way-too-regular user for only about 5 years.

Before then it was just casual checks on facebook, myspace when it was still a 'thing', and the odd porn website or whatever. I just had other stuff to be doing.

I mean, I'd seen it wayyyyy before then. I remember the dial-up days, MSN, AIM, etc, but it was nothing more than a slight novelty for me.

I'd say from about 20 years of age I started to use it extensively. Some might even say compulsively. So yeah, 5 or 6 years or so.

Benefits of this? Possibly more intelligent as I have easier access to educational resources. Also I think I'm WAY more liberal. I wonder if I would have been the same person if it weren't for the Internet?

I feel like I know most of the world without even having been there. At least in terms of how things look or appear from a 'first impressions' perspective. StumbleUpon is actually what kick-started this for me. Then other documentaries. Then facebook started having viral videos of pretty much everything ever. Etc. Fuck man, the internet has been great, actually. As much as I also hate it for how much time I feel I've wasted...


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## Thalassa (Jun 10, 2010)

My regular internet use has proceeded since about 2000, with all the amazement of people who are adults, and has been intense for about five or six years. I know people who are five years younger who have been trolling since the late 90s, so usage may vary.


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## stargazing grasshopper (Oct 25, 2013)

Sometime during the Autumn of 2012 or Winter of 2013. Approximately 2.25 years?


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## Scrabbletray (Apr 27, 2014)

1996-1997 as I recall. It's all a little fuzzy back then.


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## Children Of The Bad Revolution (Oct 8, 2013)

Since the days of AOL dial-up. Ew.

Oh regular? Well, maybe early 2000's sometime.


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## GoosePeelings (Nov 10, 2013)

Ever since I got my first laptop when I was 13 or so, I think, which is six years ago.


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## Kingdom Crusader (Jan 4, 2012)

I think I started getting on the internet in 1995, and my first internet service provider was The Pipeline. I remember Netscape Navigator came with the software package. According to Wikipedia, it was one of the earliest ISPs. Then Mindspring came and bought it up not long after, so I automatically became one of their customers. And then I used AOL from time to time later on.


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## Zora (Sep 21, 2014)

Since I was capable of cognitive thought more than that of a 2 year old. ._.

Not even exaggerating, since about ~4 years old. Albeit I only started venturing to sites other than Youtube and Moshi Monsters about 7 years ago.


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## Maedalaane (Jan 20, 2015)

I have been ruining nice things since 2005.


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## Eudaimonia (Sep 24, 2013)

About 20 years or more.


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## koalaroo (Nov 25, 2011)

We had dialup in the house when I was about 10.


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## Somniorum (Oct 7, 2010)

Probably somewhere around 1996 - perhaps as early as 1995. According to Wikipedia, Warcraft II came out December 1995, and it was (aside from Myst, which came with the computer) my first PC game. Forget if we had internet right off the bat, but think we got it not that much longer after we got a computer. It was *at least* 1997, as, according to Wikipedia again, Diablo came out December 1996, and I know I played Diablo online. 

Dial-up, of course.

And I do know that, basically the first thing I did when we *did* get the internet was go off and find chatrooms. The concept of a chatroom fascinated me, really looked forward to having conversations with people via text far away from me (while I had absolutely no interest in having verbal conversations with people I knew, go figure). Not precisely sure how, but found mIRC (undoubtedly downloaded via Netscape) and used that for many... many years. 

Tried to go back last year... irc is so dead these days. : ( 

So, kind of the typical '90's internet experience, I suspect - hang out on irc, browse loads of personal sites on geocities (back when we used the term "personal site"... do people still have "personal sites" that aren't just blogs?)... *made* a personal site on geocities (there's a geocities restoration project, btw, which has been unearthing old pages - mine was awful and was poorly trafficked but nonetheless most of it has been restored!). Missed out on Livejournals though, never made one.


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## Sir Monocle (Jan 8, 2011)

I've been using the internet since the late 90s. It's been a long time.. Fucking dial-up. Internet sucked so much back then. hahahahaha I remember when chat rooms were like a big thing back in the day. It was funny. Forget about video. XD 

We would be searching pictures all the time and printing them. That was our thing. Well, at least my group of buddies and people at my schools. We printed a lot of dragonball stuff. XD 

Do you guys remember the free discs that you would receive through the mail for free trials? I would amass a bunch of those, and once my trial period was over, I would install another one. hahahahaha

AND yes, someone mentioned odd porn sites.... well, I was a horny little kid. XD I mean, porn is used way more nowadays than back then.... you know..... less people back then, a little less technologically savvy.

