A life less ordinary as Twitter marks Web's 25th anniversary

This day 25 years ago the World Wide Web — brainchild of computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee — was conceived.

Wed, 12 Mar, 2014 - 00:00

Peter O’Dwyer

Since then it has become integral to our lives, in much the same way as the birth of a child.

With that in mind, Twitter today extended its warmest wishes and looked back over a rollercoaster 25 years of emotion:

A look at the ultrasound when then-named 'Information Management: A Proposal' was yet to be born, started the emotional ball rolling.

"Vague but exciting...." 1989 response at CERN to Tim Berners-Lee's 'Information Management: a proposal' #itfutures pic.twitter.com/1UEUR2fHlI
— Jake Broadhurst (@JakeBroadhurst) December 12, 2013

Thoughts then turned to those precious first moments when our lives and that of the world’s new arrival collided.

Happy Birthday The Internet! Tim Berners-Lee's AMAZING invention is 25 years old today. Do you remember when you first logged on?
— Living South (@livingsouth) March 12, 2014

Pete Dickson posted the birth photo, swaddling cloth and all included.

The NeXT cube on which Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web 25 years ago. At the Science Museum for #web25 pic.twitter.com/ufXKOyPZRR
— Pete Dickinson (@PeteDickinson) March 12, 2014

While the extent to which the Web has enriched our lives is, of course, never in doubt — inevitably some activities have fallen by the wayside. Ever the nostalgic, this was playing on poor Miles's mind. Enjoyed a good pub argument back in the day, did Miles.

Tomorrow, the web turns 25 years old. What do you miss most (if anything) about life before the internet?
— Miles Kohrman (@MilesKohrman) March 11, 2014

Once it found its legs though, it was hard to keep pace with the new arrival.

Later came the troublesome teens...

And the racket that entailed at times.

25 years old? I remember when dialling up to the Internet meant 2 minutes of horrible screeching noises.

Mum hated sharing the phone line.
— Ben (@0point5twins) March 12, 2014

Ultimately though, we love each other.

Our lives have been improved beyond all recognition.

The Internet is 25 years-old. I remember in the '80s when you had to join queues in Athena shops just to see a funny picture of a kitten.
— Michael Spicer (@MrMichaelSpicer) March 12, 2014

So, we look ahead to another quarter century of fun-filled, informative escapades.