1995 : BLUE PETER discovers the INTERNET | Retro Tech | BBC Archive

Diane-Louise Jordan takes a trip on the information superhighway, to explore some of the delights of the newfangled internet. She visits a London cyber cafe, where she does a little web surfing and sends an email to the President of the United States, Bill Clinton.
Then it's on to Sulgrave House - the home of the BBC Networking Club - to build a Blue Peter website.
Originally broadcast 16 March, 1995.
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[@a1white]

It would blow those kids mind, to think that in 27 years time they’d be watching a video of themselves, in that programme, on a mobile phone.

[@AD-kv9kj]

No, they wouldn't be mind-blown at all. I was a kid then and that sort of development was the least we were expecting 27 years in the future. We'd been exposed to basically that exact stuff already for a good decade or two from film and tv. What we have now in fact seems hardly any different to be honest, apart from everyone being constantly addicted to staring at phones, obsessed with themselves and believing endless right-wing and other propaganda they get fed on the internet. Technological advancements seemed to basically plateau or even get stifled as big business rapidly took over and all the focus on change in society was shifted and co-opted into nothing but endless social media applications, data stealing, disinformation and weird ego politics. 1970-2000 saw vast changes and advancements in a mere 30 years. In '95 we were expecting after another 30 years to have hover cars and school trips to space, mate. Ask any proper 80s-90s kid and they'll confirm how thoroughly disenchanted we are with technology and what it's being used for to make society a more and more confused, stressed, harsh and unfriendly place to live.

[@a1white]

@@AD-kv9kj Mate, I am an 80's kid. I certainly wouldn't say "what we have now in fact seems hardly any different".

[@Pasi123]

Watching online videos on a mobile phone was possible less than 10 years after that episode aired

[@a1white]

@@Pasi123 barely! In 2005 they were feature phones, and just about able to play short clips (certainly not KZbin). I remember the first time I saw video on a phone and being pretty amazed tbh.

[@Pasi123]

@@a1white In 2005 there was already many smartphones running Symbian, Windows Mobile etc. that were capable of playing KZbin. I first watched KZbin on a phone in around 2010-2011 and that was on smartphones from around 2004-2006 (Nokia 6630, Nokia N93, Nokia 9300i)

[@roystonvasey5471]

Rumours have it that this will be coming to the Isle of Wight next year. Can't wait.

[@AtheistOrphan]

Won’t you have to have that new-fangled electricity thingy first?

[@roystonvasey5471]

@@AtheistOrphan At great expense the local electricity board bought a new donkey from Matey Hibberd to power the old water mill. However a lot of people don't trust this electrickery , they thinks it's the work of the devil.

[@sammyali6za]

What about the steam engine?

[@roystonvasey5471]

@@sammyali6za is that the iron horse I have been hearing about?

[@johnindigo5477]

Think you'd need to get used to telegraphs first

[@wawahweewah]

The only thing that hasn’t dated is how COOL Massive Attack’s Unfinished Sympathy is👏👏 Remember seeing this episode as a 12yr old. Don’t think I actually got to really use a computer that was on the internet for another 4yrs…I was in Somerset though 🤣

[@danyoutube7491]

I don't think I went online until the very early 2000s. I had a few school friends who went to internet cafes in the mid/late 90s, but it never appealed to me.

[@areadhead]

Tractors are better than the Internet. Change my mind lol

[@phillipecook3227]

I'm 64 and not even being peripherally connected to IT I like many others was guilty of being asleep at the wheel as it exploded around me, not realising or caring about its significance( because right up to the 1990s I thought of computers and IT as a niche interest of young people and nerds). I came within a whisker of being left behind.

[@wawahweewah]

@@danyoutube7491 I remember going to the Yeovil library and trying to go ‘surf the net’. I couldn’t think of anything to look up and I don’t think I could understand the keyboard buttons. It was all a bit confusing!

[@eclecticjon1019]

And absolutely classic piece of music.

