An Experiential Timeline of Internet History
~1991-2000: The web awakens with the screech of a modem.
"The dial-up sound was a ritualistic hymn. It was the sound of a portal opening... Every kilobyte was earned."
~1998-2006: Personal homepages, animated GIFs, and Flash animations dominate.
"Web 1.0 was the internet's wild, uncurated subconscious... It wasn't beautiful, but it was unabashedly human."
~2005-2012: Friend requests, status updates, and 'likes' connect the world.
"The 'like' became a new form of currency, traded for bits of our curated selves. We became performers on a digital stage."
~2010-Present: The web is in our pockets. Instant access redefines our relationship with information.
"The internet ceased to be a place we 'go to.' It fused with our reality... a single, continuous experience."
Today: Generative AI and smart assistants curate our experiences. The line between creator and consumer blurs.
"We now converse with ghosts built from data. The AI reflects our collective voice back at us... We type, and wait for the reply."
Decentralized, immersive, and deeply personalized. The next era might be defined by the metaverse and web3.
"The future of the web might be a space we inhabit... The question is no longer 'what will we build?' but 'who will we become?'"
"Time online isn't linear. It's a collection of moments, of feelings, of sounds. This monument isn't just about dates; it's about capturing the soul of each digital era, a ghost in the machine we can visit but never truly touch."