I was a part of the first chat room in the world. However, it was not on a computer. The world's first chat room was a crossed wire in the phone system, 40 years ago.
The Party Line
I was 14 years old in Miami when I found out that if I dialed the first 5 digits on my rotary phone, (1-2-3-4-5,) I entered the party line. To this day, I have absolutely no idea why this happened. (Obviously, some glitch in the real world of wires and relays.) Suddenly I was in a roomful of teenagers having all kinds of conversations at all hours of the day. I would meet girls who wanted to talk to me. I met many different girls, and exchanged phone numbers with a few. I even went on dates with 2 of them. I remember one girl, Robin, who was pretty but had a set of braces that looked like artillery. We drove around all night, following police cars and ambulances, while I let her steer my father's 1968 Toronado.
Another time I met a girl I knew from school. Her name was Cookie. We had R-rated phonesex, which at the time was unbelievably exciting.
The First Chatroom Addict
After school let out, I would head home like the true addict that I was, and call the line. I knew that this was something special….who would have figured out that this was the ancestor of social networking? I became obsessed with the fun and excitement of anonymous chatting. I was no longer interested in real human beings. I could be whoever and whatever I wanted to be with my cyber sweethearts.
The Phone Company Fights Back
After a few weeks, a phone company recording would start playing soon after I entered the party line. However, we were a persistent bunch of social pioneers. We would shout out our phone numbers in the few seconds before the recording, and then call each other. This phase was more private and personal…kind of like a restricted chat room. I met the lady who ended my virginity in the flesh, so to speak.
Citizen's Band
So that's how it all began. A few weeks later, the party line ended. The number no longer worked, and after many hours of struggling, I was forced to begin interacting with people in the old fashioned way. But we were first. Before Google, before Bill Gates, before computers. We had the very first internet. It was not until the mid 1980's, when I bought a Commodore 64 at Toys-R-Us and signed onto Compuserve, that I could once again pursue my dreams. This time, with a 300 baud modem, Compuserve without graphics, for 6 bucks an hour, on Citizen's Band. My name became Miami Vice, and my first cyber-honey was the Video Vixen.
So now you know who started it all. Things may move faster now, with pretty pictures, but we were the first social networkers in the world.
