First Email Received

Twenty five years ago this week, the Internet was born. It is so amazing how our lives have changed due to its influence. No more encyclopedia sets. Snail mail is dying a slow death. You can listen to the radio anywhere you take your smart phone. It is just mind-blowing.

I wanted to recount an anecdote about my first experience receiving an email over the Internet. Way back in Fall of 1989, I was a returning sophomore at Rutgers College in New Brunswick, NJ and was living with my roommate Dan in the Tinsley Dormitory on the College Avenue campus.  Upon arrival for the new semester, we received a packet of information regarding school services, as we did every semester.

In this packet was a sheet on our new email service which could connect us with classmates, teachers, as well as beyond that, other institutions. "Email? What the heck is that?" It directed us to a hangar type building (now Financial Aid) right next to Brower Commons, the dining hall. Within this building, we would find a couple of rows of computers where we could "log in and check our email."

My roommate Dan, a budding journalist and eventually the editor of the college newspaper, The Daily Targum, was excited and intrigued. I was more excited about rushing my fraternity Phi Kappa Psi. Nevertheless, I went over to the computer building to check it out.

Once at the hall, I logged onto my "email" to see if there was any messages. Besides some welcome message from Rutgers College, there was nothing. No messages, no spam, no advertisements, no funny jokes from friends, just one introductory email from Rutgers College for the rest of the year. I logged on every week just to see if I received anything, only to be disappointed each time I reread "Welcome to your new Rutgers College email account!"

I later quipped to Dan that this email system was a joke. It would most likely be dropped by the university within the year. Yeah, right...