The web was invented in 1989, so mostly it didn't. Before that there were BBSes that you could dial into. From there, you could chat with other users who happened to be logged onto the same server or download text documents and whatnot that others had uploaded.

There were free BBS's, AOL and Compuserve where you would dial in with your modem. I kind of miss those days to be honest.

Gotcha!

Well….

Before modems, we used to drive to peoples houses and literally swap floppy disks of software and files!

There would be meetups.

I was just a kid, but my Dad used to network with other computer owning parents and friends!

So Sneaker Net essentially.

We’d go to computer shows too!