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tablets didn't exist. cell phones existed but almost nobody had them. personally, my summers were riding my bike around town all day, reading books and watching movies, and playing with neighborhood kids. britney spears was my everything. youtube was something you looked at for fun every once in awhile in the computer room. people had computer rooms. everybody had a landline phone. some people had wall phones in their kitchens; i used to sit on the counter to talk to my friend on the phone. if you were poor, you didn't have any of the latest technology, so in many ways it was like the 90s. we had big box tvs and only watched movies on vhs until i was in middle school. the wii being released was huge. getting a wii was even huger. cartoons were better back then. spongebob was at its peak. teen girls crimped their hair and pierced their own noses. your parents would pay a teen girl to babysit you and then she would spend all day hanging out with her friends and pretending you didn't exist while talking about stuff your mom would flip if she knew you'd heard. mtv showed all kinds of awesome shows and you felt really cool if you got to see a few episodes of parental control or the osbournes or my super sweet 16 because your babysitter had it on. taylor swift was only popular with girls who liked country music. tube tops, spaghetti straps, wedge flip flops and tankinis were awesome. teen girls did not know how to do their makeup. malls were a much bigger thing and were hangout spots. cool girls got their prom dresses at the mall at deb. hot topic still looked awesome. you couldn't record tv shows and the only people who could watch stuff on demand were rich people. if you went to someone's house and they had an island in their kitchen you knew they were RICH. problem children were the exception in schools and not the rule. people weren't really happier; the recession fucked a lot of people over and started hurting poor people well before it affected middle and upper classes. teen girls did not have long fake nails, they had short nails that they painted alternating colors. getting your nails done by someone else was not nearly as common as it is today; it was really only done for special occasions like prom or a wedding. littlest pet shop pets, barbies, and polly pockets were the shit. people were really really really really really mean to anyone that wasn't skinny. proactiv was advertised literally everywhere all the time. twilight had all us fifth graders in a chokehold. emo kids got hardcore bullied. there were constant "anti-bullying" ads and videos and stuff but none of it addressed the root causes of bullying, aka racism homophobia transphobia classism etc. so none of it worked. there were hannah montana trading cards and some girls collected them. for some reason every girl had an asshole older brother. barrettes, butterfly hair clips, banana clips, and scrunchies were very much in. every kid in school watched spongebob and if you didn't you were considered the odd one out. if you went on a yearly family vacation you were considered rich.
for reference i turned 26 this year :)
Jul 20, 2025
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đśsome of my core memories:
- playing on webkinz or bearville with my cousin every night
- making random things out of duct tape (the wallets, the bows, omg) (definitely more late 2000s but still)
- the vibrant and fun patterns on everything (i loveeeeed lisa frank)
- being outside a lot more
- when I got a slide phone and I accidentally pressed the internet button and I had to viciously go back to the home screen or it would add a charge to the bill and my parents would get mad
- land lines, we still have ours, but I'm seeing less and less people have them now
- primarily listening to CD's (and not understanding pirating so I was amazed that my aunt could get me beatles CD's for free lol)
- having the computer in a different room and not being on it all the time besides when Id play games or watch cat video compilations on youtube
- speaking of games, the spongebob computer games were fire
- also speaking of games, playing my dad's ps1 (when we play them now we're like, how could we even play these?? the quality is so bad compared to what we're used to now lmao)
- then there were the unfortunate parts of it like the only jeans that you could find were low-mid rise, which Im pretty sure is why I hate them to this day đ love that other people love them again but I can barely do mid rise lol
- also 2000's clothing sizing was INSANE, even for children, I don't miss that at all
- but at least I was alive and conscious for when High School Musical was released
- also the shows were so good (at the time anyway, looking at certain nickelodeon shows as an adult gives me the ick) (you know the ones)
- also you got peak spongebob
Jul 21, 2025
Rec
đEvery new piece of technology was so exciting, because of the monoculture every new release felt like an Event, everything was shiny and glittery and in fun colors. Listening to music for the first time on an iPod was crazy. Getting a portable DVD player to watch Buffy the Vampire slayer DVDs on long road trips made me feel like I lived in the future. Seeing digital cable for the first time where it would display the programming schedule with descriptions blew my mind.Â
I played so many games on CD-ROM on a clunky beige monitor attached to a giant tower running Windows 98âa lot of my parentsâ friends were educators so they were constantly giving me new ones to play. Neopets was my life and I loved exploring new sites. I remember frequenting many websites that were just lists of other sites lol. I did also spend a lot of time playing outside and just imagining things. Everything you see on Buzzfeed 90s kid remember the 2000s articles is accurate. The high of optimism when Obama got elected after eight years of Bush was unparalleled!
