We say the Internet is a fad.

Dec. 21, 1999

Right alongside breast implants, junk mail, SUVs, the death penalty and handguns, an issue before the year 2000 slipped in a broad condemnation of the Internet as a useless, overblown fad. Under the headline “Dot Com,” it was tucked away in a list of 20 things we’d like to leave behind in the 20th century.

“We have found the Internet to be only marginally useful, mostly for e-mail and some shopping. But encountering the overwhelming amount of digital detritus out there in cyberspace is like standing atop a mile-high stinking mound of landfill trash digging for grandmom’s wedding band.”

The blurb ended with some advice: “Pull the plug and sit back down in front of the TV, where we belong.”

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