[meat_fist]

My hometown didn't have sidewalks. My house was a long and extremely unsafe walk away from anything of value, and my mother worked insane hours. When she finally caved and got dial up, I remember everything changed very aggressively. There was no longer a physical barrier between me and new information or new people. I could be stuck in my isolated home and still have hours of things to do. Sometimes I think the people that say things like "I wish we could go back to before everyone had the internet" never lived in an area where, without the internet, you never really had anything to begin with.