Before WiFi and smartphones stole their thunder, internet cafés like these closed and abandoned relics offered cheap & easy access to the World Wide Web.

As the original public hotspots for intrepid internet explorers, these ‘net cafés were homes away from home, free from nagging parents and other annoying housemates wont to pick up the phone while you’re trying to download a GIF.

The Cyber Café in Worthing, West Sussex, UK was one such early example. Shopfront Elegy saved some snaps of the closed café circa 1999. Note the charming conjunction of the sign’s hand-painted digital type with the classic mosaic facade below. Sadly, both were lost in the unit’s 2015 renovation as Attic Solutions.

A Galaxy Far Far Away

The heyday of internet cafés lasted about 15 years give or take a few, with the first practical operations opening in the early 1990s. By the end of the next decade, however, the increasing power and utility of Apple’s iPhones and their ilk began to narrow the cafés’ market niche. Flickr user Johan van Elk (jmvanelk) captured the late & unlamented Galaxy Internet Cafe – no accent – in Duisburg, Germany, on July 28th of 2009.

Wanks For The Memories

Flickr user Ivan Bandura (mac_ivan) just couldn’t resist snapping the Wank internet café during a visit to Bali, Indonesia in the summer of 2009. One presumes he maintained control of ALL of his other urges as well. It may well be that the rise of online p0rn and the need (by most purveyors, at least) for privacy whilst viewing such contributed to the decline of ‘net cafés in recent years.

In any case, a more recent photo indicates Wank patrons – “wankers”, if we may – will need to get their kicks somewhere else as the AC units and decorative storefront potted plants have been removed.

Morocco’s Modern Life

Flickr user Michela (micny259) snapped this sun-baked empty internet café “somewhere close to Ouarzazate” in south-central Morocco on November 4th of 2006. The age of the image notwithstanding, internet cafés enjoyed a generally longer lifespan in developing nations due to lower per-capita GDPs. No telling if the pretty-in-pink Cyber@Lilane is still operating today, though it’d be cool if it had been bought out by a bitter and lovelorn American expatriot and re-named Rick’s Internet Café Américain. Here’s lookin’ at you, cyberkid.

Skokie Dokie

Ahh, Skokie, home of those hateful Illinois Nazis and this abandoned internet café in a mostly deserted strip mall. Who can say why this cybercafe couldn’t cut the mustard – easy access from the Yellow Line should have appealed to area non-drivers. In any case, Flickr users Katherine (katherine of chicago) and Marshall Rosenthal (mmmmarshall) captured the former Internet Zone‘s eerily anonymous state on March 26th, 2008 and April 2nd of 2009, respectively. Speaking of eerie, why does this miserable plaza boast TWO Subways?

iMac iNside

Flickr user benwagner chanced upon an abandoned internet cafe in Cienfuegos, Santiago, Dominican Republic, on April 29th of 2007. Though amateur and folk-artsy in its execution, the graphic representation of an iMac painted on the café’s outside wall is well worth a thousand words. Or, say, a couple.

Faded Hulkamania

You gotta admit, this internet cafe’s graphics really reach out and grab ya! How bow dah, Donald? You’ll find this closed internet café in Higham Hill, East London. Flickr user zall krishna (iotar) captured the café’s “hulking” facade in all of its sun-faded glory back on June 26th of 2013, several months after MSN Messenger was discontinued. Coincidence, or merely convergent devolution?

Net Loss

There’s not much we can say about the above closed and abandoned internet café above, other than that its graffiti-encrusted roll-down corrugated metal door looks out onto downtown Barcelona, Spain. Maybe that’s all you need to know… or WANT to know. Move along, citizen, nothing to see here.

Next Page - Click Below to Read More:
Lost Connection 15 Closed Abandoned Internet Cafes

Social media was invented to bring people closer, but the more antisocial among us can use it in a different way: to avoid the people we know. ‘Hell is Other People‘ is an interactive smartphone app coded by the same team behind Buzzoid that will show you exactly where your friends are based on Foursquare check-ins, and provide ‘safe zones’ where you can hang out without fear of being recognized.

Using the GPS function on your phone and your contacts’ public check-ins or location updates on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Instagram and other social media, the app will show you yellow points on a map that indicate where your friends are. The green points represent ‘safe zones.’

