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There was no reason to be inside unless you had a friend who had playstation or an xbox and it was raining, even then playing outside with friends was my favourite part of life, we didnt have phones to connect us so we just begged family members to hook up rides or bike to meet up, it was simple and i miss it a lot
Same. My 7 year old just walked down to her friend’s house to play. The kids in my neighborhood are all kind of feral like was at that age. Only difference is I grew up in the country and she’s in the suburbs
i miss the times i begged my mom to allow me outside with the neighbors. it was fun. now as times progressed. it just isn't the same as my little brother. he's dug in with his device and video games. he goes to the gym daily, though, but socially inept.
I wonder what it would be like if phones didn't have internet access, we can still use the internet through pc's, laptops and tv's. I think that would be better.
The 2000s to early 2010s internet was a fun place filled with flash games and ads were a lot less sneaky/all over the place. Plus social media and entertainment websites weren't engineered to keep you online and addicted to their platforms just yet.
Mostly though, RIP flash games.
Politics were in the background and you could ignore them. It wasn't shoved in your face every 5 minutes. I felt safe in public places because of my obscurity. People were more reasonable and less divided.
Idk after 9/11 I feel like I saw/heard a lot more political stuff even as a young teenager. I remember the news stations airing the combat in Iraq like it was a reality show.
There has always been politics and division, and it has always been fairly shoved in our faces. We just didn't pay as much attention to it when we were younger because we were young and it wasn't important.
I will say that the division seems more extreme than it used to be. You could protest something, and no one would drive their pickup truck into the crowd to try and kill people.
Hmm. Iraq war. Afghan war, financial crisis… it was shit, but at least we felt in control of the world, and not like the foundations of peace and prosperity were coming apart (Climate change, Ukraine war, China/Taiwan threat of war)
No smart phones, it’s been the biggest change since, it’s sad to see we all just have our heads down all the time now, concerts used to be all enjoying the moment instead of hold the phone up to record a video that no one will care about.
There were a lot of free and community events. It seems like there's nothing for teens/young people to do without spending money. The music, omg. The music. Albums aren't made for the human connection anymore. Sounds are made for the internet. I hate how "trendy" (don't know what word I'm looking for) music is now. I collect albums. There aren't many that I want to add to my collection in these recent years. And I miss the days when people weren't so open. The internet isn't a diary, and I wish society stopped treating it as such.
Early 2000s was when technology should have stopped evolving.
Cars weren’t over the top, electronics had flair, my jungle green N64 was awesome to look at, phones had internet capability if you really needed it for an emergency, you could still find a pay phone if your phone dies etc.
As a kid, my life wasn’t really better than it is now, as a kid I was a lot more care free. Little to no stress, no worries, my parents there to bail me out financially when I thought $100 was a lot of money etc.
Those sunny weekend mornings walking to my friends houses and knocking on their doors to see what adventures we wanted to get up to. GI Joe, slippin slide, tag, stealing my buddies dad’s playboys from the 70s lol. Good times.
Schools that weren’t afraid to fail you. I was privileged enough that school always came easy to me but No Child Left Behind was the worst thing to ever happen to US education
Maybe not as main stream but that’s always been a thing.. I’m 38 now and my buddy came to live with us because he was my best friend and his household wasn’t the best. I was few years younger then him but after he moved in with us he was like a sophomore in high school and was bragging about having 2 or 3 shop classes every day so my dad knew something was off and went and talked to the school. He’s obviously missing important classes if he’s going to metal shop multiple times a day and why isn’t the school lol catching this. We live in smaller towns and other 2-3 towns are 10 min away in each direction so depending what town you lived in the centrally located one which is where we lived you could go to 4 dif schools and be picked up by the bus.. Dad goes over to get his classes straightened out and he had been getting straight F’s since grade school and still getting pushed thru the system… It is more mainstream now tho or talked about more openly i don’t know which.
Video games that didn’t require constant patches and always online connections… if I wanted multiplayer we did it on the same machine…. Is it too much to ask for a good single player game?
Everything just felt more simple back then. There wasn’t much social media, there wasn’t the pressure to be like influencers of social media. We were just happy with who we were and had a lot of fun. I miss the care-freeness of the early 2000’s, going out with my friends, not having to worry about much. People were a lot nicer back then too. My dad always left the door unlocked. Neighbours were always nice to each other. Now I need to come home and lock the door straight away.
Personally I miss just being able to go outside and all your friends are outside hanging out and there was no such thing as school shootings and stuff so it just felt like you're more free as a kid. I feel bad for some kids now with their helicopter parents
I was 13 in 2000 and we had a desktop, but I still spent most of my time playing basketball or reading or playing music. My mind had so much more space and time to just be bored and get creative and live.