Edit: We still used Walkmans back in those days when I started using the net. XD


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## Sir Monocle (Jan 8, 2011)

Somniorum said:


> Probably somewhere around 1996 - perhaps as early as 1995. According to Wikipedia, Warcraft II came out December 1995, and it was (aside from Myst, which came with the computer) my first PC game. Forget if we had internet right off the bat, but think we got it not that much longer after we got a computer. It was *at least* 1997, as, according to Wikipedia again, Diablo came out December 1996, and I know I played Diablo online.



It's all about Starcraft man! Beat those Zerg effers.


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## Son of Mercury (Aug 12, 2014)

Since AOL (2000) dial up.. zzzzzdldlzllllddld zd d zd ahhhrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. -static- ................da.dd.a.d.d.cccccc



Welcome. You've got mail. 
.... Terrible


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## SoulScream (Sep 17, 2012)

2001 with dial up card thingeys. It was horrible.. then around late 2002 early 2003 I got cable. It was awesome


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## Somniorum (Oct 7, 2010)

Sir Monocle said:


> It's all about Starcraft man! Beat those Zerg effers.



Hah - I loved Starcraft too, naturally (back then, basically everything Blizzard made was instant love with me). 

Though I kinda preferred to play as Zerg : P Loved spreading creep throughout the map, corrupting everything.


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## Dao (Sep 13, 2013)

Somniorum said:


> , kind of the typical '90's internet experience, I suspect - hang out on irc, browse loads of personal sites on geocities (back when we used the term "personal site"... do people still have "personal sites" that aren't just blogs?)... *made* a personal site on geocities (there's a geocities restoration project, btw, which has been unearthing old pages - mine was awful and was poorly trafficked but nonetheless most of it has been restored!). Missed out on Livejournals though, never made one.


The Internet was so exciting even in its early days. Do you recall Angelfire websites at all? I remember the Geocities and especially the Angelfire websites had MIDI files that would play on access. Every now and then I'll come across one and miss it. In a way I think the old websites were better and more lovingly detailed than some of the new ones.


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## Fern (Sep 2, 2012)

In 8th grade, I had my first real research paper (I don't know if that's a normal age or not, because I was home-educated, yo) and I went CRAZY. I was so in love. I can rarely duplicate that feeling of freedom and possibility, endless knowledge at my fingertips and all the perfect source material available were I industrious enough to find it.

I've been "using"  ever since. No hope for rehabilitation!


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## Somniorum (Oct 7, 2010)

Shimmerleaf said:


> The Internet was so exciting even in its early days. Do you recall Angelfire websites at all? I remember the Geocities and especially the Angelfire websites had MIDI files that would play on access. Every now and then I'll come across one and miss it. In a way I think the old websites were better and more lovingly detailed than some of the new ones.


Of course I remember Angelfire! That was probably second most popular under Geocities for personal pages, I think... 

Heh, when I first made my (terrible) site, each page there opened up with a short .wav clip of a song (I made the .wav clips). I was quickly told that this was an awful idea and had to take it down : P Midis were typically better (not that I used them), but, to be honest, popping into a website then suddenly being startled with music (sometimes really awful music) isn't something I miss that much. : /


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## aendern (Dec 28, 2013)

Shimmerleaf said:


> The Internet was so exciting even in its early days. Do you recall Angelfire websites at all? I remember the Geocities and especially the Angelfire websites had MIDI files that would play on access. Every now and then I'll come across one and miss it. In a way I think the old websites were better and more lovingly detailed than some of the new ones.


I remember angelfire! That's where I downloaded a lot of my illegal free music pictures of cats.


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## FlaviaGemina (May 3, 2012)

Shimmerleaf said:


> Since around '97, though I remember sporadically using Netscape Navigator earlier in the decade.


Same here.


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## NurseCat (Jan 20, 2015)

Regular use for 7 years, chronic use for 4-5 years. It started when I was 10, just harmlessly playing Club Penguin on the family computer. Then things took a turn for the worse when I was 12, almost 13. I got my own laptop and became addicted to anime. Bad, edgy anime. My spine curved. I didn't sleep or eat. I'm the exact same size as I was at 12. I never grew. Don't do anime. It's not worth it.


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## Wild (Jul 14, 2014)

emberfly said:


> So finally they caved in and got dial-up internet back in about 2003-4 or something.
> 
> It was so horrible. It took minutes just to connect to the internet before you could even use it. And it made a horrible noise as if it was performing some sort of exorcism.


Y'know, I don't remember ever having dial-up. I remember my childhood best friend having it, but I don't know if I did. If we did, it was when I was too young to remember it (though I also for some reason have a bad memory for life events).

My first use of the internet was for this little website called Neopets, which I actually played pretty avidly from when I was about 6 (so about 2003), though that was off and on. I was introduced to Runescape when I was in the 4th grade (2007?), and _that's _when I became an avid internet user. Sooo many fond memories of that game. 

I found YouTube a little bit later, and that just solidified it. Went through a phase in middle school where I found MMOs, and would constantly hop from each to each. It probably wouldn't be a stretch to say I spent 8-10 hours a day on weekends on the internet, and probably 4-6 hours every day after school. 

