[triangleman83]

Yeah it really wasn't so far off now. Most of the people I knew had a cell phone (I had gotten it in '99) so there was definitely communication possible anywhere for the most part. In 2002 I was in a student apartment with decent wired internet, a Nokia cell phone (no texting plan), and was in touch with many people via AIM.

The mid 90's is probably more the time to blow the current generation's mind because that's when many households didn't have internet and virtually nobody under 18 had a cell phone.

[ghaff]

Yeah. I'd put the date about ten years earlier. You're pre-Web. You may have a cell phone (as an adult) but you probably don't carry it around with you all the time. You may well have a home computer but any dial-up connection is probably a BBS (commercial or otherwise) rather than internet. You probably have email and most of your friends probably do as well.

Early 90s is probably when things start to look fairly alien from a technology and communications perspective. There are probably a lot of hints about what's coming but they're mostly not really realized and certainly not mainstream.

[dghughes]

>virtually nobody under 18 had a cell phone.

I had a StarTAC but nobody I knew had a cellphone but calling their home wasn't all that fun you'd probably get "why are you calling me?".

I liked a cute girl who worked in a bar. So I set my Windows computer to delay sending a fax but I picked my phone. I knew when I'd be at the bar and I got a call and answered it to EEeeeeeeeeeeee pretending I was Mr. Important. She didn't fall for it. lmao