Uhh... When I came home and saw the second plane hit on TV, it took about 10 seconds before I and most of my friends were on IRC, on a moderated channel that go

Uhh... When I came home and saw the second plane hit on TV, it took about 10 seconds before I and most of my friends were on IRC, on a moderated channel that got realtime news relays. Actually, there were several such channels, since they hit capacity pretty fast. That's how I got all the valuable information, like how there were reports that a plane was headed for the Eiffel Tower, that I could share with my offline family. If I had wanted to let someone know I was okay, I probably would have tried SMS, found it didn't work, and then made a note of letting some blabbermouth know once I found a landline or netcafé. 'course, I didn't live in the US, so this is pretty hypothetical. The point is, I got news (and could discuss with friends) faster back then than I probably would today.