this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2023
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Wanted to ask you about this article, how do you remember the early days of the internet (I was sadly too young at that time). Do you wish it back? And do you think it can ever be like that again? I would be very interested

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

E-mail pen pals. I made friends from all over the world, it was a great way to get to know other people and their culture. Writing huge e-mails about where you're from and what life is like where you live. Because you usually only write one every couple of days, it was something to look forward to.
I guess social media kind of ruined that part, why write to someone when you can just post it for the whole world to see.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Where did people use to share their emails to be contacted by strangers?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Penpal websites. I guess they’re like dating sites. You made a profile, write some basic info about yourself, and people could send a message through the site. They’d include their real email in the first message so you could reply directly. It’s very basic.
There were tons of genuinely nice people to write with back then. I’m sure these days it’d be nothing but scammers and bots.