Of course, the map only works if your friends are avid social media users, checking in to virtually every place they go, and you still run the risk of running into them when they’re in route. You also might be relegated to unexpected places in the city. But as creator Scott notes in the video, “It’s kind of nice that I’ve been pushed into parks.”

When Facebook added its timeline cover image, it was likely the first time users didn’t revolt against a Facebook change; it gave the flexibility to truly customize one’s profile page and a lot of creative folks have taken full advantage of that opportunity.

(Images via epiclol, geekscrunch, nonexiste)

Nothing adds a little energy to a profile like a bit of danger. With clever manipulation and Photoshop work, the small box that usually houses a person’s face can become an epic life or death struggle. Whether it’s running from a lurching Tyrannosaurus Rex, battling a giant clone, or fighting off a terrifying dragon… these profile owners can rest assured they have risen in the esteem of their friends if only because they have portrayed themselves in such an awesome light.

(Images via techeblog, facebook-cover-profile)

Classic videogames are the door to the geek soul, so it’s fitting that the more creative ones have put together excellent homages to their old school favorites. Dan has entered Streets of Rage as a streetwise brawler, while David has settled on an all time favorite: Super Mario Bros. Power up!

(Images via bestwebhostsanddomains, best-ever-facebook-timeline)

There is something very meta about a timeline cover photo in which the profile owner is pouring something on their own head, and while the subject matter is a bit odd, it’s definitely executed well in the above examples.

(Images via baconwrappedmedia, scotgat, xploringminds)

There are several ways to react to cover photos that show surveillance equipment narrowing down on the profile owner’s face: They can be seen as a comment on social media and the death of privacy, or they can be a tech-minded individual showing off their love for technology in a creative way. The top images are great examples of the zoom / enhance overwhelming surveillance found in spy thrillers. The bottom example is just plain fun, and likely the most epic use of a “man at a desk” thumbnail ever created.

(break, imgur)

It’s true… animals attack. In these creative examples this is especially true. It would be interesting to know which way most people would rather go; smushed by a giant crab claw, or consumed by a giant shark? Can’t get enough of these? Check out more of the best, with 24 Poke-worthy Facebook Timeline Covers.

If you aren’t already using StumbleUpon to find cool websites about all sorts of stuff, you may not get these jokes – but you should become part of the StumbleUpon social and website network! The first and last image shown here are real screenshots encountered while Stumbling, while the rest are satirical, critical and otherwise humorous responses to aspects of StumbleUpon.

(8) Stumbling too fast: this is a real message you get when you are simply Stumbling like mad. It is probably a good sign you should be doing something else besides using StumbleUpon

(7) I HAS STMBLED TWO MUCHEZ: speaking of Stumbling too fast, there is also such a thing as Stumbling too much! This particular meme (a derivative of the LOLCATS phenomenon) started on one site and spread virally throughout StumbleUpon.

(6) The Perfect StumbleUpon Page: a fairly hilarious spoof of the somewhat formulaic content that seems to succeed more often than not on the site. This is probably related to how many Stumblers just vote on a quick view of what is visible ‘above the fold’ on a page.

(5) StumbleUpon Insomnia: of course, you’re really not a true Stumbler until you stay up too late Stumbling things. Hopefully, however, you’re not trying to Stumble while driving!

(4) Here’s a Suggestion: agree or disagree, this is a pretty clever way to visually play off the fact that you can, in fact, point to where peoples’ StumbleUpon buttons are. The creator also has a point: a lot of people spend a surprising amount of time trashing pages they could just Stumble past!

(3) STOP QUOTING THE ENTIRE PAGE: again, not all Stumblers think this is good advice – but we are all familiar with those reviews that replicate the entire content of the page in the review itself. The irony, of course, is that many people who saw this quoted it all!

(2) Adult StumbleUpon Feature Request Spoof: many Stumblers are all too familiar with the crossed out image on the left. A vocal minority of Stumblers keeps reintroducing that meme into the mix. One Stumbler finally got fed up and made the entire above image.

(1) You have seen all StumbleUpon pages. Explore others: this is, amazingly enough a real screenshot displayed when people have Stumbled their way through all of the content under a given tag. What makes it, of course, even funnier is the double-reading: all StumbleUpon pages? Really? That’s the end of StumbleUpon? Wow!