That said yeah the forced conformity was incredibly stifling and social groups were still cliquish (though this was starting to dissolve by the time I got into high school). Things that would make you cool now would lead you to be mocked or become an outcast so it was nice that emo kids existed because they were a lot more accepting of idiosyncrasies and quirks. Gender nonconformity was frowned uponâI got my hair cut short in eighth grade and was made fun of by so many people, and my male gym coach called me sir!
The beauty standards were insane and also so narrow. I remember being in a Kohlâs dressing room when I was like 12 and crying as I tried on increasingly larger pants sizes because my butt wouldnât fit into anything I tried on and wondering why I was cursed with this body.
HONESTLY the hardest thing for me was that I needed glasses and the only ones that were really available at my local glasses shops were very ugly and nerdy (or if there were cool ones they were designer and cost like $600) and you couldnât just buy them online so I was walking around looking like Harry Potter for most of my childhood and early adolescence and feeling very insecure about it.
The good thing about personal style, culture, and taste is that i truly had to figure it all out on my own by seeking out and curating sources of inspiration, or by word of mouth from other people, rather than having inspiration algorithmically fed to me.
I remember going trick or treating in the mall after 9/11 because some parents including my mother were very paranoid that something (?) would happen? My mom was very paranoid in general because of her own childhood experiences and seeing all of the news stories about child abductions but I wasnât helicoptered and my parents would let me walk around the neighborhood with my friends as I got older. We spent so much time just walking from strip mall to strip mall and like loitering at Barnes and Noble lol.
So it was a mixed bag really but I wouldnât go back and my nostalgia is usually only in passing. This is controversial but I donât have any fondness for physical media other than vinyl records because I remember just thinking CDs DVDs and VHSs sucked and I hated when they would get damaged. When I realized that I could acquire any digital media I wanted on the internet it felt like the world was my oyster and I never looked back.
You know what though actually I just remembered how much cheaper everything was and I got mad soâŚ
I played so many games on CD-ROM on a clunky beige monitor attached to a giant tower running Windows 98âa lot of my parentsâ friends were educators so they were constantly giving me new ones to play. Neopets was my life and I loved exploring new sites. I remember frequenting many websites that were just lists of other sites lol. I did also spend a lot of time playing outside and just imagining things. Everything you see on Buzzfeed 90s kid remember the 2000s articles is accurate. The high of optimism when Obama got elected after eight years of Bush was unparalleled!
That said yeah the forced conformity was incredibly stifling and social groups were still cliquish (though this was starting to dissolve by the time I got into high school). Things that would make you cool now would lead you to be mocked or become an outcast so it was nice that emo kids existed because they were a lot more accepting of idiosyncrasies and quirks. Gender nonconformity was frowned uponâI got my hair cut short in eighth grade and was made fun of by so many people, and my male gym coach called me sir!
The beauty standards were insane and also so narrow. I remember being in a Kohlâs dressing room when I was like 12 and crying as I tried on increasingly larger pants sizes because my butt wouldnât fit into anything I tried on and wondering why I was cursed with this body.
HONESTLY the hardest thing for me was that I needed glasses and the only ones that were really available at my local glasses shops were very ugly and nerdy (or if there were cool ones they were designer and cost like $600) and you couldnât just buy them online so I was walking around looking like Harry Potter for most of my childhood and early adolescence and feeling very insecure about it.
The good thing about personal style, culture, and taste is that i truly had to figure it all out on my own by seeking out and curating sources of inspiration, or by word of mouth from other people, rather than having inspiration algorithmically fed to me.
I remember going trick or treating in the mall after 9/11 because some parents including my mother were very paranoid that something (?) would happen? My mom was very paranoid in general because of her own childhood experiences and seeing all of the news stories about child abductions but I wasnât helicoptered and my parents would let me walk around the neighborhood with my friends as I got older. We spent so much time just walking from strip mall to strip mall and like loitering at Barnes and Noble lol.
So it was a mixed bag really but I wouldnât go back and my nostalgia is usually only in passing. This is controversial but I donât have any fondness for physical media other than vinyl records because I remember just thinking CDs DVDs and VHSs sucked and I hated when they would get damaged. When I realized that I could acquire any digital media I wanted on the internet it felt like the world was my oyster and I never looked back.