[@stephenbrown590]

I always used to go onto the Internet to get away from people, around 1998 onwards.... Now, I stay off the Internet to get away from people. How times change.

[@har5814]

Till now still the same. I go onto the Internet to get away from people

[@corneliussmiff2773]

You still can. You have control over where and what you visit.

[@JewelKnightJess]

This was such an exciting time to be a kid.the Internet was this brand new thing to explore, games were going 3d, we had crazy movies like Toy Story using cgi. It felt like we were living in the future. Crazy how quickly we came to take it all for granted!

[@graybow2255]

My experience of dial-up Internet at home was often frustrating because of its slowness and random disconnections but along with all computer stuff in the 2000s, it evokes fond memories for me.

[@CamcorderSteve]

Not only that it was very expensive. I can remember out first telephone bill after we got connected, it was about 5 times more than normal! After that it was a question of finding out what you needed to know, then getting off line ASAP.

[@HalfdeadRider]

@@CamcorderSteve Wasn't so bad a few years later, could still be slow, but you then had monthly fees instead depending on the provider, BT continued to charge for usage for at least ten years after that, avoided them like the plague. Cable and Wireless, later named NTL, then Virgin Media for me for many years, I would still be with them if their customer service wasn't so bad, especially to long term customers.

[@Liofa73]

I never experienced the frustration of slow internet, it didn't bother me, in 1994 I was just happy to be using it at Uni. Couldn't get enough of it no matter how slow it might seem today.

[@Liofa73]

@@CamcorderSteve --- It wasn't that expensive if you had something like Demon Internet, where you called a low rate or even free line in London and paid a subscription to Demon monthly.

[@stephenmurphy2212]

Same

[@andrewmcnulty6789]

1995 was a good year, so glad I was born and experienced life before social media.

[@salihahzem]

Those PC speakers are the most 90’s thing that I’ve seen in a while.

[@Gameblord]

Yeah they are lol

[@richardsequeirateixeira]

Ironically Amazon sells a version similar to these.

[@chrislupton7521]

Diane-Louise Jordan's awkward with the kids is brilliantly out of its time here; 4:53 Little girl; 'We've been to Hiawaii. Not literally.' DLJ; 'Yeah I know.'

[@ByddinRhyddidCymru]

I wish we still said “surf the net”

[@Markcain268]

You can say it if you wish too, it's not illegal lol

[@graybow2255]

What do people say today?

[@davidb4165]

@@graybow2255 There is no real replacement term because it really isn't something that's done to the same extent. The web today is not what it once was, but is more like TV in that it's a small selection of centralized platforms. There are not vast, independent places of information, art, discussion etc to stumble through and like there once was, so "surfing the net" really doesn't describe it. You would be more likely to say "I'm going to check my Twitter feed" or "I'm just gonna watch some KZbin". That's sadly what capitalism does eventually to every innovative platform, everything eventually becomes a service, even if it's free to the end user, and monopolies are formed.

[@unnamedchannel1237]

Go ahead and re introduce it

[@HalfdeadRider]

@@davidb4165 It's all still there, we just choose to use the internet differently. If there really is something you want but you can't find it, build a website.

[@Quarker]

Love this video for the use of Massive Attack alone. What a banger

[@MartinSuper7]

I used to work for Easynet, Cyberia’s sister company and Internet provider. The main ‘machine room’ was a cupboard in the corner of Cyberia. On a given day there was a reasonable chance you’d see me crashing through the grey double doors and running into the cupboard because some crappy bit of hardware decided to do one. Oh or the air con failed, or the interruptible power supply decided to have a sit down… ah happy days..

[@markmooch]

Where was it? Looks a bit trendy.

[@MartinSuper7]

@@markmooch 39 Whitfield St, London. Not especially trendy area, very close to Tottenham Court Road.

[@ezgoing4260]

Were you an engineer?

[@MartinSuper7]

@@ezgoing4260 I started my career as a tech support agent, but after a couple of years I was a network engineer looking after the access network (dial up/ISDN and leased line access). I was also occasionally on call for the other systems.