I'm not as avid as I used to be, but I still spend a decent amount of time on the internet. If it started with Runescape for me, it's been about 8 years. Kind of odd that it's been less than half of my life, considering I feel like I've never lived without it.


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## Mr. Demiurge (Jun 18, 2014)

Probably 1993-94 or so. I received an AOL promotional disk in the mail, having a very vague conception of what the Internet was at the time and interested to try it out. So I installed it. I was too ignorant at the time to know that AOL had a really bad reputation among regular Internet goers, so I went in without preconceptions. 

I remember freaking out at first when I realized there was an entire chat room of real people discussing something or other, I think AD&D related stuff since that's what I was in to at the time. It took me awhile to get used to what was a very new concept for me, but once I did get used to it I took to it in a big way. 

I eventually got banned from AOL for telling a moderator named 'AOLMom' or something equally stupid that she was a shitty parent and I pitied her children when she refused to even respond to my repeated requests to actually do something in an out-of-control chat room. I remember the guy at the computer gaming store being sincerely impressed I managed to do something so awful it got me completely banned from AOL forever. 

Anyway, I switched to CompuServe. At the time, internet access was charged by the hour, so I couldn't spend too much time online without inviting parental wrath. At one point, I got in a lot of trouble when the bill that month was for $300.


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## conscius (Apr 20, 2010)

Since 1996 I think.


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## Sir Monocle (Jan 8, 2011)

Somniorum said:


> Hah - I loved Starcraft too, naturally (back then, basically everything Blizzard made was instant love with me).
> 
> Though I kinda preferred to play as Zerg : P Loved spreading creep throughout the map, corrupting everything.


hahahahaha, yeah, I loved playing as all of them. I don't know why, but I enjoyed the most playing as the Protoss, everything felt so smooth. XP It was funny with the humans evertime you clicked the to do something... Always Affirmative, Roger that, and the Ready to Roll Out! XD 

Agreed, blizzard is a pretty awesome company. I got my friend addicted to warcraft , and after that, he couldn't drop the game at all! He would play it constantly. XD

Battle.net was the shit.


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## Sir Monocle (Jan 8, 2011)

OH the nostalgia. I remember when youtube had no commercials. That was the best.... and you could upload anything. XP


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## Notus Asphodelus (Jan 20, 2015)

Since 95. That was my first Windows 95. Had fun playing Sesame Streets' Treasure Island CD-Rom game that I got from a cereal box.


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## Revolver Ocelot (Feb 25, 2015)

Maybe '97 or '98. AOL, CompuServe, Netscape Navigator, Windows 95/98, Hotmail, Winamp, Napster, LimeWire, Quake, Unreal Tournament, Counter-Strike. Yeah...


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## TheEpicPolymath (Dec 5, 2014)

Since I was 3-4


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## Dao (Sep 13, 2013)

Somniorum said:


> Of course I remember Angelfire! That was probably second most popular under Geocities for personal pages, I think...
> 
> Heh, when I first made my (terrible) site, each page there opened up with a short .wav clip of a song (I made the .wav clips). I was quickly told that this was an awful idea and had to take it down : P Midis were typically better (not that I used them), but, to be honest, popping into a website then suddenly being startled with music (sometimes really awful music) isn't something I miss that much. : /


It must be nostalgia on my part, hehe. :tongue: I used to visit personal pages dedicated to my favorite anime and they would play terrible MIDI versions of the soundtracks. Nowadays getting surprised by the awful stuff brings back fond memories!



emberfly said:


> I remember angelfire! That's where I downloaded a lot of my illegal free music pictures of cats.


Back when the police couldn't track the crime as well. :wink: When wide scale Internet usage began the police and lawyers must have been scrambling to try to keep up with the times!


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## bigstupidgrin (Sep 26, 2014)

Counting school? 1996 so nearly 20 years.
At home? Probably closer to 15.


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## Impavida (Dec 29, 2011)

We got our first computer in the house in about '84 or '85. I remember playing Frogger on that old Commodore 64 and getting so frustrated 

The internet we got at home in 1995. I remember being 14-15 and going on chatrooms. AOL, Sympatico, Netscape Navigator, Geocities, WordPerfect. I had my first Hotmail account a month or two after it went live in '96 (still have it and use it actually!)


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## Blue Soul (Mar 14, 2015)

For your pleasure.


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## xisnotx (Mar 20, 2014)

this is interesting. i was 7/8/9, back in the late 90s. aol...i still remember the dial up tone. but then, i moved to africa...and we didn't have internet for a long time...up until i was 12/13...when i'd go to cyber cafes. but, we didn't really have it at home. then, at 17 we moved back to the usa, and i've been using the internet since, probably everyday actually.


