While the average person today probably has multiple email accounts, the concept of sending a message through the phone lines by computer was revelatory in 1984 – and as this video goes to show, surprisingly laborious.

Unearthed from the archives of Thames TV in the UK, the video below shows the lengths the Green family has to go to in order to email a simple message to the host of Database, a technology show. Using the Micronet, a pre-cursor to domestic Internet connections, the short video is reminder of just how far the web has come in 32 years.

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