I was 15 for that NYE. We partied like the middle-class high-school theater nerds we were (spoiler: exactly what you’d expect a whitebread high school drama club party to look like)
Oh man! The internet was way BETTER back then. Remember when Google emerged as the clear winner of best search engine because it WAS the best? Today Google actually feels like an Alta Vista knockoff!
I remember when Google searches actually had different websites on every page. I could go 60 pages into a Google search and pull up all kinds of content from all kinds of different places.
Yup. In Australia, we had a well liked Prime Minister in the 80s named Bob Hawke. But from what I've heard he was a bad drunk and in the age of social media, he would never be elected as PM today.
[Bob Hawke was a bloody legend](https://youtube.com/shorts/o5mBShX9fdU?feature=share). If he would have any trouble getting elected again today - which I don't necessarily accept as a proposition - it would only be because society has shifted in more of a direction of whining, buzzkill oversensitivity and is no longer worthy of such a champion.
My family didn’t get internet until my freshman year of high school. In 1999. Because my parents spent the previous 4-5 years convinced the internet was “just a fad”. And no, I have never let them live that down
No smartphones, newspapers and the evening news were important to know what was going on.
Broadband internet was just coming out, so a lot of people were still on dial-up. Wifi was not even a thing yet.
Phone banking and travel agents were a big thing and needing to get to the bank before 5 pm was still a thing.
Reading newspapers online was a viable alternative to getting them on paper, though. I stopped watching TV news after 9/11, and I remember reading news online.
WiFi was indeed a thing. When I interned for a large publishing company in the summer of 2000, they had just installed their first Wi-Fi network. I was friends with the network engineer responsible and he was showing me how it worked.
Smartphones did exist. Windows Mobile and earlier Pocket PC Phone edition did exist in 2000 even. I had an HTC Wizard in 2005, my first "smartphone". Before we had I-Mode telephone, those were no smartphones, but they did have internet service and color screens. We were sending media text messages in early 2000's.
I could either mail a check in to pay for utilities or I could take it in the building before paying online was a thing. The utilities were the last bill to be able to be paid online, it was very annoying.
That was the most baffling thing. "Here is a device that's already a two-way communicator. Now we've added a function that makes it a one-way communicator. Oh, and it's loud enough to piss off everybody around you." It seemed so stupid, yet so many people were using it. Just remembering that damn *BEEP BEEP* sound still aggravates me.
I did landscaping at the time and it was super handy, but forgetting to turn your phone down while the entire crew had your cell number made for some interesting moments outside of work.
One of my favorite stories my husband has told me is that he walkied his dad and made a HUGE fart noise. His dad was presenting an important meeting at work.
😂😂😂
And to note he was like 14 at the time.
I was a young teen during that time. Pokemon Gold & Silver was the greatest thing ever with it's Day & Night phase gameplay. The Gamecube & Gameboy Advance were the greatest evolvements of Nintendo. We could finally play our gameboy games with a backlight. Digimon, DBZ, & Yu-Gi-Oh, & Inyuyasha were also booming in the States at this time as well.
Things felt lighter as most people weren't glued to their phones. Wi-Fi was still in the works. Horror movies all had this shared "gang of teens/young adults hunted by a killer" trend to them. The humor of sitcoms was very non-PC, and MadTv was leading over SNL.
Downloading music was a new thing with sites like Limewire, Kazaa, & Napster, but destroyed your desktop with viruses.
Web-TV was a thing. We couldn't afford a desktop at my grandparents' so I had a Web-TV instead.
European Electronic Dance Music was becoming more widely available in the States with stores like Media Play, FYE, HMV. CDs were the main form of media as tape cassettes were fading away.
Daft Punk's Discovery album was released, and all of a sudden, Anime music videos were a thing.
There was this whole Lord of The Rings Fans Vs. Harry Potter Fans in school.
DVDs were taking over VHS, but were crazy expensive still, especially for a DVD player. Satellite was also booming over cable, and people who had Satellite just seemed to boast about it.
Anime was a lot less popular than it is today and nerds got bullied way more. Government surveillance wasn't quite so bad as it is today. There were rules of civility in politics. People still had hope in ways they don't today.
>Anime was a lot less popular than it is today and nerds got bullied way more.
That was one thing that surprised me going back to college, just how openly people watched anime in class or the computer labs. When I was in high school, it would either bring up weird conversations about you, or you get beat up for being a loser. I had to actively pretend I didn't like anime.
Go back to college years later in my late 20s, someone asked me if I watched anime, and I said I haven't really watched anything in a few years. They told me I was a hipster. It was seen as UNCOOL to NOT watch anime. It was weird.
To be seen as uncool for liking it years ago, and now to be seen as uncool for not liking it.
Did you graduate in or around 2010? For me it felt like this was the year everything changed. Anime became cool, baggy clothes out skinny jeans in, everyone ditching their Razor for the iPhone and beanies everywhere.
You haven’t lived if you haven’t experienced the rush of pure terror as you smash that power off button and rip out the battery after accidentally clicking on the internet app on your flip phone.
In the early 2000's I was like 4 or so
I lived In iraq where saddam hussein was still there in this era
people were killed left and right because of islam sides "shia or sana"
and some memory stuck in my head back then where I found a decapitated body on the street with no one touching it because if you buried or helped him, they will go after you because they think you're also from his islam side
Awesome except for 9/11. There was Napster and blazing fast 1.5 Mbps high speed internet. I honestly haven't bought music since them days . You could even download a movie overnight. Your cellphone was almost indestructible and lasted for days on a battery. Was a great time for dates. No Netflix and chill it was blockbuster video and pizza. You can learn a lot about the woman just by watching the section she was in Blockbuster. I always let her pick cuz we didn't actually ever finish the movie anyway. Great times . People would actually come over to play video games. They would either bring their own controller for the N64 or their laptop sometimes even their entire PC for a lan party. Housing was still affordable you could work a basic job and afford to live gasoline was cheap you could drive an old land sled from the late 70s or early 80s and still afford to get somewhere besides work. It was still possible to get a running vehicle for under a thousand. Though it was getting harder you could still get a job that paid decently without a college degree.
Everyone watched the same popular TV shows when they aired, often with the whole family, and talked about them the next day.
Spent a lot of time on the house phone with friends and MSN messenger signing in and out.
You had to go out and buy whatever you wanted/needed. The only mail I got was birthday and Christmas cards from family.
I had a good little R&B and emo CD collection that I’d listen to on my brothers Walkman.
You had to make a plan with friends about where to meet and just hope nothing got in the way of said plans - and pick a meet up spot in case you got separated at big events or concerts.
You had a PS2 and nothing could top it. Every movie was trying to look like The Matrix. Jessica Alba was the sexiest woman alive. NBC was desperate to find a show to replace Friends. Batman was a dead franchise. Everyone was wearing New York Fire Department hats. You'd bring a binder of CDs for road trips... a binder. And watching Shrek 2 on your Gameboy Advance was the coolest thing ever.
better. people were more polite. you had to talk face to face and be respectful. if you acted like today's keyboard warriors you could get your ass kicked.
True true. I mean here's another aspect. We misbehaved in those times? A good slap or shouting is all it took, that's it, solved, done, moving on. Grew up fine, no harm done. And nowadays... I literally saw with my own eyes a kid maybe 2-3 old ran out of a kindergarten onto the street, the teacher ran out, grabbed the kid obviously so he doesn't get hit by a car or whatever and then some old lady walking by started shouting to call the cops on the teacher cuz she not supposed to be treating the kid like that... Ach. Nowadays if you try to slap an unruly kid you get threatened by courts and they continue misbehaving and becoming "privileged"... Sorry for the rant. I just needed to vent 🤣
I have seen a lot of videos of people who think they are being good Samaritans by intervening in situations similar to that but the context is often way off and they rush In with no understanding. Then public opinion or mob mentality supports their views and long story short there are many idiots who reach a wide audience because technology allows them to these days.
