I’m an absolute nostalgia fiend, desperately trying to get my daily fix by browsing the likes of r/millenials, r/90s, and more. Hell, during lockdown, I bought the entire Walkers Looney Tunes Tazos collection, complete with the original folder. Regret Level: 0
One thing I crave more than anything, though, are the glory days of the Old Internet, before the overreaching, soul-destroying Dementors of capitalism and incessant targeted ads absolutely ruined everything. But I’ve just found a new website that takes me right back, if only for a fleeting moment.
To celebrate turning 30, Opera has launched a site called Web Rewind – an interactive timeline that lets you travel through three decades of internet history, with a glorious selection of 31 interactive artefacts, each tied to a specific year ranging from 1995 to the present day.
We’re talking dial-up modem handshake tones (aka the ear-bending screech that put your phone lines out of action), early email culture, the birth of Google, peer-to-peer file sharing, MySpace customisation chaos, viral videos, and more.
It’s animated, playful, and delightfully charming, letting nostalgia heads like me relive the internet’s glory days, while letting younger folk peek back at the innocence of yesteryear.
Holding down the space bar (or your screen on mobile) lets you interact with elements too. I just (virtually) popped a floppy disc into a Windows 95 PC, and it was the highlight of my week.
Words can’t really do it justice though, so I implore you to head on over to Web Rewind (on desktop or mobile), and check it out for yourselves.
Opera is also running a competition alongside the launch, if you fancy. Users can submit their own defining web memory – anything from an old gaming site to a life-changing online interaction – in up to 500 characters, with optional media attachments.
Entries are open until 27 March 2026, and three selected winners will be flown to CERN in Switzerland, widely recognised as the birthplace of the World Wide Web, for a visit before the end of June.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a mouse cursor that needs glittering, and a game of Minesweeper to finish.
Read the full article here
