When I was young my dad hooked up 2 computers so my brother and I could play 2 player Doom II (could’ve been Doom but unlikely). It was probably 5fps and barely playable. My brother and I almost fell out of our chairs when we saw the other player. It blew my mind being able to see another player and what he looked like in game.

> It was probably 5fps and barely playable.

Did you have 386's?

> my mind would be reeling with the possibilities

Right?? When I was about 14 or so I got ahold of my very first modem - a 300bps acoustic coupler; that beast must have weighed 20 pounds. I don't know what I was expecting when we connected to a local BBS for the first time, but when I saw characters from a remote computer show up on my screen, it was like the world shifted. I had no way to grasp the implications of it all, but I could sense it was significant, and it impacted me so strongly that that memory is still crystal clear 30 years later.

They're truly tricorders. They can 3d scan the world, they can broadcast live to the entire world, they can connect you with a doctor and help diagnose your illness, on and on.

Phyphox really does it for me to get that "a tricorder, but real" feeling.

https://phyphox.org/

Point it at a bird or bug or flower and get an ID

Record a birdsong and get an ID

Tell you who sings the songs playing

On the term I used to dial with my 300 baud modem on my Atari 800 you had to specify "ATDT" (tone) or "ATDP" (pulse) because rotary dialing was still much more common.