[@L-mo]

I came from the future to destroy SkyNet before it became self-aware and realised humanity was a threat to its existence

[@1UPWonders]

This clip is older than I am, but it's so nice to be able to have a glimpse into the early days of the world wide web. This video feels like it's from 15 years ago at most, yet it's from nearly 30 years ago. Technology is pure madness, but I love the simplicity of computers from back in the 90's and early 00's. Take me back!

[@AtheistOrphan]

To an old fart like me (pushing 60), 1995 seems like 5 - 10 years ago.

[@markorollo.]

I was living through probably the best time ive ever had in the mid 90's, late teens, early 20's. knew a couple of people that had internet then, it took me until 2003 to get it though.. and as youve said, it doesnt feel like nearly 30 years ago, 10 at the most, i'm doing ok now but i'd go back to that time in an instant.

[@cianog]

I was 16 then and no one new or even comprehended what the internet was.

[@requiem165]

Agreed

[@requiem165]

@@AtheistOrphan you said that earlier

[@Heronbird]

I absolutely LOVED her in blue Peter!! She was soooo good

[@EnochPowellsLibrarian]

She was annoying. One of the worst presenters .

[@noka1979]

I was 16 in 1995. Was one of the best years of my life

[@garryleeks4848]

I can’t remember to much about it 😬

[@heavenlycute]

Good times!

[@shakz86]

I was 9. There was one computer in the entire school stored in a giant cabinet and we only got to use it about once a month.

[@PhilipKerry]

I was 39 ........

[@raptorgator]

I was born 🤣

[@dun0790]

I miss this era as many graphics as possible and just the enormous enthusiasm at anything also playing pretty random music

[@bradjones1977]

The weird thing is, the internet still feels like a new thing to me, despite how long it's been around. I first used it in 1996 at university, which seems five minutes ago. I recall, when later working, crowding round the BBC News page watching a buffering and flaky video of 9/11 as it happened. Yet of course, there's grown ups walking the earth, for whom all this has been there since before their birth.

[@smadaf]

I was thinking something similar just the other day. I was born about 1980, first got a modem in the house in '84, first went on BBSs myself in early '94, used the Web for some minutes for school in dad's colleague's office in February '95, used it daily at work in summer '96, got dialup at home in '99: I've been using it almost every single day for more than half my life-and not only does it still feel new to me, but also that "more than half" fact strikes me as rather sad. I've been Googling since early 2000: only 20 years without Google in my life, and almost 23 with it-it's a blessing, but also sad.

[@smadaf]

At least KZbin is still a minor. It won't be 18 until 2023.

[@smadaf]

Speaking of 9/11: I saved several screenshots that week, some on that day. There was so much traffic that many of the pictures at the BBC news site were just blank placeholders.

[@Markcain268]

The novelty wore off after about 6 months for me lol

[@smadaf]

Maybe we should try to define what we mean by "new" in this context. I'll think about it.

[@unicorntomboy9736]

The entire idea of a so-called "cybercafe" feels so antiquated nowadays, since the internet is an omnipresent thing that powers almost everything nowadays, and our smartphones are essentially tiny computers that we take anywhere anytime, in addition to just using a laptop in an actual coffee shop like I do for work all the time.

[@AtheistOrphan]

To an old fart like me, 1995 seems about five years ago.

[@lumpylumpyloo]

OK grandpa time to put you in the home

[@AtheistOrphan]

@@lumpylumpyloo - OK I’ll just find my Zimmer frame. And can you speak up? My hearing’s not what it used to be.

[@clavichord]

@@lumpylumpyloo Young people should be seen, but not heard,

[@har5814]

Granny...

[@jvon3885]

@@clavichord yeah cuz old ppl have done the world justice? Yeah I'd all old ppl who are in charge and look where we are at today.

[@turtledove41]

I’m honestly really excited to see where this internets thing goes, seems very promising..

[@paulleach3612]

It'll pass. How on earth are you supposed to make money from it?

