I remember getting my very first email address. I was in Form 2 and had decided that I needed to keep up with the times and join MSN Messenger so that I could chat with my friends online. Back then, it was relatively easy to secure an email address without having to put multiple numbers on the end of it but, despite this, I debuted on the internets with some ridiculously long and stupid email address which probably resembled something like angelbaby2000xox@hotmail….

I was planning to go all nostalgic on you in the first paragraph and then bring in the second one with an unimaginative opening sentence like “since then, times have changed….”, but I realised that my first dalliance with the world of online communication isn’t even a decade old yet, which just goes to show how recent the introduction of the internet into our lives really is (and how young I am, ha!). In a little under 10 years, we’ve experienced the joys of the internet in both dial-up (the connection tone still haunts my dreams some nights: *crackling noises* errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr BaDING! DING! DING!) and the extreme majesty of wireless broadband (Oh broadband, I <3 you so….).

So, as you’ve already probably deduced, I’ve grown up with the internet as an integral part of my life: I vividly remember how impressed I was when I first discovered that I could illegally download music from Napster and then later, after having developed somewhat of a social conscience when it came to supporting struggling artists, being equally as impressed with the efficiency of using iTunes to obtain music files. I can vaguely recall being stoked when I learnt that YouTube has EVERYTHING EVER on it and that I could watch ANYTHING at all RIGHT NOW!