What does 'being online' mean to you?
In the 90's, it meant #dialup modems and all the noise and slowness that came with it.
In the early 2000's it meant HSDPA via my #Nokia phone over IrDA or Pop Port, at varying speeds from 9600 baud, to around 42 Kbit.
Later, DSL.
These days it's anything, but in my head, I'm not 'online' unless I'm in a browser.
It's a weird psychological thing I think, because in the 90's, after dialing up, you'd open a browser to do well, most things. Fewer email clients and things existed as programs back then, at least that I had access to, so 'The Internet' was such a purposeful action you had to take.
These days with always on connections, it's just there, and it's part and parcel of what we do, but if I actively stop and think about it, 'online' will always mean browser.
Obviously even this post is 'online' and I know that in my head, but it doesn't compute in the same way.
To some of you born after a certain point, this likely makes no sense at all.