My first "online" interaction (that I remember).

It was probably 2001? I just remember being so young that I was less than 4ft tall and didn't understand much. I don't even remember what server we were using. But I think it was after the big 2001 thing that I'm not mentioning here lol.

Anyway, my older brother and I noticed that a neighbor sent a message to my other older brother on his desktop (I don't think laptops were popular at the time). This was when we still referred to this as "instant messaging". She sent a message meant for him and we responded, pretending to be him. She told us that she was baking cookies for her coworkers. She also asked if it was actually the brother we were pretending to be, or us. We didn't give her an answer. 😆

I remember using "(:" as a smiley face like it was new and innovative. I remember someone also using ");" as a crying face, even though that's considered a winking face now.

These days, anytime I use an emoji, I still think of it as an alternative to that.

Also most of my interactions are based on that "I may or may not be hiding something" teasing demeanor that I used at that particular time.

That was far before the time I was 12 years old and my mom told me not to read reviews of a dog walking service on... I think Yahoo Answers?

Damn I'm old. 😅