[@B4NDllKOOT_]

Oh the iceberg 😢

[@BitsOfBen]

I was about 13 when this video came out. Back then only my cool friends had the internet. I asked my mum if we could get it but she said it was a fad. 😂

[@tgs1766]

Absolutely hilarious. 😂

[@BitsOfBen]

@@tgs1766 I know, it really was back in the day. 😂

[@CountScarlioni]

Yeah, I used to hear that a lot too. People were still saying it was a fad right up until the millennium, but which time they really should have known better! The dotcom bubble bursting in 2000 only seemed to confirm to some that it was all over for the internet, and some newspapers and channels even chimed in on that. But of course that was a really stupid opinion in hindsight. A load of online businesses may have crumbled but the WWW itself just kept on growing like the ravenous beast it is!

[@DarkShroom]

@@CountScarlioni kinda ridiculous concidering the amount of money we where putting on our parents telephone bills

[@Berk-lf6ge]

i was 13 too and nobody talked about the internet at school. It was as if it didnt exist at all. I dont think i was even aware of it

[@jasonandreoli4135]

Quick glimpse of Tim Vincent surfing the dark web looking for a local dealer.

[@billgates2903]

You mean Richard bacon I think

[@GuyG.KTalesOfAnimals]

WWW is a short for World Wide Web? I am a 2000’s child, now it makes so much sense. 22 years never realized that.

[@smadaf]

Yes. The World Wide Web is only one part of the Internet. Email protocols are another part. File Transfer Protocol is another. The "www" in a URL distinguishes that address from similar ones used for other purposes, such as FTP.

[@Liofa73]

Kids today think they're clued up about computers, but their parents were there at the beginning and had to use actual computers, solve problems with them, troubleshoot and install software by hand. We forget how nowadays everything is so automated and have the expectations that things "should just work". So much of how a computer works is now hidden behind a UI or in an app that people almost forget they are using computers.

[@phillipecook3227]

In other words: up till the 90s you had to be a computer nerd to use one regularly.

[@Happin3ess]

It seemed smart back then. Now it's used for Tik Toc, Facebook and Twitter.

[@SJHFoto]

I was turning 20 in 1995. I remember going to internet cafes when on vacation to send emails

[@____0____]

I miss the internet before it became main stream and popular. It seemed so much more fun and exciting and the websites that got created and made famous by word of mouth, IRC, email chains were always interesting, great or just shocking. It feels like now the internet has become a few main sites controlling it all and its getting harder and harder to find anything outside that.

[@firstname8873]

There are plenty of old style forums alive and well.

[@____0____]

@@firstname8873 Cheers. I still actually use a couple that are still alive from 15-20 years ago. Most I used to enjoy are gone now. I was speaking more about niche type websites. To give an example, once upon a time if you wanted to search a show, singer, band, group, etc in Yahoo or even Google, you would find heaps of fan made sites, most very basic, but they all offered real personality and because they all had different owners, you got different view points, thoughts and content. Now when you try similar searches you get the big main websites and news articles for the most part.

[@eriksaari4430]

web is mainstream. maybe you mean gopher, usenet?

[@phillblake6829]

It was great till the smartphone

[@unicorntomboy9736]

There is 4Chan

[@ian_b]

I wish we could still surf down the information superhighway to the world wide web.

[@pennybunny]

I was 15 in 1995 and I remember this episode lol

[@westminsterwatcher5152]

Marvellous! Thank you, BBC Archive!

[@gallitron7803]

Dialling attempt 1 of 5. Connecting.... Connected at 4.61 KB/Sec. Downloading 180 MB. Estimated time left: 39 years. We owe a lot to dial up, having first got us online in 1989.

[@olegarkhangelsky3417]

Connection speed was usually displayed in bit/s. 4.61 KB/Sec download speed is about 38000 bit/s. More than 33600, which is nice.

[@tl50camiva]

I immediately think of Jen from the IT Crowd as I watch this!

