Watch: ‘What is internet, anyway?’ journalists were discussing with delightful naiveté in 1994
It was probably a fair question to ask 25 years ago.
A 1994 clip from the American talk show ‘The Today Show’ has suddenly gone viral on Twitter, featuring three journalists discussing “what is internet?” The video shows Bryant Gumbel, Elizabeth Vargas and Katie Couric debating the pronunciation of the “@” symbol.
Gumbel says in the clip that it “all sounded very stupid” to him when he had to say “violence@nbc.ge.com”. He then proceeds to ask “what is internet, anyway?” a question which Vargas answers by saying it is a “massive computerised system” and that it is “really becoming big now.” A moment of further wonder and amazement comes from Couric when she realises that operating the internet does not always require a phone connection.
Social media users are suggesting that “what is bitcoin anyway?” is the new substitute for the confusion and scepticism that once surrounded the use of the internet.