Before the Web: How Bulletin Board Systems Connected America One Phone Call at a Time

Before social media, broadband, and even the World Wide Web, Bulletin Board Systems helped bring Americans online—one phone call at a time. This video explores the rise of BBS culture, from dial-up modems and local message boards to file sharing, online communities, sysops, and the early digital friendships that helped shape the internet we know today. Discover what it was like to connect to another computer when being online meant tying up the family phone line.