[@vesavius]

I was still using my Amiga at this stage... I hadn't even moved to PC... The internet didn't really interest me that much beyond being curiosity. But, then the mid 90s were all music, clubs, and a bit of blur if I am to be honest. I would eventually get online at home in '99 with Everquest. Things were coming along nicely by then, though we still had to pay 99p an hour via our 56k modem to use it!

[@smadaf]

This is one of several reasons why the Internet took off faster in the U.S. than in the U.K. In America, by the time people were wanting to get online at home, unlimited local calls had been included for decades in the price of simply having a telephone line. AOL had much success sending out unsolicited CD-ROMs offering a free month or two of unlimited hours online-which wouldn't have worked nearly as well if users had had to pay the phone company for every minute of using the line.

[@paulleach3612]

Party drugs and late night gaming. The bread and butter of the '90s.

[@phrtao]

I actually missed this episode of Blue Peter because I had just started work as a software developer. Windows 95 had just come out, The Playstation(1) had just been released. The world was a better place.

[@SwazersC]

That's the trick the devil plays right. He comes as an angel of light. Then down the line years later, we realise it was all one big trap

[@Broccolini_yogini]

I remember watching this! 'information super highway' is a great term. I left high school in 2002 having never had an IT lesson (no working computers at the school) but my parents worked for BT so I had a laptop with an internet connection and I spent all my free time in a Buffy the Vampire Slayer chatroom and making websites on Geocities

[@SelfRighteousNewAgeLightWorker]

Geocities 😍😍😍

[@AndreiTupolev]

Apparently Cyberia Internet Cafe (39 Whitfield Street, London) is now occupied by a French restaurant named Noizè. Whether it offers the opportunity to surf the Net is not certain.

[@danyoutube7491]

It might do if it has free wi-fi!

[@markymark-r]

Acorn. A pioneer of its time and we wouldn’t be where we are now without them. Miss that little nut device 😢

[@gingercat7925]

Those kids are going on 40 years old.

[@WHRBERT]

Yes we are!

[@AtheistOrphan]

3:47 - ‘Warming up the lamp’. Love it!

[@JoshWaller]

I love watching videos like this. Wasn’t even born but I find it so funny how much has changed. I remember being in school in 2008 using one of those bulky white computers (probably from early 00’s or late 90’s). Good times.

[@CountScarlioni]

Yeah, those lonnnnng years of grey-cream tyranny! It had been accepted that it was the unchallenged colour of a _serious_ computer system since late 1970s. Nobody really challenged that trend much until the early 2000s. I think it was because during that time the PC market was always laser focused on the business market, who liked uniformity in the appearance of their equipment so if a computer was made in a funky colour (basically any colour that wasn't grey-cream) then businesses wouldn't want them. I'm glad we finally got away from that!

[@videogamebookreviews]

"So what are you going to do now?" "Planets. But after the TV crew have gone I'm going to play deathmatch Doom for three hours straight." 4:30

[@ManoloLimache]

¡Qué nostalgia de mis primeras conexiones de Internet hace más de 20 años en el colegio! Saludos y Bendiciones desde Chile.

[@oo0024]

Lol that kid said it feels like you’ve got the world at your finger tips 😂 that’s me right now using my iPad

[@brokenglassshimmerlikestar3407]

In 1995 we didn't have a computer at home but I would go to my Mom's office to use theirs. I loved to download desktop pets, which were animated animals walking around or chasing your cursor. A colleague of my Mom would play Age of Empire and Tomb Raider.

[@mAiSiEbOOOO]

I first used the Internet in 2007, when I was twenty-seven!

[@quatz1981]

I need to get in on that Information Super Highway thing, sounds like it may become big.