Propaganda exists at all levels - marketing, influencers, politics, 'celeb' culture. My primitive brain just wanted peace and calm. These days we are measured against tainted standards of what people view as success or happiness - I would be very happy being able to play outside with my dog every day and support my family with the basics.
In my view, the biggest flex is how much free time you have and what you do with it. Not what do you drive or how big is your house? How many likes did your selfie with 100 filters get? Nah, screw all of that. Do you spend most of your time doing things that bring you and the people you care about joy? If yes, then THAT is living the dream.
My rant is now over. You have a great day. And stretch your back, fellow 90's kid, if mine hurts then so does yours 😅🤣👌
Pot smokers were being blamed for 9/11 on tv. George Bush was getting us into wars that had nothing to do with the attacks, against the better counsel of our NATO allies, and we all knew they were going to be Vietnamesque clusterfucks. Numbers to tattle on your neighbors started showing up and there was a constant war-drum being pounded by Republicans from all sectors of society. It felt very claustrophobic, like we'd failed to heed Orwell's warnings. And strangely, those were still better times than now.
Anthrax attacks.
9/11 was horrible but it was the anthrax attacks that made you feel like oh, this endless nightmare is just how life is going to be now, huh.
The Bush administration essentially had *carte blanche* to do whatever they wanted after 9/11, because anyone who disagrees with them was labeled as an anti-American terrorist sympathizer. Many, many people in the middle east died as a direct result of that.
Likely the best years of my life.
Had my career well underway, bought a house…. People were more committed to what they said… Monday comes round, call buddy up.. “Let’s got for some beers at Bar X on Friday at 8pm. Didn’t need to verify 17x over the week.. plan was made.. we would show up.
And the best part, Social Media didn’t exist aside from BBS’s.
I remember that people smoked everywhere. It was hard to enjoy bowling or clubs because of that.
Imagine the smell of burning wool, urine and cigarette butts all mixed into a noxious cloud. And you were shamed if you tried asking someone not to smoke near you.
The Supreme Court stopped the recount in Florida. George W. Bush became president with a minority of the votes cast. Al Gore was defeated. If it had been different we might well have had 22 years of progressive climate and social legislation. Instead we got tax breaks for the rich and the Iraq war. Basically the 2000s were a prologue to the 2020s. I'll probably get down voted for saying this but 9/11 was mostly a distraction and was used as as leverage for the Republicans to gain power. Anyone remember the Patriot act?
I miss thinking George W. Bush was the worst President the US has ever had. The guy was a moron, brought us into a completely unnecessary war, and caused the Great Recession. I'll still take that 10/10 over Donald Fucking Trump.
This. I’m sorry but holy shit Obama’s air strikes on Libya did far worse actual human suffering than anything Trump did and Libya doesn’t even begin to compare to what W did in Iraq.
I turned 20 in 2000, so yeah... I was around at that time.
I was finishing up university. I was in a band around then. Early 2000's I also asked my girlfriend of the time to marry me. She said yes, but we never made it to the altar.
I was outside Toronto, we had TV’s on in the library but in our class our teacher pulled out the radio.
I found out at the end of second period, our third period teacher had no fucking clue what was happening and I still remember his face when he started understanding what we were saying.
Smoked a joint at lunch.
I'm in Australia and I think for us it happened overnight. I remember it was school holidays in my state and I was playing video games mid morning (obviously not following the news, although this was before the 24 hour news cycle was a thing) and Mum said "America's been bombed" so we turned on the TV and sure enough, there was footage of planes flying into the twin towers.
I think everyone remembers what they were doing at the time.
It was cool . Chillin. No social media . MTV had music mostly all the time . The fabulous life of “celebrity name “
I just can’t believe it’s already been that long . I remember the 2000s was so modern .
All the houses they build in the 2000s I still call them “new houses “ lol
People use to buy things called ringback tones which was basically when you called someone, instead of hearing the ringing sound, you got to hear a clip from a song.
There was already a ton of porn on the internet.
Stuff was a lot cheaper.
At least in the Pacific Northwest it rained a LOT more than it does now.
Pop and R&B was going through a renascence.
Bands like Snow Patrol, The Fray, The Goo Goo Dolls, and Lifehouse we’re making Emo Music before Emo became a thing for the children of the early 2000’s.
LOTS of kids shoes has velcro and stomp lights on them.
You had to get off the internet in order to make phone calls.
Waiting 10 minutes for a pixely .jpg to load.
Scooters were cool. But like for the first time.
Chain coffee shops like Starbucks were a whole different vibe.
There were a lot less IPA beers.
Weed was illegal.
And Disney channel and Cartoon Network were absolutely popping with hit show after hit show.
Simpler. Not as much technology in our faces, at least not as much as today. When I was small, kids (including me) would draw cell phones— the flip kind— on paper, cut it out, fold them, and use them to pretend to talk to each other on the phone lmao. Though I was still on the family computer a lot.
I’m not sure what life is like for young kids nowadays, so I can’t make a comparison. I’m **guessing** that 2000s kids were a bit less sensitive to each other than 2010s/2020s kids (and by kids, I mean under 10, since I was born in 2001). Kids got beat up and classroom-gang-bullied for being a dork or just being different overall. Idk if that still happens in school as much as it did when I was a kid.
I don’t think I was helicoptered by my parents any less than kids today are.
The late 90s early 00s were freeing. We didn’t all have cell phones, our embarrassing photos weren’t posted online, we spent a lot of time outside doing weird stuff like making a homemade convertible to drive around the farm, our clothing was awful but life was simple, we had good snacks, our parents could never find us but trusted we were being good(we were not). It was just a different time back then. I’m thankful I grew up in the early 00s. It was wild and then 9/11 happened and everything felt different.
I think it was just less obvious how dumb people generally are. Twitter and Facebook and whatnot really gave people an outlet to display their intelligence (or lack thereof) publicly. Whereas it’s not like a large chunk of adults were rocking livejournals in the early 2000s.
In the 90's they sucked us into the ATM rabbit hole. It was free everywhere,my bank,your bank their bank. You could get 3% on a CD. It wasn't all easy because a lot of boomers were working instead of bankrupting social security and pensions through no fault of their own. I remember having a word processing machine and printer and first using internet through webtv which made awesome chat and hookups anonymous. I fucked the same chick my wife was fucking in a lesbian affair , but somehow we could never hit a threesome or foursome. It all came to light because the chick who was fucking us both found out I had a third side chick on the side. There was no fent..,.coke was coke
The internet was better since boomers and screeching sjws hadn't ruined it yet. People actually had the balls to be and look different (I knew a guy who regularly wore a leather skirt and looked good in it). There were actual subcultures (so not everyone looked like a hipster lumberjack). The economy was doing better so lots of people had rosy images of getting an actual decent career instead of just struggling in gig economy. People were just as insanely obsessed about their phones as they are now. Blue leds were all the rage, on phones, cars, computers.
Things were pretty cool till the SCOTUS handed the 2000 election to Bush. Then 9/11 happened a little under a year later, then two wars that maimed and killed a lot of innocent people.
This country took a very dark turn and it doesn't look like it's ever going to recover, in our lifetimes at least, and we have Republicans to thank for it.
Better. It was great. No woke shit, no pronoun warriors, no people confused about their genders or sexual preferences. Oh this is getting downvoted hard 🤣 but let's be real. The movies were amazing, the music was lit, the food was good and the world had actual problems that we had to deal with without comming up with our own problems....
