the hyper linking

My first reaction after reading today’s reading was “they were working on the internet in 1993?’ I have no recollection of ever using or knowing what the internet was until 1998 or 99. But then I realize that yes, it makes sense they were creating this phenomenon back then, and the world did move forward even though I was too young to pay attention. The fact that a simple hyper link was so amazing to these guys is like car companies being amazed at putting air conditioning in cars. Links appear on every single internet page and are as much a part of the internet as email, or chatting. I remember in high school when I noticed a bunch of girls typing in their online diaries during class, and wondering what this was they were doing. When they told me about the site called Xanga, and informed me that it had been around for over a year and showed me all of the features, I was amazed. I had no idea there were such things as social networks. The thing that amazed me most were all of the different links there were, or “friends” that were on people’s pages that with one click would bring up another person’s Xanga page. I have never been up on the internet, so this was all pretty amazing to me. This idea of connectivity through linking was an instant phenomenon among people my age, with what felt like everyone using Xanga at one point. But quickly, college came and Facebook was the new thing, and everyone got off of Xanga. I think that with the creation of new technology, and the changing landscape of newer ways to stay connected, one day linking may be as outdated as house phones.