[@rmirmi8377]

Wow,this brings back so many memorys

[@skylark.kraken]

My primary school's website would have been made in the early 00s and not remade. There was a section of the website to allow comments, all unverified and would appear immediately. Someone posted some horrible (for a 7YO) stuff and signed it as someone else (the someone else was Banele "ban-ee-lee" who was a horrible child, and we soon found out calling him Banana pissed him off a huge amount. If anyone knew who had done it they had no incentive to say). However the style of writing was completely wrong, the only person who has worse spelling than him was me, and the comment had all correct spelling and grammar. The IT technician (someone's mum who didn't work professionally in computing, just knew some things) mentioned that they could track the IP and find out who had done it. None of us knew that she didn't have the resources to identify who exactly, and none of the means to contact ISPs to find out who posted a comment. However this freaked out the kid who had done it and they confessed because they didn't want to be caught (the kid had been bullied by Banana and teachers had never punished him, so he did that to get him punished for something, but they got punished and Banana never did).

[@MatthewLenton]

The internet will never take off

[@pepitomacondo.8344]

I invented for my personal use a box measuring 1.5 feet by 1 foot. I drew a cinema inside and put a magnifying glass in front and put a cell phone in the back as a screen . I watch simi -3D movies sensation with a cinema feel.

[@cianog]

The internet not existing was a completely normal thing and no ones life was any the worse for it.

[@urduadabkaynaam]

We even paid 2$ per hour to use Internet in Pakistan back in year 1999 for the slowest speed of 56kbps modem downloading speed of maximum 7kbps.....Haha, yet it was like the addiction of staying online all the time.

[@richardlaundon]

I remember getting online in 1996 using Demon Internet. I think the kids of today would be shocked learning how we had to keep track of time as we got disconnected every hour and had to redial again. Using it at night was cheaper for the phone call as well :D

[@garyl4533]

Then freeserve came along!

[@CountScarlioni]

@@garyl4533 Freeserve was a godsend!

[@annother3350]

Anyone remember Newsgroups?

[@tiredrich]

When schools just had the one computer

[@jamescornflake1542]

You were lucky. In my school in Ireland we got a cardboard cutout shape thing. The Headmaster walked it around to each classroom to show us; 'This is what a one looks like''. The assistant Head towed a big cardboard box with PRINTER written on it))

[@DarthDimmadome]

5:45 She’s got a violin recital coming up

[@jaydenw7705]

One thing that hasn't changed is presenters turning to look into the camera while driving. It's still done nowadays which surprises me because it's dangerous, illegal and totally unnecessary.

[@areadhead]

I try to recall the first time I became aware of the Internet and I have no memory of it. I remember the library at my college in 1995 had only 1 pc with Internet but it was always being used. When I went into higher education at 18 years old in 1996 was the first time I used the Internet or email and got dialup at home. I find it fascinating that I might have even seen articles like this one at the time. What else is happening even now that is not making an obvious impact on me but in the future, I will wonder how I missed it

[@DevonPixie1991]

This was 7 years before I got a dial up connection at home!

[@SJHFoto]

Me too!

[@MajesticJoshua]

She connected to the internet in that café on 11 February 1995. That was just 12 days shy of my first birthday.

[@emsea1658]

I still remember to this day typing in my first address into a web browser in 1996 at my local library. GREAT TIMES

[@Freaky0Nina]

Remember when we still said "surfing" for going online?

[@AndreiTupolev]

Oh look, Bill Clinton got stuck in an endless loop for comedy effect 😗🧐🙃

[@garryleeks4848]

Something got stuck in he’s zip

[@lioncurlew]

Monica kept playing with his Joystick 🕹️

[@garryleeks4848]

@@lioncurlew probably put it in 5th gear

[@lioncurlew]

@@garryleeks4848 lol

[@NR-rv8rz]

Just googled the presenter here in April 2024 and she is 63 years old. Wow.