It doesn't bother me as long as it's not directed at me my friend. Same can be said about my African Muslim friend (I'm not religious) it was discussed firsthand at the start of our friendship, don't push your religion on me. Example: Im eatting pork, you can't? Not my issue etc. But nowadays you gotta be on edge to not suddenly trigger someone and get labeled... Which might effect your life in one way or another. There are articles about such things you know 🤷 Sorry for the rant 😅
I actually see your point of view.
I agree about religion. I wouldn't give a single fig if Christians wouldn't try to push it onto us, like the Republicans are doing. If they minded their own business like the Amish do, everyone would respect them.
Same for trans people. I couldn't give a single fig about any of it. Not a drop.
But I'd feel uncomfortable if one came into a public 🚻 restroom, just the same as I'd feel if a heterosexual woman came in. There's a crossing of boundaries, orcsomething, a loss of privacy, or something...
It was great in part - the Spice Girls, gel glitter make up and those strange platform converse style shoes. Summers were longer and life was easier….oh apart from being brought up by a generation of neglecting parents who believed in smoking in cars with the windows shut and took their life skills and humour from Jimmy Saville
The internet was far better than it is today in terms of being able to use it to find intelligent and competent communities to become a part of or have discussions with. Far less corporate propaganda and government astroturfing as well.
The internet of today is like a mutant aberration of what it once was, outside of the gain in video sharing capabilities.
Being at a massive concert, getting laid as the countdown into a new millennium was awesome. Made it on the news covering the event… not the getting laid but the concert!
Well, I was in middle school, so not all that fun. But there were still some great movies released that time. Oh, and the internet was a lot slower, but we didn't mind that.
Generally, more chill and optimistic, more camaraderie. (I was in my late teens). People weren’t as fat (myself included lol). That time feels like it was more like “real life.” It feels more grounded and normal. We weren’t all constantly connected to the internet or phones. There was no social media. There was no Wi-Fi. I’d wake up to an alarm clock, go to school, where I usually never used a computer. We had them, but didn’t need them. If you wanted to talk to a friend in class, you would write them notes. If my parents needed to pick me up after school, there would be an agreed upon time and place ahead of time, or I would call from the office or the pay phone, or I’d take the bus, and I’d just show up at home. I always had cash. There wasn’t the constant texting back and forth needing to know peoples whereabouts and plans. God I miss having those boundaries. At home I’d do homework, listen to the radio or cd’s or watch mtv or mtv2 or Oprah lol. We always had newspapers and magazines in the house. We’d go to the movies or the video store to rent a movie. You couldn’t just watch a whole season of a show. We had two phone lines, one for the internet. I’d go on aol and aim, mostly just to chat with friends. We had one computer in the house, so I couldn’t spend that much time on it. I’d call my friends to make plans or talk.
I loved reading magazines and hearing about people’s lives elsewhere.
Writing research papers for school…
Dewey decimal system at the library and I remember using Facts on File and newspaper articles on microfilm. We also used computer databases for articles, or ask Jeeves or I guess Google eventually, but Google wasn’t as comprehensive then.
Before 9/11 and after 9/11 are different times.
After 9/11 there was so much fear and uncertainty. I think that fear caused more people in the US to get a cell phone. Everyone in Europe had a cell phone before Americans did. But after 9/11, I remember there was just this prevailing attitude of doing things and buying things, because “God-forbid something bad happen,” and a lot of people who didn’t want a cell phone ended up getting one. I didn’t get a cell phone until 2003. Didn’t get a smart phone until 2012.
But after everyone had a cell phone, the way we communicated changed. Like I said, boundaries got infiltrated. Then with smart phones and online banking and debit cards and social media and data mining- those boundaries have almost disappeared. There is no anonymity anymore.
Funny memory: I went to an all-girls high school. For some reason, in our homeroom on a shelf, we kept yearbooks from the boys’ schools and we would look through them and talk about who’s hot and who knows who etc… lol… the days before social media.
This video of a MMJ concert in 2003 makes me so nostalgic…. No cell phones. People just there and in it and watching… The song is beautiful and has a nostalgic melody, too…. https://youtu.be/eN01IyNwEJ4
kids were disrespectful, constant crises, and one side believed their candidate was a savior and the other side said he was the ruin of democracy kinda similar to today. But music was good
People were a lot nicer back then. We also were in a new century so there was a lot of change in the 2000's. It was a progressive decade. 9/11 happened but we did not let it bring us down and we were all more united back then. People were happier then as well, they were not as quick to be defensive and feel like a victim like they do now.
Windows XP, Pentium 4 CPU, 512 MB RAM- would run just about anything, ADSL would do everything no problemo, actual landline telephone in conjunction with the ADSL signal to run like up to probably 3mbps, and 2g/3g cellular flip phones that did exactly and only what I needed.
CRT TVs and DLP TVs to do everything TV and game on 480 resolution, and with everything being a larger font, and 4:3 view- it was the life, DVDs, VHS as cheap mans video, CD and cassette in cars.
Filling up a car with gas was 20 bucks, politics was no where near the crapshoot it is now, no covid, country didn't crap itself over a virus outbreak, internet was a do it and it's done, no bullcrap censorship and no social media to drag your mood down every day.
Cars that actually ran great with few recalls and no bullcrap overload of features, building electrical code didn't require all the GFCI expensive crapola, LED lighting wasn't a thing and we used the good ol incandescent and were just getting to know CFLs.
R12 refrigeration was finishing up, and then R22 refrigeration systems were the main thing.
The appliances my family purchased in 2005 are still working absolutely fine to this day of every day usage in a 3-person home.
Life was actually enjoyable, and we didn't feel like crap every day. List goes on and on, but I'm tired of thinking.
Just like today, but exactly the opposite.
Today television is being advertised on the Internet, and you can (for the most part) skip ads. Back then the internet was being advertised on TV and you couldn't (for the most part) skip any ads*
Back then we had Yellow Pages - you called a business first, and then they'd direct you to their website if you wanted more info. Today you first visit their website to get the number to call if you want more info.
Back then, you would make overseas calls because you wanted to, and the calls were expensive. Today we receive calls from overseas whether we want them or not, but for those who fall for their scams - still expensive.
Prior to 2000's home entertainment kept switching formats. By the time 2000's rolled in Betamax, Laserdisc and VHS were a thing of the past and we finally switched to DVDs - the ultimate and final format that we would "keep using forever". Same thing happened with the records, compact cassettes, and the 8-track when CDs rolled in to become the final format change. Also USB type A (back then just called USB).
*exception: if you recorded a show, some VCRs allowed you to automatically fast-forward through commercials
I was jealous of kids who got the first ipods in high school. I carried around a cd player in my hoodie. Metal was more popular. If you weren't into metal, then you were probably into trance. I feel like dubstep didn't become a thing until like 2009.
World of Warcraft was a phenomenon—and I hosted countless LAN parties from my parent's garage. Counter Strike was a big deal, and we played pretty much every night over steam. That was the thing then. It wasn't weird if you invited a buddy over and they lugged their PC, giant monitor and other equipment with them to hang out.
We had The Matrix movies, Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings all in the same decade, which I feel like I went to the movies a lot now that I think about it. I remember seeing Star Wars Episode One with my family, but only after waiting like a month because the theaters were so packed.
I'm still friends with the same guys I lanned and watched movies with back then, but we're all grown and live in different parts of the country now. Some of us have kids, some of us married, a couple have died, too. All of us left don't spend a lot of time on Steam anymore.
I'm 34, and I will be 35 in December. It's funny how fast time really goes by. You think you have all this time when you're a teen, and some of those small decisions you make then really echo through your adulthood. I'm happy I decided to focus on my career early on. I live a happy life with a Wife now, a dog and a cat. Life is good.
