Alot of people don’t even realize AOL is still a thing,” says Catherine Russell, a 32-year-old production manager based in Washington, D.C. She still uses the original AOL email address she created when she was 12 — a mere 20 years ago.
Russell was eventually shamed into creating a Gmail account. She was working on the set of an indie film in 2006 when a crew member mocked her for using AOL. “He made some disparaging remark about that being archaic,” she says. “After that I got a Gmail account to use for job applications and professional communications.”