#20PHNet – Celebrating 20 Years of Philippine Internet
Yes, ladies and gents, the Philippine Internet has been around for 20 years today. And so, with #20PHNet being seen all over Twitter today, we thought we’d help remind you of how the times have changed since those two decades ago. See if you can relate:
#20PHNet
Prepaid Internet Cards
via aisaipac.com
Do you remember this? Do you remember how frustrating it was to be at home and connect to the Internet with one of these things just to get cut off after you ran out of credit? Do you remember getting cut off because of your lolo calling the landline? Now that we’ve got Wi-Fi that won’t interfere with landline calls anymore, no one uses landline phones anymore, either, though. Oh, the irony.
Chat Rooms
via wikipedia.com
A/S/L? Back in the day, before apps like Paktor and Tinder arrived onto smartphones… before smartphones were even in the picture lol… we had to rely on chatrooms to get our virtual friendships and potential relationships (but not really) on. To be honest, I only ever used mIRC to pass the time when I was bored. I never actually met anyone on there… Did you? I’d really like to know.
Email
via philvalentineblog.blogspot.com
I didnt really grow up here in the Philippines, so I’m not sure if AOL was ever a thing here. But even if it wasn’t, you probably had your own form of AOL. Yahoo, perhaps? Hotmail? Rocketmail? Babymail? And while we’re on the topic of email, do you still have or even use your very first email address? The first email address that I made myself was in first year high school and it was sweet_angelhugs – not too bad, considering I know people whose email addresses were once crazyfreak717 or 2hot2handle69. What was yours? :p
Blogs
via sobitteritssweet.files.wordpress.com
Did you ever own a Xanga? Or a LiveJournal? Were you OC with it? Did you make it a point to find the coolest theme ever? Did you add all sorts of glittery graphics to it? Did you quote a lot of emo song lyrics? Did you answer surveys on it? Did you tag people on those surveys? Were you one of those annoying people who added music to their page that played without your visitors even clicking on anything? Before bloggers posted OOTDs all over the Internet, anonymity and mystery were in when it came to the blogging world and Xanga and LiveJournal were just some of the best platforms to get your thoughts out into the world.
Social Media
via mmo4arab.com
Before Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, there was MySpace and Friendster. Who could forget MySpace’s Tom and that dreaded “Top Friends” box that people would obsess over? “Why am I not in your Top Friends box? You’re in my Top Friends box!” And who could forget Friendster’s testimonials? “Pa-testi naman oh!” And while Twitter had a 140-character limit, Friendster’s testimonials had like a 1,500-character limit or something. But it still wasn’t enough. Geesh.
So, guys, before you complain about a shop’s Wi-Fi not working properly or your web pages loading slowly, take a deep breath and remind yourself of the days when you had to connect with a noisy modem (and get caught by your parents coz of the noise) and couldn’t even get proper search results when trying to look for a song on Google. We’ve got it good right now – that’s for sure. Happy 20th, Philippine Internet!
#20PHNet – Celebrating 20 Years of Philippine Internet
Angeline Rodriguez is a geek and a self-proclaimed superhero. She reads. She writes. She loves. You may get to know her better on her personal blog: https://www.lilmisswonderwoman.com
#20PHNet – Celebrating 20 Years of Philippine Internet
#20PHNet – Celebrating 20 Years of Philippine Internet
Yes, ladies and gents, the Philippine Internet has been around for 20 years today. And so, with #20PHNet being seen all over Twitter today, we thought we’d help remind you of how the times have changed since those two decades ago. See if you can relate:
#20PHNet
Prepaid Internet Cards
Do you remember this? Do you remember how frustrating it was to be at home and connect to the Internet with one of these things just to get cut off after you ran out of credit? Do you remember getting cut off because of your lolo calling the landline? Now that we’ve got Wi-Fi that won’t interfere with landline calls anymore, no one uses landline phones anymore, either, though. Oh, the irony.
Chat Rooms
via wikipedia.com
A/S/L? Back in the day, before apps like Paktor and Tinder arrived onto smartphones… before smartphones were even in the picture lol… we had to rely on chatrooms to get our virtual friendships and potential relationships (but not really) on. To be honest, I only ever used mIRC to pass the time when I was bored. I never actually met anyone on there… Did you? I’d really like to know.
Email
via philvalentineblog.blogspot.com
I didnt really grow up here in the Philippines, so I’m not sure if AOL was ever a thing here. But even if it wasn’t, you probably had your own form of AOL. Yahoo, perhaps? Hotmail? Rocketmail? Babymail? And while we’re on the topic of email, do you still have or even use your very first email address? The first email address that I made myself was in first year high school and it was sweet_angelhugs – not too bad, considering I know people whose email addresses were once crazyfreak717 or 2hot2handle69. What was yours? :p
Blogs
via sobitteritssweet.files.wordpress.com
Did you ever own a Xanga? Or a LiveJournal? Were you OC with it? Did you make it a point to find the coolest theme ever? Did you add all sorts of glittery graphics to it? Did you quote a lot of emo song lyrics? Did you answer surveys on it? Did you tag people on those surveys? Were you one of those annoying people who added music to their page that played without your visitors even clicking on anything? Before bloggers posted OOTDs all over the Internet, anonymity and mystery were in when it came to the blogging world and Xanga and LiveJournal were just some of the best platforms to get your thoughts out into the world.
Social Media
via mmo4arab.com
Before Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, there was MySpace and Friendster. Who could forget MySpace’s Tom and that dreaded “Top Friends” box that people would obsess over? “Why am I not in your Top Friends box? You’re in my Top Friends box!” And who could forget Friendster’s testimonials? “Pa-testi naman oh!” And while Twitter had a 140-character limit, Friendster’s testimonials had like a 1,500-character limit or something. But it still wasn’t enough. Geesh.
So, guys, before you complain about a shop’s Wi-Fi not working properly or your web pages loading slowly, take a deep breath and remind yourself of the days when you had to connect with a noisy modem (and get caught by your parents coz of the noise) and couldn’t even get proper search results when trying to look for a song on Google. We’ve got it good right now – that’s for sure. Happy 20th, Philippine Internet!
#20PHNet – Celebrating 20 Years of Philippine Internet
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About The Author
Angeline Rodriguez is a geek and a self-proclaimed superhero. She reads. She writes. She loves. You may get to know her better on her personal blog: https://www.lilmisswonderwoman.com