A 1994 Video Clip of Journalists Asking 'What is Internet' Has Gone Viral

How would you like to answer the question: "What is the internet anyway?"

A short clip from The Today Show, an American talk show aired by NBC, discussing "what is the internet" in 1994 has suddenly gone viral.

The nearly 2-minute clip features three American journalists, Bryant Gumbel, Elizabeth Vargas and Katie Couric debating the pronunciation of '@'.

While Gumbel described the 'at sign' as an "'a' with a ring around it", he said that Katie referred to as 'about or around' and it all sounded very "stupid" to him when he had to say "violence@nbc.ge.com".

Then he went on to ask, "What is the internet anyway?"

Meanwhile, Elizabeth said, "Internet is that massive computerised system and it's really becoming big now."

It was a further amazement for Katie, when she realised that one doesn't need a phone connection to operate the internet.

Something as ubiquitous as the internet back then would seem so incomprehensible to the mass.

The video shared on Twitter reads, "I haven't seen this clip in years...Today Show, 1994: "What is internet, anyway?"

I haven't seen this clip in years...Today Show, 1994: "What is internet, anyway?" pic.twitter.com/G2YustAEbD

— Yashar Ali (@yashar) September 28, 2019

The talk is seen to proceed when someone from the audience answers to Gumbel's question and explains what the internet was.

Netizens had their reactions on the clip and here are some of them:

This is the clip i send to everyone when they doubt people will ever use Bitcoin

— Jackson Rickun (@JacksonRickun) September 28, 2019

I can't believe that era has come and gone.

— Steward Beckham (@iTweetyNerd) September 28, 2019

3rd grade computer teacher, Mr. Love, broke the internet news to us. He had a digital camera, snapped a pic of the class, and uploaded it to the school server. Went home later that day, typed hyperlink into Netscape Navigator, and screamed “Dad come look!” when it finally loaded.

— Michael Mella (@pico87mn) September 28, 2019

It WOULD make a great intro to a movie about a dystopian future.......oh, I see what the Universe did there. Touché, reality

— Squire Haggard, MP (@whodunnedit) September 28, 2019

This is my 80-something-year-old parents every day!

— Stefanie (@Stef38104) September 28, 2019