Damn you had internet in ‘88? We didn’t get it until around ‘94… around 6th or 7th grade for me. Been hooked since!
I think I may be the same age as you. I’m ‘82 but my 2000 graduating class was ‘81-‘82 kids.
I’m actually just a bit younger than you. We had it because my dad worked at Bell Labs and Scientific Atlanta way back when, so we could get the hook ups and build out whatever computing or network machinery we needed at the time. It was like sci-fi legos learning it as I grew up. It was great!
My dad worked at Bell South in Atlanta lol. My perk was having a cell phone since ‘97
StarTAC! Then I had a Nokia 5100 when I went to college with a blue airbrushed lighting faceplate so it looked like the cover of Ride the Lightning. I might have made three total calls between the two of them and never texted, only partly because it was 10 cents a text.