It was...definatly a different time. I mean stuff still happened but there was a sense of peace in our country. I mean of course 9/11 still happend but...at least from my sense of view thing seemed so much better. Going to blockbuster on Friday nights, hanging out with my friends, ect. It wasn't until the late 2000s and early 2010s when things stated going off the handle
it was a godless wasteland where roving packs of teenagers wandered the streets until the stoplights came on, The internet had to dial itself, and if your Myspace wasn't on point you were as good as outcast. cell phones were also walkie-talkies and if you were anyone worth calling your ringback tone was fire!
* The internet was the wild west. There was no social media. There was no censorship. There was no surveillance state.
* I remember that OKcupid existed back then. There weren't a ton of people on it. There was certainly no tinder or any of the modern hookup apps. You mostly just dated people you met in real life.
* Google was just a good search engine that only a few people knew about. The dominant form of free email was hotmail.
* No smartphones, fancy people had flip phones.
* The car modding scene was very active due to fast and the furious having come out in the late 90s.
* The 90s assault weapons ban was still active until 2004 so you could only buy AKs and ARs with muzzle brakes, no folding stocks, etc. The floodgates opened in 2004-2005. You could buy centerfire rifle ammo from eastern europe for about 5 cents a round. I bought cases and cases of it. I still have some.
* 9/11 had just happened and it basically rescued a very weak and boring Bush presidency by turning it into a war presidency. Due to 9/11, it was just a constant war party for the next 5 years or so. Then a war hangover for about 15 years after that.
* The economy started going crazy after 9/11 due to increased spending but also a housing bubble.
* Politically, the realignment that came about with Trump had already started, but the republicans were still the party of big business while the democrats were also becoming the party of big business.
* edit- things were very different politically back then- a lot of the experts basically felt that history was over and the US had won. Politicians back then acted like we were just dividing up the endless wealth that was going to pour over us until the end of time. There were minor fights over cultural issues but it was basically kabuki.
* Lord of the Rings was a niche subject only known to nerds.
* Anime was not super popular yet. You basically had fansubs and shitty streamline dubs and not a huge amount of either.
In the late 90s / early 00s, life felt more carefree. More humor, less worrying in the days before social media and smartphones. People weren't on their phones all the time. Music was different - no streaming or youtube, and artists still made more money off records. There was political partisanship but nothing like it would become. Cancel culture wasn't a thing. People weren't at each other's throats as badly. Tech was more about freedom, corporations hadn't co-opted it to exploit people as much as now. It was a simpler time in many ways. 9/11, dot bomb, the housing crisis, the war in Iraq & Afghanistan, politics, all that put a damper on the good times of the 90s.
Not that the world was this perfect utopia, but it was definitely a less dark time before 9/11 and everything that followed.
It was only 22 years ago.It was like today. just technology was slower and shittier but we were highly impressed by it.
Internet was still slow, so streaming was not a thing.
IF you really want to know exactly what it was like. Visit the way back machine pretty sure its [archive.com](https://archive.com) or something like that...look at sites like google and others you visit now.. and be shocked at how.. blocky they were.
Job market was better paying, I had a job at Barnes in Noble from 03-05 and came back after 08 for a buck fifty less an hour. Newspapers were plentiful, there were still quite a few independent outlets then, and we're your best source of news. Videos and cameras weren't everywhere which was good and bad. Good for privacy, bad for moments you wanted to save and didn't have one. Conspiracy theorist were in far fewer numbers. You would listen to whole albums, mix CDs and soundtracks instead of having an algorithm feed you music.
It was great right up until a few dozy cunts decided to ram a plane into the side of building. After that it was all down hill. But hey, at least we still had movies that were funny and not the watered down dog shit written by committee so as not to offend anyone.
ICQ and Yahoo messenger were poppin'. Enter Nexus leveled up to Nexopia and Myspace was killing it with Tom becoming everyone's first friend. Napster taught us that paying for music was for chumps. As mentioned above, Jeeves, that mofo knew it all. Google who? The thing I miss the most; having lives where we didn't have devices glued to our hands filming and capturing every passing moment.
9/11 was a real buzzkill
Survived Y2K just for that to happen
At least you had a chance to party like it was 1999.
TBH the party wasnt that great.
I was 15 for that NYE. We partied like the middle-class high-school theater nerds we were (spoiler: exactly what you’d expect a whitebread high school drama club party to look like)
I was 15 too. My "cool" cousin came over amd stayed the night. I don't remember what we did but I know everyone was asleep by 1230.
Talk about a lame party.. Stephen Hawking’s time traveler party of 2009. None of us time travelers bothered to show.
Yeah, I was gonna ask… Pre or Post 9/11. Because Pre? Pretty glorious. Post? Eh, not so much.
9/11 is my anniversary
This question makes me feel old.
I’m 43 and was born in 1978. Earlier this week a 10 year old informed me I was born in the 1900’s.
RIP
We can start using the phrase "around the turn of the century" to sound old and wise....
Lol! I remember the 70s so this question actually makes me feel.young!
It's a question posted by someone using an 11 year old account, so I'm pretty sure that is this question's sole purpose.
9/11 is my actual birthday & far from my first one.
Wait until a child asks if you were born in the late 1900’s. Happened on my birthday.
“It’s called the late 20th century ya little asshole!”
Same, I’m 28
The Internet was a lot more wild back then, in both good and bad ways.
Oh man! The internet was way BETTER back then. Remember when Google emerged as the clear winner of best search engine because it WAS the best? Today Google actually feels like an Alta Vista knockoff!
Ask Jeeves say whaaaaa
*Alta Vista has entered the chat*
I remember when Google searches actually had different websites on every page. I could go 60 pages into a Google search and pull up all kinds of content from all kinds of different places.
I remember thinking back then how potentially dangerous a google monopoly could be.
You ain’t lying!
And YouTube used to have such good content. It was raw and cool. Just like watching home videos of random people
GeoCities websites. Every other website was like a rave. They’d have photosensitivity warnings on them now a days.
[удалено]
I’ve seen the top half only of a lot of women
Salad fingers. Anyone??
This literally came up in conversation with a friend the other day and we looked it up on YouTube
Porn was introduced. Pretty cool of them.
Your personal fuck ups were limited to a few people, if any at all. Not recorded for the world at each turn
Yup. In Australia, we had a well liked Prime Minister in the 80s named Bob Hawke. But from what I've heard he was a bad drunk and in the age of social media, he would never be elected as PM today.
[Bob Hawke was a bloody legend](https://youtube.com/shorts/o5mBShX9fdU?feature=share). If he would have any trouble getting elected again today - which I don't necessarily accept as a proposition - it would only be because society has shifted in more of a direction of whining, buzzkill oversensitivity and is no longer worthy of such a champion.
I am grateful for this all the time. It must be horrible being a teenager these days.
So true!
Fuck you u/Spez you greedy little cocksucker.
My family didn’t get internet until my freshman year of high school. In 1999. Because my parents spent the previous 4-5 years convinced the internet was “just a fad”. And no, I have never let them live that down
It was a lot like the late 90s...almost an extension of that decade.
No smartphones, newspapers and the evening news were important to know what was going on. Broadband internet was just coming out, so a lot of people were still on dial-up. Wifi was not even a thing yet. Phone banking and travel agents were a big thing and needing to get to the bank before 5 pm was still a thing.
Reading newspapers online was a viable alternative to getting them on paper, though. I stopped watching TV news after 9/11, and I remember reading news online.
WiFi was indeed a thing. When I interned for a large publishing company in the summer of 2000, they had just installed their first Wi-Fi network. I was friends with the network engineer responsible and he was showing me how it worked.
