Internet Easter Eggs

Author: Monica Peters

Dear Monica, Why does my nephew send me Internet Easter Eggs when it’s not the Easter season?  I pretend to appreciate his emails, but I never click the Easter Egg links he sends because I’m afraid of what it will do to my computer. O:nen

Dear Easter Egg Fan, It’s a good idea to never click links to anything you are not sure of.  An Internet Easter Egg is jargon to describe a “digital gift” or “digital surprise” or some type of pleasant unexpected experience on the Internet.  For example, Google.com often provides Internet Easter Eggs; the most recent on YouTube.com.  Visit YouTube.com, enter the following phrase, make sure your volume is on, and just wait to see what happens to the webpage “do the Harlem shake.” 

Another popular digital Easter Egg is called Konami Code.  You visit a webpage and enter the following from your keyboard then wait to see something unexpected and magical happen: up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right, B, and A.  Some webpages will make glittery unicorns appear, others show animations, and the Google Pixel Chromebook (small laptop computer) will put on a 1980s style light show for you.  Use Google.com to search for “digital Easter egg” or “internet Easter egg”.  Use the advanced search settings by clicking the round gear icon at the top right of the webpage to search within a specific time frame so that you can find the most recent Easter Eggs.  Maybe you can return a nice gift to your thoughtful nephew?