Oh I would have died for internet access when I was 12. We moved to the Western Isles and if you remember TV in the 1970s it ran when the programmers decided it would. Radio was king but way the hell up there? We didn't get ANY FM stations until 1984 I think and then it was Radio 1 or ermmm Radio 1. MF was pretty pointless as there weren't any transmitters nearby until 1980 or so - even then they were still pointless in winter (Heaviside layer obviously - google if interested). Longwave, well that was shipping forecasts and the Archers
It felt like the edge of the world and in conjunction with the 1980's recession (outside SE England of course) I would have given anything to talk to people elsewhere in real-time. Heh - remember penpals? I do.
There really isn't anywhere remote now in information terms. I used to think that was good but now I wonder if it isn't the worst thing ever as few people seem capable of "independent" thought. We all get fed the same.... well you can guess eh? I deliberately removed all mainstream news bookmarks from my browser a year or so ago now. I have to type in the url now and I feel a lot less stressed - click on the bookmark rather than think "oh I wonder what news.bbc.co.uk is saying, I'll just type it in".
I've been online at home from when the first 1000 Demon users got a TCP/IP stack on Windows 3.1. I'm still not convinced that the internet has brought benefits but perhaps that might be a thread all of its own? I am convinced that the internet has resulted in a lot less original thought - the first recourse of my eldest daughter's generation (she's year 7) is to "ask google". It never occurs to them that the results they get might be skewed on the basis of who owns Google.
Another thread perhaps?