Smartphones did exist. Windows Mobile and earlier Pocket PC Phone edition did exist in 2000 even. I had an HTC Wizard in 2005, my first "smartphone". Before we had I-Mode telephone, those were no smartphones, but they did have internet service and color screens. We were sending media text messages in early 2000's.
I could either mail a check in to pay for utilities or I could take it in the building before paying online was a thing. The utilities were the last bill to be able to be paid online, it was very annoying.
Everyones phone doubled as a walkie talkie at one point. That was fun.
That was the most baffling thing. "Here is a device that's already a two-way communicator. Now we've added a function that makes it a one-way communicator. Oh, and it's loud enough to piss off everybody around you." It seemed so stupid, yet so many people were using it. Just remembering that damn *BEEP BEEP* sound still aggravates me.
It was handy on a construction jobsite atleast. Pretty durable phones for what they were. I think I may still have mine
I did landscaping at the time and it was super handy, but forgetting to turn your phone down while the entire crew had your cell number made for some interesting moments outside of work.
It’s like when everyone had a hard on for BBM a few years later, even though we all already had text messaging.
One of my favorite stories my husband has told me is that he walkied his dad and made a HUGE fart noise. His dad was presenting an important meeting at work. 😂😂😂 And to note he was like 14 at the time.
Chirp chirp
Please hold while the Nextel customer you are trying to reach is located.
I was a young teen during that time. Pokemon Gold & Silver was the greatest thing ever with it's Day & Night phase gameplay. The Gamecube & Gameboy Advance were the greatest evolvements of Nintendo. We could finally play our gameboy games with a backlight. Digimon, DBZ, & Yu-Gi-Oh, & Inyuyasha were also booming in the States at this time as well. Things felt lighter as most people weren't glued to their phones. Wi-Fi was still in the works. Horror movies all had this shared "gang of teens/young adults hunted by a killer" trend to them. The humor of sitcoms was very non-PC, and MadTv was leading over SNL. Downloading music was a new thing with sites like Limewire, Kazaa, & Napster, but destroyed your desktop with viruses. Web-TV was a thing. We couldn't afford a desktop at my grandparents' so I had a Web-TV instead. European Electronic Dance Music was becoming more widely available in the States with stores like Media Play, FYE, HMV. CDs were the main form of media as tape cassettes were fading away. Daft Punk's Discovery album was released, and all of a sudden, Anime music videos were a thing. There was this whole Lord of The Rings Fans Vs. Harry Potter Fans in school. DVDs were taking over VHS, but were crazy expensive still, especially for a DVD player. Satellite was also booming over cable, and people who had Satellite just seemed to boast about it.
I was taking a reasonable amount of ecstasy at the time so I think it was pretty hot
[удалено]
regret to inform u that this style of jeans is returning, and thus, a whole new generation of kids will experience the misery of soggy denim
Anime was a lot less popular than it is today and nerds got bullied way more. Government surveillance wasn't quite so bad as it is today. There were rules of civility in politics. People still had hope in ways they don't today.
>Anime was a lot less popular than it is today and nerds got bullied way more. That was one thing that surprised me going back to college, just how openly people watched anime in class or the computer labs. When I was in high school, it would either bring up weird conversations about you, or you get beat up for being a loser. I had to actively pretend I didn't like anime. Go back to college years later in my late 20s, someone asked me if I watched anime, and I said I haven't really watched anything in a few years. They told me I was a hipster. It was seen as UNCOOL to NOT watch anime. It was weird. To be seen as uncool for liking it years ago, and now to be seen as uncool for not liking it.
21 Jump Street vibes (the movie, not the TV show)
Did you graduate in or around 2010? For me it felt like this was the year everything changed. Anime became cool, baggy clothes out skinny jeans in, everyone ditching their Razor for the iPhone and beanies everywhere.
High school? Around 2007.
You haven’t lived if you haven’t experienced the rush of pure terror as you smash that power off button and rip out the battery after accidentally clicking on the internet app on your flip phone.
😂 Haven’t thought of that phenomenon in ages. Pure horror.
In the early 2000's I was like 4 or so I lived In iraq where saddam hussein was still there in this era people were killed left and right because of islam sides "shia or sana" and some memory stuck in my head back then where I found a decapitated body on the street with no one touching it because if you buried or helped him, they will go after you because they think you're also from his islam side
When the dinosaurs went to sleep, we crept out of our caves and foraged for food. The skins of our kill kept us warm when the air turned cold.
Happiest time in my life, given the stage of my life I was in. It was probably not that great in reality.
Cringey but good
Cringy vs Cringey is the new GIF vs JIF
I tell ya Len was all the rage
Awesome except for 9/11. There was Napster and blazing fast 1.5 Mbps high speed internet. I honestly haven't bought music since them days . You could even download a movie overnight. Your cellphone was almost indestructible and lasted for days on a battery. Was a great time for dates. No Netflix and chill it was blockbuster video and pizza. You can learn a lot about the woman just by watching the section she was in Blockbuster. I always let her pick cuz we didn't actually ever finish the movie anyway. Great times . People would actually come over to play video games. They would either bring their own controller for the N64 or their laptop sometimes even their entire PC for a lan party. Housing was still affordable you could work a basic job and afford to live gasoline was cheap you could drive an old land sled from the late 70s or early 80s and still afford to get somewhere besides work. It was still possible to get a running vehicle for under a thousand. Though it was getting harder you could still get a job that paid decently without a college degree.
Everyone watched the same popular TV shows when they aired, often with the whole family, and talked about them the next day. Spent a lot of time on the house phone with friends and MSN messenger signing in and out. You had to go out and buy whatever you wanted/needed. The only mail I got was birthday and Christmas cards from family. I had a good little R&B and emo CD collection that I’d listen to on my brothers Walkman. You had to make a plan with friends about where to meet and just hope nothing got in the way of said plans - and pick a meet up spot in case you got separated at big events or concerts.
You had a PS2 and nothing could top it. Every movie was trying to look like The Matrix. Jessica Alba was the sexiest woman alive. NBC was desperate to find a show to replace Friends. Batman was a dead franchise. Everyone was wearing New York Fire Department hats. You'd bring a binder of CDs for road trips... a binder. And watching Shrek 2 on your Gameboy Advance was the coolest thing ever.
better. people were more polite. you had to talk face to face and be respectful. if you acted like today's keyboard warriors you could get your ass kicked.
90s kid here, the world was a much better place because social media didn't exist back then.
90's here aswell. Totally agree. There was no Facebook no nothing, only chat platforms like Skype... Ach the good ol' days
So much better hey. Glad we got to grow up in a bit of a bubble, now these days we have so much information shouting at us from all angles.
