Welcome!
Like a lot of Americans who lived through the dot com boom and bust, my earliest internet adventures took place on America Online. More than just an internet service provider, AOL was a destination all its own. Their AOL Desktop software not only offered a unique web browsing experience, but featured exclusive original content across a variety of "channels" dedicated to topics ranging from music, movies, news, finance, travel and more. There were even channels designed especially for kids and teens, which helped me, a young millennial, feel like there was a place on the world wide web for little ole me.
All you had to do was type in the right AOL Keyword — a short phrase that would — like magic — immediately transport you to a hub dedicated to a given topic. Despite having the entire internet at my fingertips, I would often spend hours just trying random keywords and clicking around the different sections I'd find. I would read articles meant for much older people that I wasn't even that interested in just because it made me feel in-the-know. I have a distinct memory of breaking the news of Pope John Paul II's passing to my grandmother, because I saw the breaking news story on the AOL welcome screen. Of course, she refused to believe me until it came on the news later. That moment helped my young mind grasp how the internet was beginning to change our lives.
In many ways, AOL embodied the egalitarian utopia the early internet promised — connection to culture and community, instant access to news and information. But it also foreshadowed some of the issues that plague the internet to this day — security issues, privacy concerns and the negative effects of corporate influence. Still, to my young self, who loved media and pop culture and learning, AOL was a magical place.
My family ended up switching ISPs a couple of times — guess we ran out of those ubiquitous "1,000 hours free" discs — but my experiences on AOL obviously left a lasting impression on me. I've spent much of my online life trying to recapture the feeling I got browsing AOL as a kid. That's part of what inspried my website. I wanted to do a satirical take on AOL's corporate e-magazine format while retaining the sense of place that made AOL such an exciting space to explore back in the day.
After more than 30 years, AOL announced in 2025 they would shut down their dial-up internet service. Their website still exists as a news aggregator and they still offer some internet services — you can still get an @aol.com email address; I have one — but it will never be the same. The internet I was born into no longer exists. So I made this page to honor the memory of the internet destination that shaped my early digital life.
Click around to find images, graphics and links to video clips that capture the glory days of AOL.