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Social media began as a way to connect and share life happenings with friends and family. On Friendster (2002), you shared short text posts about what was going on in your life on any given day or you would simply post a photo. On MySpace (2003), you wanted to be in someone’s “Top Ten” friends list. On Facebook (2004), you’d upload pictures from your digital camera the morning after a particularly raucous party. There were no filters, and yet, we were at the early stages of carefully crafting our social media presence. It was an online playground for older teens and adults. It wasn’t an activist space—not yet.

I came of age in the 90s and early aughts. I’m an elder millennial who remembers life before the internet and social media. Let me take you back.