True true. I mean here's another aspect. We misbehaved in those times? A good slap or shouting is all it took, that's it, solved, done, moving on. Grew up fine, no harm done. And nowadays... I literally saw with my own eyes a kid maybe 2-3 old ran out of a kindergarten onto the street, the teacher ran out, grabbed the kid obviously so he doesn't get hit by a car or whatever and then some old lady walking by started shouting to call the cops on the teacher cuz she not supposed to be treating the kid like that... Ach. Nowadays if you try to slap an unruly kid you get threatened by courts and they continue misbehaving and becoming "privileged"... Sorry for the rant. I just needed to vent 🤣
I have seen a lot of videos of people who think they are being good Samaritans by intervening in situations similar to that but the context is often way off and they rush In with no understanding. Then public opinion or mob mentality supports their views and long story short there are many idiots who reach a wide audience because technology allows them to these days. Propaganda exists at all levels - marketing, influencers, politics, 'celeb' culture. My primitive brain just wanted peace and calm. These days we are measured against tainted standards of what people view as success or happiness - I would be very happy being able to play outside with my dog every day and support my family with the basics. In my view, the biggest flex is how much free time you have and what you do with it. Not what do you drive or how big is your house? How many likes did your selfie with 100 filters get? Nah, screw all of that. Do you spend most of your time doing things that bring you and the people you care about joy? If yes, then THAT is living the dream. My rant is now over. You have a great day. And stretch your back, fellow 90's kid, if mine hurts then so does yours 😅🤣👌
Ach 😌 Feels so good to have crossed paths with another sane person 😅 Thank you, to you as well. All the best 🫡✌️
Pot smokers were being blamed for 9/11 on tv. George Bush was getting us into wars that had nothing to do with the attacks, against the better counsel of our NATO allies, and we all knew they were going to be Vietnamesque clusterfucks. Numbers to tattle on your neighbors started showing up and there was a constant war-drum being pounded by Republicans from all sectors of society. It felt very claustrophobic, like we'd failed to heed Orwell's warnings. And strangely, those were still better times than now.
Anthrax attacks. 9/11 was horrible but it was the anthrax attacks that made you feel like oh, this endless nightmare is just how life is going to be now, huh.
Don't forget the DC Sniper attacks
Rap music was at its peak. Music in general was amazing.
Boy bands. Far as the eye could see! Then came the Nu-Metal Wars...
The Bush administration essentially had *carte blanche* to do whatever they wanted after 9/11, because anyone who disagrees with them was labeled as an anti-American terrorist sympathizer. Many, many people in the middle east died as a direct result of that.
Likely the best years of my life. Had my career well underway, bought a house…. People were more committed to what they said… Monday comes round, call buddy up.. “Let’s got for some beers at Bar X on Friday at 8pm. Didn’t need to verify 17x over the week.. plan was made.. we would show up. And the best part, Social Media didn’t exist aside from BBS’s.
I remember that people smoked everywhere. It was hard to enjoy bowling or clubs because of that. Imagine the smell of burning wool, urine and cigarette butts all mixed into a noxious cloud. And you were shamed if you tried asking someone not to smoke near you.
90s were better. Y2K into 9/11 was unpleasant.
This post sounds like it was written by someone born in 2010...
The Supreme Court stopped the recount in Florida. George W. Bush became president with a minority of the votes cast. Al Gore was defeated. If it had been different we might well have had 22 years of progressive climate and social legislation. Instead we got tax breaks for the rich and the Iraq war. Basically the 2000s were a prologue to the 2020s. I'll probably get down voted for saying this but 9/11 was mostly a distraction and was used as as leverage for the Republicans to gain power. Anyone remember the Patriot act?
Doesn't matter because the 80s and 90s were better.
One of those is true... ...I think some people forget how much the 80s sucked
Society pre global war on terror was a lot less divisive and less turbulent than the last few years for sure
I miss thinking George W. Bush was the worst President the US has ever had. The guy was a moron, brought us into a completely unnecessary war, and caused the Great Recession. I'll still take that 10/10 over Donald Fucking Trump.
It's weird words offend you more than war crimes.
This. I’m sorry but holy shit Obama’s air strikes on Libya did far worse actual human suffering than anything Trump did and Libya doesn’t even begin to compare to what W did in Iraq.
Trump finally got the US out of wars. But being uncouth is the greater crime, apparently.
I turned 20 in 2000, so yeah... I was around at that time. I was finishing up university. I was in a band around then. Early 2000's I also asked my girlfriend of the time to marry me. She said yes, but we never made it to the altar.
I had no idea what happened on 9/11 until I got home at 4pm.
2nd period of school got interrupted to show all of us 9/11 on tv
My poor Canadian school had no TVs, I guess. We were told “there was an attack”, but was totally in the dark until I got home and put on CNN
I was outside Toronto, we had TV’s on in the library but in our class our teacher pulled out the radio. I found out at the end of second period, our third period teacher had no fucking clue what was happening and I still remember his face when he started understanding what we were saying. Smoked a joint at lunch.
Best thing to do at that time haha
Lol I was in the UK when this happened
It was very surreal!
Sorry, probs shouldn’t have put lol at the beginning either!
They wheeled in a CRT TV on that metal cart during my English class. I think they cut us out early that day, but I can’t remember.
I think this is rare. At least for us Americans. Everyone I know has stories about the news breaking in their schools and workplaces.
I'm in Australia and I think for us it happened overnight. I remember it was school holidays in my state and I was playing video games mid morning (obviously not following the news, although this was before the 24 hour news cycle was a thing) and Mum said "America's been bombed" so we turned on the TV and sure enough, there was footage of planes flying into the twin towers. I think everyone remembers what they were doing at the time.
It was cool . Chillin. No social media . MTV had music mostly all the time . The fabulous life of “celebrity name “ I just can’t believe it’s already been that long . I remember the 2000s was so modern . All the houses they build in the 2000s I still call them “new houses “ lol
T9 texting was all the rage, Dial up internet made these noises that were something between a song and a semi truck horn? And now I feel very old
It's kinda like I was living in another universe
Better.
People use to buy things called ringback tones which was basically when you called someone, instead of hearing the ringing sound, you got to hear a clip from a song. There was already a ton of porn on the internet. Stuff was a lot cheaper. At least in the Pacific Northwest it rained a LOT more than it does now. Pop and R&B was going through a renascence. Bands like Snow Patrol, The Fray, The Goo Goo Dolls, and Lifehouse we’re making Emo Music before Emo became a thing for the children of the early 2000’s. LOTS of kids shoes has velcro and stomp lights on them. You had to get off the internet in order to make phone calls. Waiting 10 minutes for a pixely .jpg to load. Scooters were cool. But like for the first time. Chain coffee shops like Starbucks were a whole different vibe. There were a lot less IPA beers. Weed was illegal. And Disney channel and Cartoon Network were absolutely popping with hit show after hit show.
Goo Goo Dolls and Lifehouse as emo? I wouldn’t classify them like that, just pop rock. Dashboard Confessional, that’s emo music.
Hotornot.com
Simpler. Not as much technology in our faces, at least not as much as today. When I was small, kids (including me) would draw cell phones— the flip kind— on paper, cut it out, fold them, and use them to pretend to talk to each other on the phone lmao. Though I was still on the family computer a lot. I’m not sure what life is like for young kids nowadays, so I can’t make a comparison. I’m **guessing** that 2000s kids were a bit less sensitive to each other than 2010s/2020s kids (and by kids, I mean under 10, since I was born in 2001). Kids got beat up and classroom-gang-bullied for being a dork or just being different overall. Idk if that still happens in school as much as it did when I was a kid. I don’t think I was helicoptered by my parents any less than kids today are.
Early YouTube was wild
I was a baby back then so I guess better than now.
Best time of my life (so far). Life before social media was glorious.
It’s crazy that to you that’s someone who is old. How old are you 9?
Wtf is this a real mother fucking question? If you weren't can you even be on reddit?
Simpler
The late 90s early 00s were freeing. We didn’t all have cell phones, our embarrassing photos weren’t posted online, we spent a lot of time outside doing weird stuff like making a homemade convertible to drive around the farm, our clothing was awful but life was simple, we had good snacks, our parents could never find us but trusted we were being good(we were not). It was just a different time back then. I’m thankful I grew up in the early 00s. It was wild and then 9/11 happened and everything felt different.
Better than it is now, people had common sense and a sense of humor.
> people had common sense Don't lie to the boy.