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## Rice (Apr 27, 2014)

We first got internet when I was around 10 years old, so about 12 years ago. We didn't have an actual computer though, we had WebTV which was terrible but it was something. But you couldn't watch videos, you couldn't listen to MP3s (only midis), and the only games you could play were games made specifically for WebTV. We did get a couple of old computers from my uncle, but they weren't hooked up to the internet. 

I still used computers a lot in school though, so when we finally got a new one when I was 15 it was pretty easy to figure everything out.


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## chanteuse (May 30, 2014)

1997-ish (got my first email address in 1996)
Started on line dating since 2000
Started blogging since 2000
Started posting selfie to my blog since 2000 (got my first digital camera)

However only in 2013 I got my first smartphone (been using Startac flip phone until it broke in half)


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## backdrop12 (Dec 11, 2012)

I would think 1999/2000 ish ?I remember going onto AOL kids for the first time after the dial tones and then seeing a huge nickelodeon.com Advertisement come out which startled me somewhat XD.Never really used it so much into 10-11 years ago. Reason was because there was really nothing on the net in the late 90s/early 00s 


Unless it was nickelodeon or educational related so I pretty much hated the internet and loved television better X3. hell , every time my mom forced me onto the computer for homework , I sneak off and watch television . pretty much despised it XD

Then I used Firefox 10 years ago and the rest was history XD


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## URwhatUthinK (Feb 13, 2012)

Since 99, but I started using it semiregularly on my dad's work laptop in 1995 to look up cheats and walkthroughs for the Donkey Kong Country games. Also to take an hour to load a picture of JFK to print out for a school project.


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## tanstaafl28 (Sep 10, 2012)

1994. I was 24 and I was in college. The Internet was all text. There were no pictures. The monitor was monochromatic: only one color (light blue, green, or orange). There was no mouse at first either. Links were highlighted and I had to use arrow keys to get to them. From my college server, I had to telnet to a node called the "Minnesota Gopher Hole" and then you could get out into just about anything you wanted, as long as it was text.


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## WamphyriThrall (Apr 11, 2011)

We had Macs during elementary (1997-), but mostly for learning games (and Netscape Navigator), and my family didn't get a PC until the mid-early 2000s (Compuserve). I didn't get my first PC and high speed until around 2007ish, an HP (I'm still using it right now). 

Late start. Safe to say, I wasn't one of those young adults who spent hours on IRC and forums during their "boom" phase.


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## Sourpuss (Aug 9, 2014)

I don't remember. Somewhere around 2000 I suppose? Might have been a couple of years before.

I did use at even earlier times, but not regularly. I'd just occasionally go to the Nintendo Website and look up preview pictures for some games.


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## birdsintrees (Aug 20, 2012)

Since 1995. My father being a computer engineer I grew up in an early adapter home so to speak. It started out with email penpals. Can't quite recall what system was used for that, it was sort of a forum like environment pre-internet browser.

Then there was hotline client - scouring people's servers for songs I liked pre p2p systems. 

Was an active member of bolt.com until it closed down.

It was fun


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## Petrahygen (Nov 22, 2012)

Since about 2006/2007 in one of our older computers.


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## Notus Asphodelus (Jan 20, 2015)

Since 95.


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## zoibat (Mar 19, 2015)

Since I was 8? 9? I've pretty much always used the internet, but I reeally started when I was like 8.


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## xForgottenOne (Mar 7, 2015)

Since I got my own laptop, when I was eleven years old.


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## Khalaris (Sep 9, 2012)

Since I was about 13 (2000)


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## ientipi (Oct 17, 2013)

Since i was 13 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Tad Cooper (Apr 10, 2010)

I used it every Wednesday and Sunday at my dad's house from the age of 8 or 9 and got it at home when I was about 10 I think. I was on it as much as I could be, but we had dial up for ages so it was very limited. When we switched to broadband we have a limited service for a few years and only one computer for the whole family. I think I got my first laptop when I was in college (around age 15 or 16 I think) and then my use of the internet went really crazy.

I've used it for about 14 years, but only avidly for 7 or 8 years.


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## NatureChaser (May 22, 2014)

I start knowing about internet since 2009 or 2010 (but not using it much) and start to be a regular internet user since 2011. I use internet so often that you can say I have internet addiction.


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## Death Persuades (Feb 17, 2012)

About 11 or 12 years, more or less. I remember using myspace like a few days after it was opened to the public LOL! My profile still exists butI cant remember how to log in


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## bluh (Mar 30, 2015)

Hmmm...Probably around the year 2000. So I was 10 years old. Aw yeah internet


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## CosmicSiren (Apr 18, 2015)

I created my first e-mail address when I was 5. But I'd say that I was really a _regular_ at around 8 or 9. At 11 I started self-teaching markup and programming languages. Then it was all downhill from there lmao


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