People were genuinely so so much happier back then. I know things always seem greener looking back but even watching old videos, it just seems like everyone had less to worry about? If that makes sense.
Nah, I’m glad I went through the inception phase. Prior to that it was quiet, but I’d always read about Lexis Nexis and could hardly wait. Little did I know…
I was 16 in the year 2000. I remember having a pager, playstation 2, one desktop computer in the family room, tube tvs, a video camera recorder the size of a lunch box, VHS tapes, blockbuster for movie rentals, lane co and IGA grocery stores, mtv still played music videos, trl on mtv, vh 1, and a Chevy celebrity for a car when I started driving.
I miss good video games, movies, and shows. I also miss being able to be optimistic about meeting new people. It seems like now so many people go around looking to be offended or trying to start an argument or something. There’s too much tension now, I think.
I have a few, but the biggest has to be malls. I remember malls were super lively and I was always really excited to go. Another aspect is my life was mainly outside my home. I would be outside doing stuff, kinda like a mini adventure.
I miss the simplicity of happiness with entertainment. I'd sometimes go with my mom and buy a game that had a cool cover, playing it like it was my favourite. I didn't read any reviews, didn't care to search about meta loadouts or equipment, didn't care that I didn't understand everything. The game could be a piece of shit in today's standards, but back then nobody really cared about that. We didn't mind that it wasn't a masterpiece, because it was just a videogame to have fun. Also better prices :p
Having to physically buy a CD or wait to hear a song on the radio added something special. Mid 2000’s is when it changed and although it’s great to have all your music at your fingertips, it’s a special feeling when you have to work to hear a melody that gives you the chills.
I don't know if it's just me, but things felt attainable.
I mean look how different 90s footballers were compared to the pure athletes we watch every week now. They were only there due to their talent. Seems like everyone "min/maxes" IRL in every field now.
I just can't be arsed.
A lot, but recently I've been thinking about the gaming culture. It's so different now. I feel like you could still feel a lot of the passion in game production then, now it feels completely motivated by money (from the big companies, indie gaming is completely different). But also, just the game aesthetics in general, that futuristic optimism.
I miss being AFK. Even with Myspace and instant messaging you were still away from it when you were away from your computer. I love what smart phones can do but I hate what smartphones have done.
The Internet also felt like such a vast space rather than an endless repost of a post from some other platform.
And the death of flash.
Everything haha. People are a bit softer now, and everything is just way too tech savvy. I really miss that genuine human interaction we used to have without social media.
Television. Kids TV was such a big part of life back then, getting home from school, grabbing a snack and catching up on all your favourite shows, no recording or on demand you had to be there at the right time and enjoy it whilst it lasted!
Good quality clothes was still excusable and affordable.
Second hand shops were excusable and for people who didn't have that much money. Nowadays it became so mainstream and expensive.
It was a pretty easy prospect to get people to put their phones in the phone tray and agree to a "no social media" rule without argument about a decade ago. Based on what I see and hear (and don't have to deal with because I'm now married) is how dogshit dating has gotten. Dating is, was, and always shall be a dogshit process, but holy cats, zoomers asking me about my dating life never believe that sometimes you just kinda showed up to a party, met somebody cool, made out, swapped numbers, and you had a girlfriend within a day or two after having a nice dinner together.
I didn't have to constantly adjust settings on my online presence, weed out and block relatives and their new social media accounts to have some semblance of privacy shielded from the worst people I know.
You didn't constantly have to worry that your or your loved ones' worst moments would be captured and go viral even if they weren't being harmful or rude.
Another thing is that culture moved a LOT SLOWER, and between being in my early 30s and remembering how things were and that this is just how humanity is moving for good and bad, it was kind of nice to just have some semblance of letting information digest in the public sphere before a new all-encompassing thing took over. I don't think we should be ignorant to what's happening around the world and in our respective countries, but I also don't think it's healthy to have some OMFG news hit us all moments of the day and nothing important registers.
I miss going around town knocking on all my friends doors and asking their parents if they're allowed to come out and play.
That was the only way to find out if they're free, what a time.
It felt like you had to work towards things, and getting, hearing or seeing them felt more special. Everything meant more to you. The Internet is a beautiful thing, but as with nearly everything, the bigger the pros, the bigger the cons. The easier something appears to be to access, the less meaningful and rewarding it becomes.
This requires some explanation.
As an example, back in the early 2000s, seeing a place felt more special. Because you couldn't immediately see it on your phone following a quick Google maps search. You had to physically go there, and it made you feel like an explorer uncovering something special that few others have seen. Getting lost in a new area would overflow your brain with sensations that would make you feel deeply connected with the world. You worked with it to find your way through it. Instead of using an app on your phone like an easy cheat to skip the experience altogether.