You know what though actually I just remembered how much cheaper everything was and I got mad soâŚ
Jul 20, 2025
Rec
đI saw somebody else respond in this format so Iâm going to provide my misc memories from being 6-16 in the 2000s:
⢠frying an egg on the sidewalk/asphalt/car hoods with kids from my apartment complex because we were convinced it was that hot out ⢠watching SpongeBob seasons 1-3 on repeat ⢠watching mtv after school and always having a talk show or pbs queued up on the âprevious channelâ button so if my mom came home I could quickly look like I was watching Ellen or Oprah or cyberspace all along (mtv shows were so raunchy) â˘you had to watch vh1 for anything music related ⢠catalogs!!! i would do all my âscrollingâ in limited too catalogs and then dig through racks at tj maxx to find similar things my mom could actually buy â˘teen mags for the quizzes ⢠driving around with my mom listening to her cds while she smoked and ran errands (honestly this still holds up today/ I keep it alive in my own ac-less suv) ⢠beanie babies and being called out if you had fakes ⢠listening to radio Disney on my boom box before bed â˘riding my bike aimlessly when I had nothing else to do â˘walking to the gas station with my $5 allowance and buying Sobe, now n later, tgi Friday potato skins, and cherry vanilla coke â˘I also got in trouble a lot for wandering off or smoking rolled up sticky notes or vandalizing storage units with âbrat girlâ or something so y2k â˘I remember my outfits so wellâŚ. Many cheeky graphic tees, ringer tees, layered tanks, peasant skirts, stripes, capris, platform sneakers, chokers â˘redesigning my MySpace every weekend â˘changing my aim screen name with the seasons â˘being bullied by boys in middle school, over aim or getting prank called â˘when I got a cell phone I never remember charging it, but I do remember trying to break my Nokia brick because I wanted a razr or a chocolate, but it was truly indestructible â˘listening to mix cds in friends cars as they began to drive because nobody had an aux cord or Bluetooth â˘2008-2010 weâre really dark so Iâll spare you more details
⢠frying an egg on the sidewalk/asphalt/car hoods with kids from my apartment complex because we were convinced it was that hot out ⢠watching SpongeBob seasons 1-3 on repeat ⢠watching mtv after school and always having a talk show or pbs queued up on the âprevious channelâ button so if my mom came home I could quickly look like I was watching Ellen or Oprah or cyberspace all along (mtv shows were so raunchy) â˘you had to watch vh1 for anything music related ⢠catalogs!!! i would do all my âscrollingâ in limited too catalogs and then dig through racks at tj maxx to find similar things my mom could actually buy â˘teen mags for the quizzes ⢠driving around with my mom listening to her cds while she smoked and ran errands (honestly this still holds up today/ I keep it alive in my own ac-less suv) ⢠beanie babies and being called out if you had fakes ⢠listening to radio Disney on my boom box before bed â˘riding my bike aimlessly when I had nothing else to do â˘walking to the gas station with my $5 allowance and buying Sobe, now n later, tgi Friday potato skins, and cherry vanilla coke â˘I also got in trouble a lot for wandering off or smoking rolled up sticky notes or vandalizing storage units with âbrat girlâ or something so y2k â˘I remember my outfits so wellâŚ. Many cheeky graphic tees, ringer tees, layered tanks, peasant skirts, stripes, capris, platform sneakers, chokers â˘redesigning my MySpace every weekend â˘changing my aim screen name with the seasons â˘being bullied by boys in middle school, over aim or getting prank called â˘when I got a cell phone I never remember charging it, but I do remember trying to break my Nokia brick because I wanted a razr or a chocolate, but it was truly indestructible â˘listening to mix cds in friends cars as they began to drive because nobody had an aux cord or Bluetooth â˘2008-2010 weâre really dark so Iâll spare you more details
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âno more beating dead horses when it comes to movies, tv shows, etc. the movie doesn't need a sequel. the show doesn't need to go on for 27 seasons. we need more stories that are written with an ending in mind from the beginning.
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âşď¸best thing you can do for yourself is become extremely comfortable with being alone and doing stuff by yourself. at a young age i forced myself to get comfortable with that and now it's my default state-- i LOVE doing stuff by myself. my coworker is a person who literally cannot go places by herself and i have been trying to help her get more comfortable doing things solo because it's very freeing. everyone should be happy to go do stuff by themselves, it's lovely!
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đi will never get over polyvore shutting down. i used it obsessively and had hundreds of outfits made on it and mine were ARTFUL not like the stuff people say they saw on wattpad with like skinny jeans and converse and shit like mine were gorgeous. and then they shut down and i wasn't able to back up any of my stuff so i lost it all. HEARTBREAKINGGGGG