[@karenpff2010]

It's amazing to see how we connect to the internet has evolved over the decades too. Here in the UK at least, first it was dial-up (or if you're really old - an 'acoustic coupler'), then broadband was edging its way in, in the late 90s early 00s, but that was only really available if you lived near a phone exchange in a town of city. Even if you could get BB it was prohibitly expensive, but worth it since you could go online AND be able to make phone calls at the same time! Maybe once 3G or even 4G mobile phone technology evolved we could access the internet wirelessly on our phones. In fact, it's only been in the last few years that I got a 4G Router for my parents who lived rurally, because a copper phone line connection out in the sticks was as much use as a chocolate teapot. Paying through the nose for expensive BB and getting sloth speeds in return? No thank you! Moved them over to a 4G Router for internet access and they have never looked back. Now we have fibre ever increasingly making it's way to our suburban homes, either FTTC or FTTH. We also have reliable satellite internet thanks to things like Starlink becoming more popular, but it's still very expensive. How we connect to the internet has changed so much since its early days 35 years ago, it will be interesting to see how we will connect in the future decades to come.

[@karenpff2010]

Back in 95 i was 7 years old, and I remember our classrooms had a small selection of BBC Micros and Acorn Computers. When we returned to school after the summer holidays, we discovered a brand new RM Computer in our classroom, running Windows 95! And it could connect to this magical thing called the internet! The computer also had a standalone scanner, printer and speakers too. Fully functional multimedia suite! It was mind-blowing stuff back then. Also had to learn that we needed to 'Log In' to this particular computer (the teacher had the credentials pinned to the adjacent wall =p ) It was the BEST computer in the entire school - even the school office only had an Apple Mac back then. Mind. Blown! By the time we got to secondary school in the early 00s, our computer labs were full of RM or Tulip Computers that ran Windows 98! Think it was all still dial up back then, but back in those days, being on the internet felt like a great privilege and something to behold. Nowadays we all have several computers/ laptops at home, and of course our smartphones too which can connect to the internet 24/7 wherever we like. In some ways, it just doesn't feel the same as the internet back in the 90s - it was truly something magical and something to behold. Nowadays the internet is as important as having electricity and running tap water. How times changed. It will be interesting to see what will; become of the internet even 20 years from now :o

[@watermelonineasterhay]

I was in the infant's then and remember those old BBC or acorn computers too. It had games called Funfair and pip goes to the moon. We got a Windows 95 the next year but didn't get the internet until 2002. I wish I'd been a teenager then so I wouldn't take the internet for granted as much and really appreciate how amazing it actually is.

[@speedincooper]

4:52 Diane "I've been to Hawaii" Smartass kid "Not literally" Diane: "Yeah I know" Oof😂

[@cheapfinish6224]

"But that can't be printed, because it was too long"

[@AtheistOrphan]

4:06 - ‘If you’ve got a computer in your school it’s likely to be one of these’ - An Acorn, wow. My school computer was a Commodore PET.

[@chromatophore881]

My school had a BBC micro. Fond memories of Granny's garden on that beast. Those PETs are expensive these days. They were an iconic design really and i'd love one on my shelf.

[@qxqp]

I think she just meant a big box-like piece of rubbish

[@AtheistOrphan]

@@chromatophore881 - So would I! Would make a fantastic object d’art.

[@bisonkambaine5628]

I was 11 years old and I remember my mother calling it a fad that won't last. My or my how times have changed.

[@APRICEPRODUCTION]

Crazy to think the kids in this video, some of them probably have kids of their own as old as they were in the video now 😳 I was about 10 years old, and remember those computers. I think our Primary School at the time, had just started to integrate the internet, I remember 1 of them having internet then slowly the other 3-4 computers started to get on the net. But didn't really use the net properly probably till 1996-1997 when I got into secondary school.

[@gloyo23-x1t]

It makes me wonder now - Is Cyberia Cafe still open?

[@hanktheblesseddeejay]

Blue Peter dropping Unfinished Sympathy like it’s nothing

[@Lukethefox]

This is a neat Time Capsule of the 90's with huge computer monitors, the Internet being referred to as the 'information Superhighway', early 3D graphics and hearing Bill Clinton's voice.

[@AtheistOrphan]

6:04 - And later she went on to set up IMDb AND Discogs!

