I remember when I didn’t understand the internet. There was a disconnect between the computer and the real world, i.e., there was a lack of reality. I didn’t interact with my family through the computer, but in the early stages of the internet, I was running into real people and I just couldn’t understand it. I would have to describe it as one of the most life-changing experiences I’ve ever endured, as I’m sure most of you would feel the same about your own discovery of interacting with strangers for the first time, online.

When I say that I didn’t understand the internet, that’s not entirely precise. I understood that e-mail was a letter sent immediately to someone else, but I think my logic suffered when it came to realizing that a website is not just a program, or computer application, but that it is also maintained by real people. It would be as though I could fire up one of my inspirational Sierra games, play it, then conduct a conversation with not only the characters, but also the developers who created the character lineup. I was incapable of comprehending that the internet was merely a follow-up tool. It sounds very non-chalant, because it is, when you think that the internet is a tool - just a small part of the puzzle that was already formed. The likelihood that you’d be introduced to a certain type of clothing was just as limited online as it was also limited by what was supplied by local retailers. Some businesses got more exposure, and some received less, as a result - but nothing was really different, except the method in which the clothing was discovered.

Something had happened. Communication had happened. In the land before time, a company would produce a product, e.g., a computer game, and release it into the wild without ever really knowing the outcome. You knew how it sold, but the only other information you have about your market is your stack of registration cards, and maybe some feedback from your focus groups. Like the method of prayer, people had been talking for years, but now, the lines of communication became a two-way conversation. Oddly enough, now, I can’t grasp the concept of not having the ability to follow-up with your customer base. It has become indispensable - an obvious advantage to those who chose to open up the lines of communication.

Circa 1996, I distinctly remember surfing to the website of an unknown chocolate company, but only because what had ultimately occurred. I was on there pretty early, and they said that if you were the first to e-mail them, you’d receive a box of chocolates. I sent the e-mail and thought nothing more of it - the equivalent of a child sticking legos in the toaster until it becomes jammed, then pouring syrup through the cracks like I knew what I was doing. Later, my stepfather had asked me if I knew whose chocolates they were.

I don’t know anything about any chocolates. I don’t even know where Carmen Sandiego is. I’m not a doctor.

He enjoyed my reward as though a box of chocolate comes every week. The image of crinkled wrappers, most half-eaten, was all I could think about when I finally made the connection.