The Internet I Grew Up with Doesn't Exist Anymore

# Summary The author reflects on how the internet has fundamentally transformed from a selective destination people visited in the early 2000s to an inescapable infrastructure woven into nearly every aspect of modern life—from banking and work to entertainment and government services. Born in the late 1990s in rural America, the author nostalgically contrasts the era of shared family computers and deliberate internet use with today's 2026 landscape where internet access is essentially required for basic functioning. The piece serves as a personal retrospective on how the internet evolved from "a place you went" to an omnipresent technology that shapes daily existence.