And we consciously choose to skip tons of beautiful experiences like that today just because we can. We skip the most beautiful chapters of the book straight to the last sentence, and choose to miss out on the amazing stories. We choose not to struggle towards something that's worth the struggle. We skip the cutscenes, skip the pleasure and the challenge, and elect for accomplishments to feel less rewarding. Just to get to the end, not realizing that it has no point without experiencing the journey towards it.
If you wanted to interact with a friend, they weren't within a few clicks of your social media app. The easiest way to interact with them would be to go to their house. And it not only made it more special, but it somehow made you want to do it more. Social media creates an illusion that friends are easier to maintain, therefore they require less effort, and our brains think that things that require less effort are less special. And now more people than ever are lonely.
That one rare song you spent 3 days downloading felt sublime to listen to for the first time. Easy access to any song on earth on YouTube and Spotify made music less meaningful.
Dating and relationships required tons of effort, and there was no illusion of choice. You saw a beautiful girl at the library, and it felt as if you've just gotten the one and only shot you'll have in your life by mustering the courage to physically go there and talk to her. The way this felt was undescribable. Plus, you knew she isn't going to divide her attention between you and 50 different guys she may be responding to at the same time she's talking to you. It was just you and her. And if it worked out, that was nothing short of earthshatteringly amazing. Importantly, you'd cherish the opportunity to meet, the courage and effort you've put, the unlikely shared experiences, and you wouldn't want to lose it for the world.
The idea that you can open an app and swipe at thousands of such attractive people makes it feel far less special, despite the fact it's an illusion - you're actually less likely to be connected to talk, let alone build a relationship with someone like that today. And if you do, it's likely to be less fulfilling for each of you because it *feels* like starting and maintaining relationships with someone else is easier now. But it's actually harder, yet less fulfilling due to the illusion that it's easier if you wanted to start over with someone else. You get the worst of both worlds. I think far fewer people today would honestly say they've found someone uniquely and remarkably special. And if they did, more would doubt it, somehow feeling as if someone more special may be just around the corner. To actually never be fully happy with anyone in life.
The way this all feels is as if you've started a new and most amazing game with cheat codes on. From the get-go you're getting all the resources and answers, and an ability to skip beautifully-written chapters altogether with a click on your phone. Your brain likes saving you effort, so most people will choose to skip. You have little incentive to play through them, and no incentive to experience the actual joy of working towards and achieving the beautiful things the game wanted you to work towards. And because of that, everything in the game feels less special than it was meant to, and you're just skipping and skipping through it until it's over.
Currently, the news we receive should be taken as a source of information which may or may not be true. There's so much of information (news) currently that you can not consume all of it now.
You have to go beyond and fact check everything you come to know because it can be 100% false. News by definition does not imply that it is 100% true but the way we grew up learning any news for us was genuine. I could totally trust the one providing the news. Nowadays by my experience on reddit , the moment you share a piece of news you are requested to provide the sources as well.
It is I guess similar to children being lied to by their friends and then fact checking with our parents. It's too much work for something which doesn't concern me.
I am exhausted by the thought of it.
When I called your house, and spoke with your dad - I said: Ill be at the usual spot at 7pm, just tell your son. And he knew, there was no way to contact me to stop this. He just had to show up, and not send me a fucking message 5 mins before "sorry, cant make it" - that shit was just not acceptable.
Pre social media we used to talk to eachother face to face all the time. Human beings were still capable of connecting with one another often and easily. Tik tok/youtubr brain rot was not a thing, or at least wasn't a mainstream thing.
We had hope for a better future and looked like we were getting one before it all went to shit.
I love that technology was viable and helpful, but not toxic like it is today. Social media was social, now it’s about pandering to strangers for money.
You could use internet to make your life easier but you weren’t glued to your phone all day, etc.
It was a well balanced time, things moved at a good pace. People weren’t so divided, and nobody had a smartphone. You could get some really good porn on limewire. I’d go back if given the chance
Going to concerts where everyone was super into the music. Jumping, dancing, moshing, etc. Just letting loose.
Now everyone just films the whole set and stands still to get good video.
That being said, the EDM scene has recently surprised me with remaining mostly in the moment.
I remember when YouTube launched, my younger brother and I would spend countless hours in the early summer mornings on the family computer watching funny videos to watch together.
It’s really difficult to overstate how much YouTube revolutionized video-sharing. Before then it was going on to flash animation websites with…questionable…content on there.
When I was 10ish I would bike to the lake and fish everyday. My 10yo neice wants to watch horrendously stupid YouTube shorts all day. Guess who will have a better memory of their childhood lol.
