Living in a Virtual World: Life before the Internet

I think to myself, what was life like before the internet? I got my first computer when I was in 7th grade and I begged my parents to get AOL. My best friend Lynette had internet at her house and every morning I would walk to her house to get a ride to school. She would let me in and she would log on to her computer and I would hear "You got mail!" I wanted that! My parents go us a computer for Christmas with AOL and I would email and IM Lynette every day after school. That was the thing, Instant Messaging. My cousin was a pro at knowing the emoticons and the LYLAS, BRB, OMG. (I don't know what they are called but I will call it computer chat lingo.) So we would come up with our own computer chat lingo and use it on IM. My cousin was so advanced and tech savvy at age 12.

cloudeah: OMG! Lynette did u c wat Sandra wuz wearing 2day
lynette: I know! I have to log off, TTYL
cloudeah: k, LYLAS

SO MIDDLE SCHOOL RIGHT? But now we text all the time and I catch myself saying BRB or TMI. Very funny!

So now I meditate on how the internet now rules my life, there is no day I don't go online (well maybe Saturdays but at night I check my farmville).

How was your life before the internet? Do you remember? I know my life before internet was before 7th grade because after that everything changed but how was it different from a girls life now in 2010? I didn't have a myspace I guess, or cyber bullies...hmmm