A TikToker has gone viral for his claiming there is ‘one sound’ believed to forever separate the old generations from the new.
If you were born before 1998, you’ll kick yourself for not getting it straight away. But those born after that date may not have a clue – it’s the dial-up tone.
The squawking sounds are called ‘handshaking’ as the modem connected with the telephone to provide internet.
A TikToker known as The Glass Sniper said in a video that had 300,000 views: ‘For we know the struggle we had to endure that the new generation will never have to,’ he shared in the video.
A TikToker shared the fact on the social media platform, noting that when the older generation heard it, they will ‘cringe’
He posted a video with only the dial-up sound for context and received thousands of comments from generations who remember using it or hearing about it.
‘There is only one sound in this entire world that will forever separate the old generation from the new one,’ The Glass Sniper said in the video.
He continued: ‘For when the new generation hears it, they’ll have no idea what we’re talking about.
‘But when the old generation hears it… We cringe!
‘For we know the struggle we had to endure that the new generation will never have to.’
Dial-up took off in the 1990s into the early to mid-2000s, and was used to access the internet by connecting the modem to a home telephone line through their internet service provider (ISP).
Dial-up took off in the 1990s into the early to mid-2000s, but most Millennials will remember the cringe sound the modem made while connecting to the internet
When booting up the computer, the user would call the ISP phone number by using their computer and modem.
The ISP would then answer the call and connect to the modem, issuing a series of beeps that lasted about 30 seconds or longer.
The user would be granted internet access once the ISP verified the account, but lose connection when someone in the home picked up the landline telephone – something the younger generations will never be able to appreciate.
If someone at home wanted to use the phone, whoever was on the computer might hear them yell to ‘turn off the computer’ so they could make a call.
Dial-up fell to the wayside as internet companies’ technology advanced to the point where they couldn’t support the dial-up technology anymore.
When Broadband connections rolled out in the mid-2000s, people started shifting to the faster alternative.
In 2002, 55 million people in the U.S. used dial-up, by 2003, that number was down to 51 million, but as of September 2023, that number has dropped to just 400,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
At the time, some people resisted the new technology in favor of slower service, with one person telling The New York Times in 2003 that while he passes the time waiting to download data, ”I bring a newspaper and sit and read.’
Another person told the outlet: ”I have friends who are high-tech computer engineers who are horrified by the fact I have dial-up. ‘I just tell them I’m more patient than they are.’
Things have drastically changed since then as internet users expect ultra-quick, fast speeds online and can access the internet from almost anywhere.
Patience with slow-functioning technology may be dwindling, but at least the pre-1998 generations can be brought back to the so-called simpler times with just one sound.
‘I just had to explain this to my 10-year-old,’ one person commented on the TikTok video.
She added: ‘He thought it was the emergency response sound or static TV.’
