Metafilter user ignignokt managed to dig up this YouTube treasure, and I have been chuckling about it all day. It's a compilation of MTV News clips talking about the internet, circa 1995. It's hard to believe how unfamiliar the internet used to seem to many people. Oh, so many clumsy metaphors!

Even aside from the shock of seeing Billy Corgan and Moby both being interviewed as relevant celebrities, and both with HAIR, this video is amazing. It starts off strong, with a grayscale Mac screenshot of a mouse pointer pulling down a menu and clicking, only to bring us Michael Jackson reading a question live off a chat room window surrounded by flashing purple gloriousness.
The internet! So amazing! You can use it to talk to Michael Jackson in real time!
That is a thing which would never happen today. And not just because Michael Jackson is dead. More because 4chan is a thing which exists. But I digress.
You can hear the air quotes around Kurt Loder's read of the phrase "the internet," and his line about websites being "specialist truck stops" is absolutely wonderful. This video clip is also heavily larded with super-futuristic scenes and special effects from internet-y movies like "The Net," "Virtuosity," and "Johnny Mnemonic."
(Actually, I love the movie "Johnny Mnemonic," I own it on DVD and everything. I didn't realize it was so old! Now I am sad.)
It also seems adorably quaint the way MTV News is careful to differentiate between "the internet" and "the World Wide Web." This differentiation is just as salient now as it was in 1995 (SMS and email use the internet; this website exists on The World Wide Web) but no one bothers to point it out anymore.
The most shocking thing about this video is how unfamiliar the internet seemed. And cutting edge, too! It's surprising to think how far we have come since 1995, and how hard companies like Facebook and Twitter have had to work to overcome the "fear of the unknown" and general computer-related incompetence of the general population.
1995's "networked browser programs" to the contrary, the internet wasn't terribly easy to use in 1995. (Not like it's any great shakes now, if the constant tech support calls from my parents are any judge.)
Other things not to miss from this video include:

• Sandra Bullock holding a mouse sideways.
• Coolio talking about "the information superhighway, baby!"
• Newt Gingrich being reasonable and sane.