[@truecrimeboozer]

1:22 That slow jpeg reveal is *so* evocative. The future was going to be awesome!

[@anthonybubb7282]

This "World Wide Web" sounds great. I cannot wait to try it out!

[@campbellgraham1979]

Looks like a game changer

[@MrBiggles7665]

It's just another fad, it will never take off!

[@TheRattyBiker]

I literally remember seeing this clip whilst I was eating my tea after school age 8 just before going to play out.

[@spiralsturns9835]

I knew Dianne a little when I lived in London. Nice to see her here

[@davedogge2280]

Even as recently as 2013 in South Kensington it was fiber optic to the local exchange box and then just copper wire to the home so not great. Nice to see Cyberia cafe that wasn't too far away from Charlotte St. where I worked.

[@squarecircle5522]

4:54 child - iv been to hawaii, not literally. Presenter - yeah i know.

[@chuckmaddison2924]

They probably made it with Valerie Singletons knickers and wallpaper glue.

[@BOABModels]

I was 8 in 1995 and I remember being so excited by those big grey boxy computers. By the time I got to secondary school in 1998, the internet was pretty common.

[@abiola33]

Totally! I'm the same as you and I remember that also. Primary we had one computer lol, but by the time I got to year 9 at secondary school, there was a classroom of computer for IT studies.

[@A.US.ter1]

Used the internet for the first time as a 16 yr old in 1996. Remember how basic, slow and cumbersome it was. Very limited information too. Only around 2000-01 when I was at uni did it become recognizable in its current form. Remember doing research using it 1998-99 time and just finding it a waste of time and frustrating. Happy to have grown up in an analogue generation like those kids in the vid though. I don’t envy digital natives because it’s not clear if the internet is a net benefit for them.

[@phranchesskahr]

Her jumper is so cool 😎 😍

[@colors6692]

Presenter in mocking posh voice: "Oh you've been to Hawaii...." Student: "Not literally"

[@sillyninja65]

this video scares me. time is so strange. 1995 and i was born in 2001 this video was already 6 years old yet it look recognisable to me as say 2005. in that time however of 10 years it looks like not much has changed. but this video was 5 years after the 80s but there are many things in this video that look IDENTICAL to now yet this was before mobile phones became super computers and after the worry of "credit" on your phones, we have touch screen built into our cars, virtual reality headsets, the ability to render billions of polygons in real time and able to stream movies, music and video games straight to any connected device. its so creepy how the future works, itll look the same but function so differently

[@IkarusKommt]

Windows 3.1 with large fonts - what a rare sight.

[@dj_laundry_list]

0:30 It's crazy that she was vlogging from her phone while driving

[@dronespace]

I first (briefly) used the internet around 1995 and was amazed by the concept of it

[@richardsequeirateixeira]

The Warping Poster 2:00 is fun as a former OS/2 user. :D

[@Pitorro_X]

Massive Attack went to the 90s from the future.

[@AndreiTupolev]

I wonder how 😬 those kids will be seeing themselves now

[@billyh88uk]

I first heard of the internet around this time but it took another three years until I used it - until then I spent many hours with those free AOL CDs installing it all but failing to load any pages, not understanding I needed a modem.

[@toni-kaku]

I only came here to hear the words information superhighway. Thanks

[@mdatkinson92]

We lived through it lads. What a different world now. But still the same.

[@iamfinky]

Good lord we had it good back in those days: Netscape Navigator, dial-up... JOY! :D

[@purefoldnz3070]

the whole information superhighway never took off.

[@LeRealisateu]

It’s sad this computers always stood there but where rarely used in junior high school like the books in the shelf and everything else.

[@ucheucheuche]

6:24 That Blue Peter home page has gone hiding 😥, but I discovered the Blue Peter logo was designed by Tony Hart! 😄⛵

[@patchworkdragon2588]

Gosh, I remember first seeing an email address on Newsround and wondering what it was. Though internet pages do take me back though 😊

[@MrMann0123]

Speed of that screen load! Whoooo