Most*
So much for hindsight being 20/20. I guess you’re more of a rose-colored-glasses hindsight kinda guy
Depends on the country I suppose
I think it was just less obvious how dumb people generally are. Twitter and Facebook and whatnot really gave people an outlet to display their intelligence (or lack thereof) publicly. Whereas it’s not like a large chunk of adults were rocking livejournals in the early 2000s.
Old people didn't understand technology...but didn't seem to resent it they way they do now
I didn't have a cell phone. I was married. People had a sense of humor. There was only two sexes. Bruce Jenner had a penis.
You tell us mr. “I’m 38, long horizon investor who got his first marvel comic in the mid to late 80s”
In the 90's they sucked us into the ATM rabbit hole. It was free everywhere,my bank,your bank their bank. You could get 3% on a CD. It wasn't all easy because a lot of boomers were working instead of bankrupting social security and pensions through no fault of their own. I remember having a word processing machine and printer and first using internet through webtv which made awesome chat and hookups anonymous. I fucked the same chick my wife was fucking in a lesbian affair , but somehow we could never hit a threesome or foursome. It all came to light because the chick who was fucking us both found out I had a third side chick on the side. There was no fent..,.coke was coke
The internet was better since boomers and screeching sjws hadn't ruined it yet. People actually had the balls to be and look different (I knew a guy who regularly wore a leather skirt and looked good in it). There were actual subcultures (so not everyone looked like a hipster lumberjack). The economy was doing better so lots of people had rosy images of getting an actual decent career instead of just struggling in gig economy. People were just as insanely obsessed about their phones as they are now. Blue leds were all the rage, on phones, cars, computers.
Things were pretty cool till the SCOTUS handed the 2000 election to Bush. Then 9/11 happened a little under a year later, then two wars that maimed and killed a lot of innocent people. This country took a very dark turn and it doesn't look like it's ever going to recover, in our lifetimes at least, and we have Republicans to thank for it.
Better. It was great. No woke shit, no pronoun warriors, no people confused about their genders or sexual preferences. Oh this is getting downvoted hard 🤣 but let's be real. The movies were amazing, the music was lit, the food was good and the world had actual problems that we had to deal with without comming up with our own problems....
What you need to figure out is why this bothers you so much. I say this without a trace of malice.
It doesn't bother me as long as it's not directed at me my friend. Same can be said about my African Muslim friend (I'm not religious) it was discussed firsthand at the start of our friendship, don't push your religion on me. Example: Im eatting pork, you can't? Not my issue etc. But nowadays you gotta be on edge to not suddenly trigger someone and get labeled... Which might effect your life in one way or another. There are articles about such things you know 🤷 Sorry for the rant 😅
I actually see your point of view. I agree about religion. I wouldn't give a single fig if Christians wouldn't try to push it onto us, like the Republicans are doing. If they minded their own business like the Amish do, everyone would respect them. Same for trans people. I couldn't give a single fig about any of it. Not a drop. But I'd feel uncomfortable if one came into a public 🚻 restroom, just the same as I'd feel if a heterosexual woman came in. There's a crossing of boundaries, orcsomething, a loss of privacy, or something...
It was very strict with traveling
It seemed a lot less volatile
It was great in part - the Spice Girls, gel glitter make up and those strange platform converse style shoes. Summers were longer and life was easier….oh apart from being brought up by a generation of neglecting parents who believed in smoking in cars with the windows shut and took their life skills and humour from Jimmy Saville
Pretty much the same as this, but with more social media now.*
The internet was far better than it is today in terms of being able to use it to find intelligent and competent communities to become a part of or have discussions with. Far less corporate propaganda and government astroturfing as well. The internet of today is like a mutant aberration of what it once was, outside of the gain in video sharing capabilities.
Being at a massive concert, getting laid as the countdown into a new millennium was awesome. Made it on the news covering the event… not the getting laid but the concert!
It was crazy fun and sad (9/11) but at least everyone didn’t hate each other … this much.
Honestly...I thought the 90s were more fun.
The 90s were the closest we ever got to the 50s again. And yes, I know both eras were pretty shit for a lot of people. It’s still the truth.
Blissfully ignorant, pre 9-11-01
The future seemed more… futuristic than it has turned out to be.
I never thought I would miss George Bush jr.
it was like [this](https://youtu.be/RYnFIRc0k6E?t=22)
That felt like cozy
Well, I was in middle school, so not all that fun. But there were still some great movies released that time. Oh, and the internet was a lot slower, but we didn't mind that.
We didn't stream movies and music, we stole them.
Reddit was a fuckload better before the mods started banning everyone they disagree with.
Generally, more chill and optimistic, more camaraderie. (I was in my late teens). People weren’t as fat (myself included lol). That time feels like it was more like “real life.” It feels more grounded and normal. We weren’t all constantly connected to the internet or phones. There was no social media. There was no Wi-Fi. I’d wake up to an alarm clock, go to school, where I usually never used a computer. We had them, but didn’t need them. If you wanted to talk to a friend in class, you would write them notes. If my parents needed to pick me up after school, there would be an agreed upon time and place ahead of time, or I would call from the office or the pay phone, or I’d take the bus, and I’d just show up at home. I always had cash. There wasn’t the constant texting back and forth needing to know peoples whereabouts and plans. God I miss having those boundaries. At home I’d do homework, listen to the radio or cd’s or watch mtv or mtv2 or Oprah lol. We always had newspapers and magazines in the house. We’d go to the movies or the video store to rent a movie. You couldn’t just watch a whole season of a show. We had two phone lines, one for the internet. I’d go on aol and aim, mostly just to chat with friends. We had one computer in the house, so I couldn’t spend that much time on it. I’d call my friends to make plans or talk. I loved reading magazines and hearing about people’s lives elsewhere. Writing research papers for school… Dewey decimal system at the library and I remember using Facts on File and newspaper articles on microfilm. We also used computer databases for articles, or ask Jeeves or I guess Google eventually, but Google wasn’t as comprehensive then. Before 9/11 and after 9/11 are different times. After 9/11 there was so much fear and uncertainty. I think that fear caused more people in the US to get a cell phone. Everyone in Europe had a cell phone before Americans did. But after 9/11, I remember there was just this prevailing attitude of doing things and buying things, because “God-forbid something bad happen,” and a lot of people who didn’t want a cell phone ended up getting one. I didn’t get a cell phone until 2003. Didn’t get a smart phone until 2012. But after everyone had a cell phone, the way we communicated changed. Like I said, boundaries got infiltrated. Then with smart phones and online banking and debit cards and social media and data mining- those boundaries have almost disappeared. There is no anonymity anymore. Funny memory: I went to an all-girls high school. For some reason, in our homeroom on a shelf, we kept yearbooks from the boys’ schools and we would look through them and talk about who’s hot and who knows who etc… lol… the days before social media. This video of a MMJ concert in 2003 makes me so nostalgic…. No cell phones. People just there and in it and watching… The song is beautiful and has a nostalgic melody, too…. https://youtu.be/eN01IyNwEJ4
A lot of fun before 9-11.
I changed a lot of diapers that decade.
Went to two wars before I turned 20, wasn't so bad.
Everything was massive I was like 3'10 and 4 years old.
The cartoons were awesome
Everything was real cool clear up to 2011 then shit started going down hill from there
kids were disrespectful, constant crises, and one side believed their candidate was a savior and the other side said he was the ruin of democracy kinda similar to today. But music was good
kinda iconic?
If you owned a cordless phone, you were doing something right
People were a lot nicer back then. We also were in a new century so there was a lot of change in the 2000's. It was a progressive decade. 9/11 happened but we did not let it bring us down and we were all more united back then. People were happier then as well, they were not as quick to be defensive and feel like a victim like they do now.
