[swozey]

I was a kid in Virginia in the 80-90s and never got to do any of this stuff, but I was on irc and I saw people all over california and in college doing lan parties. Made me so jealous. My friends didn't have the internet until the 2000s and they used it for research and AIM.

It's crazy how regionally the internet spread across the USA absolutely massed from California.

[IAmGraydon]

I also grew up in VA (southeast) in that time period and there were lots of LAN parties! What part of Virginia were you in?

[swozey]

I was 6-teens in hampton /vabeach (84), i didn't have friends IRL doing anything with computers ever as a kid. Computer stuff was considered super nerdy. Dad was army so he'd be gone for 2-4 years at a time and all I had to do was hockey and computer stuff (linux/games). IO had tons of car friends because of the bases.

They might have a family PC in the living room for research and papers but everyone used consoles.

In 2024 some of my genz friends have grown up doing their research/papers on their iphones. I could never. I get mad typing on mine, I need a keyboard and an ultrawide.