Olivia Sutton's Fanfic Journal

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Well, I was an early adapter to the Internet -- using e-mail back when I was in college. 'Course, back then everything was text, but that wasn't a bad thing. Some of those early services like Listservs (now almost exclusively Yahoo Lists), Fanfic Net, various forums, etc are still around.
I think the biggest changes have been two-fold: Social Networking (AKA Web 2.0 or anything defined by User-generated content) such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and LifeJournal; and second - how I access stuff (I use my 3G-enabled Web OS Phone for an awful lot these days).
Social Networking is great because it allows you to keep up with friends, family, and acquiantences quickly as well as following news (iGoogle is great for that) or favorite celebs/causes/etc. 'Course, it can also get to be too much, and become a timesink - esp. the games on Facebook. And when it's not working right - that becomes a real bummer. I actually find I use Facebook and LiveJournal differently (tho' I do cross post stuff). Facebook I use for quick updates to friends, family, and people I know from work. LiveJournal is still where I feed my creative side when I have time -- posting about the fic I've posted to Fanfic Net (or other sites), write DVD and movie reviews, post my monthly Music Memes when I remember, and to be honest complain about "Life Stuff" I didn't dare post to Facebook where my boss could read it (since I no longer have a job at that particular place it's not as much of an issue).

Accessing the Internet from my phone is great! I have a Palm Pre, so it more or less runs off the Internet (which means I can read Fanfic Net wherever I am). But I actually get frustrated by websites that I can't view on my phone (no flash for example), like for example, I can't sign into Live Journal from my Pre (or Fanfic Net, for that matter - I can read stuff, but I can't post reviews, use storymarks, etc). But this morning, I checked my e-mail (both accounts), posted to Facebook, read the top status updates, checked the weather for my area at NOAA's website, and read a blog -- all from my phone while drinking my morning coffee on the sofa in the living room. I love that type of access!!! ('Specially since my main computer has dial-up, the Gateway has no Internet access at all, and the LapTop only gets Internet access in free Wi-Fi spots).

In some ways, I occasionally get nostalgic for the "old days" on-line -- when it was mostly college students, computer geeks, and media fans -- rather than now when everyone is on-line, but overall I think the progress made Internet-wise has been a good thing.

Now if I could just got high-speed at home!

--Olivia