Dialing Up The Past

(My stepbrother (17), stepsister (14), and I (20) are talking. We have recently capped our internet, so it’s running ridiculously slow.)

Me: “We’re back to dial-up speed.”

Stepbrother: “It’s not THAT slow.”

Me: “Please. Do you even remember when dial up was a thing?”

Stepbrother: “Only because I went to a friend’s house when I was younger who had dial up.”

Stepsister: “I don’t.”

Me: “So you wouldn’t remember this noise then?” *plays the sound of dial-up internet connecting*

Stepsister: “No. That’s horrible.”

Me: “We had to hear that noise every time we connected to the internet.”

Stepsister: “Why didn’t you just have it connected all the time?”

(My stepbrother and I look at her in shock for a moment, trying to work out if she’s serious. We determine she is.)

Me: “Because then we couldn’t use the phone.”

Stepsister: “What?”

(My stepbrother and I had to spend a good five minutes showing her the plug and explaining that the phone and the modem used the same plug. Never in my life have I felt so old whilst dealing with someone not even six years my junior!)