You’ve Got Mail

It was a joke I heard about 20 years ago. “What does AOL stand for?” “Almost Outta Loot.” 

The news reported that AOL was finally cancelling dial up service this week after 30 years. My first thought was, “AOL is still in business?” My second thought was a bit more nostalgic. I remember sitting in my dad’s home office in front of a Commodore 64, popping in an AOL CD-rom and hearing that sound. That terrible, ear piercing screech we endured for 30 seconds while trying to connect to the internet.

After a few minutes, those magic words, “You’ve got mail” played on the homescreen. We were excited to hear it and then open emails from friends and acquaintances and others we wanted to get email from. This was the Golden Age of email and Spam was a brand of luncheon meat.

In those days, that sound was everything. Voiced by radio and TV host Elwood Edwards, “You’ve got mail” became a pop culture sensation. Heck, they even made a movie with the same title in 1998 starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

Nostalgia, however, can be a double-edged sword. It can be good to remember and reminisce about the past, but oftentimes we see the past as perfect. Dial-up from AOL was indeed life changing, but it was far, far away from perfect:

• It was s l o o o o w w w w. 56kb was about 700 times slower than today’s internet.
• No one could use the phone if dad was online (ugh)
• Download a file? Fuggedaboudit.
• Tech problems? You had to disconnect and call an 800 number.
• It was $19.95 per month (about $78 in today’s money.)

In hindsight, I think there was some value to AOL dial-up. Its limitations and expense made us mindful of what it was and how often we used it. Today, the average American spends 10+ hours per day online. AOL dial-up users average time was 1.1 hours….not including the time it took to connect.

Speaking of nostalgia, did you know the Commodore 64 is making a comeback?

#BoldBrandsWin