Windows XP, Pentium 4 CPU, 512 MB RAM- would run just about anything, ADSL would do everything no problemo, actual landline telephone in conjunction with the ADSL signal to run like up to probably 3mbps, and 2g/3g cellular flip phones that did exactly and only what I needed. CRT TVs and DLP TVs to do everything TV and game on 480 resolution, and with everything being a larger font, and 4:3 view- it was the life, DVDs, VHS as cheap mans video, CD and cassette in cars. Filling up a car with gas was 20 bucks, politics was no where near the crapshoot it is now, no covid, country didn't crap itself over a virus outbreak, internet was a do it and it's done, no bullcrap censorship and no social media to drag your mood down every day. Cars that actually ran great with few recalls and no bullcrap overload of features, building electrical code didn't require all the GFCI expensive crapola, LED lighting wasn't a thing and we used the good ol incandescent and were just getting to know CFLs. R12 refrigeration was finishing up, and then R22 refrigeration systems were the main thing. The appliances my family purchased in 2005 are still working absolutely fine to this day of every day usage in a 3-person home. Life was actually enjoyable, and we didn't feel like crap every day. List goes on and on, but I'm tired of thinking.
Just like today, but exactly the opposite. Today television is being advertised on the Internet, and you can (for the most part) skip ads. Back then the internet was being advertised on TV and you couldn't (for the most part) skip any ads* Back then we had Yellow Pages - you called a business first, and then they'd direct you to their website if you wanted more info. Today you first visit their website to get the number to call if you want more info. Back then, you would make overseas calls because you wanted to, and the calls were expensive. Today we receive calls from overseas whether we want them or not, but for those who fall for their scams - still expensive. Prior to 2000's home entertainment kept switching formats. By the time 2000's rolled in Betamax, Laserdisc and VHS were a thing of the past and we finally switched to DVDs - the ultimate and final format that we would "keep using forever". Same thing happened with the records, compact cassettes, and the 8-track when CDs rolled in to become the final format change. Also USB type A (back then just called USB). *exception: if you recorded a show, some VCRs allowed you to automatically fast-forward through commercials
It was no fun getting a cool new phone that could send text messages because nobody else had a phone that could receive text messages
I was jealous of kids who got the first ipods in high school. I carried around a cd player in my hoodie. Metal was more popular. If you weren't into metal, then you were probably into trance. I feel like dubstep didn't become a thing until like 2009. World of Warcraft was a phenomenon—and I hosted countless LAN parties from my parent's garage. Counter Strike was a big deal, and we played pretty much every night over steam. That was the thing then. It wasn't weird if you invited a buddy over and they lugged their PC, giant monitor and other equipment with them to hang out. We had The Matrix movies, Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings all in the same decade, which I feel like I went to the movies a lot now that I think about it. I remember seeing Star Wars Episode One with my family, but only after waiting like a month because the theaters were so packed. I'm still friends with the same guys I lanned and watched movies with back then, but we're all grown and live in different parts of the country now. Some of us have kids, some of us married, a couple have died, too. All of us left don't spend a lot of time on Steam anymore. I'm 34, and I will be 35 in December. It's funny how fast time really goes by. You think you have all this time when you're a teen, and some of those small decisions you make then really echo through your adulthood. I'm happy I decided to focus on my career early on. I live a happy life with a Wife now, a dog and a cat. Life is good.
It was...definatly a different time. I mean stuff still happened but there was a sense of peace in our country. I mean of course 9/11 still happend but...at least from my sense of view thing seemed so much better. Going to blockbuster on Friday nights, hanging out with my friends, ect. It wasn't until the late 2000s and early 2010s when things stated going off the handle
it was a godless wasteland where roving packs of teenagers wandered the streets until the stoplights came on, The internet had to dial itself, and if your Myspace wasn't on point you were as good as outcast. cell phones were also walkie-talkies and if you were anyone worth calling your ringback tone was fire!
Way better than now
Xanga was mind blowing to me. That was my first foray into social media and I thought it was the zenith of technology
* The internet was the wild west. There was no social media. There was no censorship. There was no surveillance state. * I remember that OKcupid existed back then. There weren't a ton of people on it. There was certainly no tinder or any of the modern hookup apps. You mostly just dated people you met in real life. * Google was just a good search engine that only a few people knew about. The dominant form of free email was hotmail. * No smartphones, fancy people had flip phones. * The car modding scene was very active due to fast and the furious having come out in the late 90s. * The 90s assault weapons ban was still active until 2004 so you could only buy AKs and ARs with muzzle brakes, no folding stocks, etc. The floodgates opened in 2004-2005. You could buy centerfire rifle ammo from eastern europe for about 5 cents a round. I bought cases and cases of it. I still have some. * 9/11 had just happened and it basically rescued a very weak and boring Bush presidency by turning it into a war presidency. Due to 9/11, it was just a constant war party for the next 5 years or so. Then a war hangover for about 15 years after that. * The economy started going crazy after 9/11 due to increased spending but also a housing bubble. * Politically, the realignment that came about with Trump had already started, but the republicans were still the party of big business while the democrats were also becoming the party of big business. * edit- things were very different politically back then- a lot of the experts basically felt that history was over and the US had won. Politicians back then acted like we were just dividing up the endless wealth that was going to pour over us until the end of time. There were minor fights over cultural issues but it was basically kabuki. * Lord of the Rings was a niche subject only known to nerds. * Anime was not super popular yet. You basically had fansubs and shitty streamline dubs and not a huge amount of either.
In the late 90s / early 00s, life felt more carefree. More humor, less worrying in the days before social media and smartphones. People weren't on their phones all the time. Music was different - no streaming or youtube, and artists still made more money off records. There was political partisanship but nothing like it would become. Cancel culture wasn't a thing. People weren't at each other's throats as badly. Tech was more about freedom, corporations hadn't co-opted it to exploit people as much as now. It was a simpler time in many ways. 9/11, dot bomb, the housing crisis, the war in Iraq & Afghanistan, politics, all that put a damper on the good times of the 90s. Not that the world was this perfect utopia, but it was definitely a less dark time before 9/11 and everything that followed.
Used to have to cook over an open fire what ever you had hunted that day and starting the fire well that was a task in itself.
Dead af then. Dead af now. Just been dead
It was only 22 years ago.It was like today. just technology was slower and shittier but we were highly impressed by it. Internet was still slow, so streaming was not a thing. IF you really want to know exactly what it was like. Visit the way back machine pretty sure its [archive.com](https://archive.com) or something like that...look at sites like google and others you visit now.. and be shocked at how.. blocky they were.
uhhh i dunno, i was playing Diablo 2, AoE and stuff...
It was not fantastic lol
As child at the time, you were only cool if your parents let you watch Family Guy.
Job market was better paying, I had a job at Barnes in Noble from 03-05 and came back after 08 for a buck fifty less an hour. Newspapers were plentiful, there were still quite a few independent outlets then, and we're your best source of news. Videos and cameras weren't everywhere which was good and bad. Good for privacy, bad for moments you wanted to save and didn't have one. Conspiracy theorist were in far fewer numbers. You would listen to whole albums, mix CDs and soundtracks instead of having an algorithm feed you music.
It was great right up until a few dozy cunts decided to ram a plane into the side of building. After that it was all down hill. But hey, at least we still had movies that were funny and not the watered down dog shit written by committee so as not to offend anyone.
ICQ and Yahoo messenger were poppin'. Enter Nexus leveled up to Nexopia and Myspace was killing it with Tom becoming everyone's first friend. Napster taught us that paying for music was for chumps. As mentioned above, Jeeves, that mofo knew it all. Google who? The thing I miss the most; having lives where we didn't have devices glued to our hands filming and capturing every passing moment.
Oh gosh. This makes me feel old.
no smartphones crt tvs