Technology evolves during Mr. Right is a Myth, book two in The Rock Star’s Wife series, even if from our standpoint it’s a bit outdated. Cassandra and the other characters in the novel embrace the start of the digital age. No one shouts, “I love technology,” but they certainly aren’t afraid to give computer and phone tech a try. Let’s look at the six types of late 1990s technology mentioned in Mr. Right is a Myth.
The Internet
An old Packard Bell computer from the mid-90s. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
I suppress a laugh. Post them on the internet? Who would post naked photos on the internet? I didn’t even know there was an internet before I came to U of I. – Chapter 3
The internet, a technology developed in the 1960s, started to become available to the average person. Here’s a short timeline from Pew Research Center:
- 1992: First use of “surfing the internet.”
- 1994: Yahoo is created. So is the first banner ad. The first order is placed online. It’s for a pizza.
- 1995: 3 percent of online users have been on the World Wide Web. Amazon, Craigslist, eBay and Match are founded. Netscape, Internet Explorer and Windows 95 released.
- 1996: 77 percent of those online send or receive email.
- 1997: Google founded.
- 1999: MP3 downloading site Napster launches.
- 2000: 32 percent of users send online greeting cards, 48 percent have made an online purchase, and 78 percent don’t think downloading free music is a crime.
- 2001: Wikipedia launches.
Calling Collect
An Ameritech public pay phone, no longer in working order, found in Franklin County, Ohio. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
“Once I get an apartment,” Shawna says, “I’ll have a phone and an answering machine, so you’ll be able to call me collect.” – Chapter 8
Calling collect, or reversing the charges, means calling another person at the other person’s expense. In the 1990s, this was possible only with the assistance of an operator. Large phone companies in the United States no longer offer the service, although there remain some smaller service providers who do.
AOL Instant Messenger
AIM Logo. Public domain.
I’ve been in the computer lab maybe an hour, dividing my time between doing research for an assignment and talking to Jennifer on AOL Instant Messenger. – Chapter 14
AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) was an instant messaging service that launched in 1997. At its height, the service had more than 61 million users.
“But unlike AOL’s core services — which were only available for a fee — AIM was available as a free standalone app and open source code,” Smithsonian Magazine says. “Users could log on and instantly ping messages back and forth, remotely chatting with friends, colleagues and loved ones. Today, instant messaging has remained virtually unchanged. Slack, Facebook Messenger, Discord and countless other direct messaging features built into social media apps use the same basic structure that AIM first proposed.”
The service was discontinued in 2017.
Netscape and Internet Explorer
Screenshot of Netscape Navigator browser. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
I switch from Netscape to Internet Explorer to print the article I want to use for my homework assignment. – Chapter 14
Netscape and Internet Explorer were both web browsers used in the 1990s. At that time, there was no option to have multiple tabs open in one browser.
“It was a magical time, home computers sales were just booming and if you were lucky enough, your PC would come equipped with a modem for dial-up Internet access,” Techspot says. “You would hear the scrambling sound of your phone line connecting you to the world. Launching Netscape and staring at the throbber animation while a single web page loaded.”
Netscape Navigator launched in 1994 and was free for individual, academic and research users.
Internet Explorer launched in 1995.
Cell Phones
Nokia mobile phone. Photo credit: Tracey Nicholls, CSIRO. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
After we got back to Chambana, my friends and I bought mobile phones, Nokia 3210s. Oh my God, they’re so cool. They have an internal antenna, customizable ringtones, games, and you can send picture messages. Anyway, we got the regional plan. It’s more expensive than the local plan but no roaming charges. – Chapter 24
Nokia 3210s launched in 1999.
“There was no launch event for the Nokia 3210, and few major publications bothered to review it,” Slate says. “In retrospect, however, it may have done as much to spark the mobile revolution as any handset in history. The 3210 and its successors redefined the role of technology in our lives, not through feats of engineering so much as feats of marketing and design. By rethinking the configuration of key components in the phone and paying attention to how young people were using it, they took something awkward and ungainly and made it simple and chic.”
Some things to keep in mind when operating a mobile phone from the 1990s:
- Cellular providers offered different plans depending on where the user planned to use his phone. A local plan usually only covered a small portion of a state, a regional plan covered perhaps the entire state and a national plan covered the entire country. The larger the plan the higher the price. If you left your plan’s area and made a phone call, you’d be charged roaming fees on top of your month fee.
- Texting was not quick or easy. As there were no QWERTY keyboards, number buttons needed to pressed up to three times to type one letter. There also was a fee for sending or receiving texts.
- There was no way to block a phone number.
- To access voicemail you needed to call a phone number and enter in a password. There was no way to skip a message, and you needed to listen to the entire message before it could be deleted.
Microsoft Office 2000
Official logo of Microsoft Office 2000 suite of business applications. Public Domain.
Would it help for me to mention I’m taking a class on Microsoft Office as an elective? – Chapter 25
Microsoft Office 2000 was released in 2000. Five different versions were released. The standard package contained Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint. The next tier contained Publisher, and the following tier contained Access. Frontpage and PhotoDraw were offered on the highest two tiers.
Microsoft Office classes were offered at universities to give students an advantage on their resumes when they entered the working world.
Here’s the 4-1-1
This blog is a companion piece to Mr. Right is a Myth, available in eBook, paperback and hardcover. This heartfelt follow-up to Sexual Awakening follows its ambitious diarist to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where her hopes and dreams for the future are further tested by a string of social hiccups. Buy now.
To listen to the songs mentioned in Mr. Right is a Myth, follow The Rock Star’s Wife on Spotify.
For more information on the licenses mentioned on this page, visit https://creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses/.
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