I'm not entirely sure why, but I feel somewhat privileged to remember life before the internets, and then to have witnessed its evolution. A better writer could pen a gorgeous thumbsucker about this, but there's something truly fascinating about watching a truly transformative technology... well, transform. Occasionally doing a deeper archive search for something from a circa-2001 internet one gets a reminder of the early internet. No video, few pictures on most sites, etc.
Missed the development of railroads, electricity, household appliances, widespread indoor plumbing, and jet travel. So internets it is!