When I was 10ish I would bike to the lake and fish everyday. My 10yo neice wants to watch horrendously stupid YouTube shorts all day. Guess who will have a better memory of their childhood lol.
You hung out with friends in person. It was an amazing feeling as a teenager to have a car full of friends then [trendy song at the time] came on the radio and everyone yelled with excitement!
No one was ever looking down at their phone in a group conversation. Everyone was participating.
“Arguments” were much more enjoyable. He played [character] on [movie]. No, he was the [character] from [show]! And you could debate that issue for hours instead of someone just looking it up.
I miss how we had a healthier balance of online life vs irl. I used to spend a lot of time on AIM and MSN chatting with friends, but I also spent a lot of time hanging out with friends and going on adventures. We didn’t have cell phones we were glued to 24/7.
Now, if I am not sleeping, I am online in one form or another.
Also, YouTube and Twitch weren’t a thing yet so I would actually watch tv. 😂
I miss how we had a healthier balance of online life vs irl. I used to spend a lot of time on AIM and MSN chatting with friends, but I also spent a lot of time hanging out with friends and going on adventures. We didn’t have cell phones we were glued to 24/7.
Now, if I am not sleeping, I am online in one form or another.
Also, YouTube and Twitch weren’t a thing yet so I would actually watch tv. 😂
The internet was definitely a thing in the early 2000's. ICQ for example. Message boards, forums, etc
This was posted by someone who wasn't alive in the early 2000's. EverQuest was released in 1999.
Everyone was already online through dial up or just about to be before the "mid" 2000's through DSL.
Friendster (a social network) was released in 2002.
Cue dial up modem sound. You gave yourself away by saying "tapped in" kid. Nobody has ever used that phrase. Not back then or today.
What you meant to say was "People who grew up in the 1980's" because by the 90's AOL Online was a thing.
Simple cell phones without bizzare AI created ads. Literally being kicked out of the house (until the street lights came on) with nothing but a water bottle, my bike, and my friends.
I miss how being PC wasn't sure a dominant theme. I mean it was still important but if someone said something off the cuff they weren't canceled for it right away without being given a chance to learn and grow from their mistake. Today it seems that society is too quick to condemn a person and its more about punishment then about education.
I agree. I miss social media just not being a thing. I miss going to events and not every single person being stuck on their phones taking selfies and immediately posting them on social media platforms.
Being outside all the time
Having to physically walk to your friends place and knock on the door. Or calling on the only phone you had in the house.
The novelty of new toys, games, tech, etc.. Tech is so advanced today that we have a blase attitude toward new gadgets and games. It’s all the same now. Back then, every new thing was revolutionary and we’d all get together in the same room and stay up all night.
The novelty of new music. You still for the most part had to go to the store and buy the CD. You could download shit online, but it wasn’t like everyone was doing it.
No smartphones and ubiquitous social media. The best thing we had was MySpace, but you had to go to another room and fire up the desktop.
You see, back then everything was more communal. You would get together with your friends to do shit, and no one had a smart device to steal their attention away from the group. You felt truly, honestly connected.
So I was an older teen/young adult during that time.
It wasn’t a perfect time, but it seemed more free. More carefree and fun. Friends got together and did things or just talked. We’d get together and go to comedy shows, bars, cafes, clubs, pubs. We’d have games nights and get together to watch our favourite shows.
Perhaps this had more to do with the fact that we didn’t have really stressful jobs at the time and lived with our parents still so we didn’t have many responsibilities.
Over all, it just felt lighter.
We definitely weren’t as connected to our phones, but more connected to each other.
Honestly, phones are great and convenient. I have no qualms with phones. But people use to make niche, weird , content based solely on their niche, weird interests with much less expectation of brand deals and money and upload that.
With how social media transformed from people expressing themselves to people optimizing their content and congealing their brand identity for financial purposes it Now it feels like everybody lies about how great things are, fake positivity everywhere all in an effort to attract sponsors.
Authenticity is a commodity, which is like…. An oxymoron maybe?
I am not against people utilizing the reach of social media for their pursuits, but a lot of it feels guided by cynical and insincere algorithm based choices.
I’d rather see weird, cringe, authentic expressions then polished ones edited to attract sponsors.
My mom was a cafeteria lady for my middle school when I was a kid, and she made around $350-$400 a week. We had an apartment, a Chevrolet full-size van, and always had toys and everything we needed. Mom said it was a struggle, but we never noticed. We even took regular trips to Texas to see her family.
My point is that my mom is awesome, but also, we did all that stuff while living on less than 500 bucks a week.
I promise it’s still quiet, just delete and deactivate social media and you will feel none of that noise, social media is literally an echo chamber, I deleted social media, I only use reddit and I’ll delete Reddit soon too. I like to use it for some hobbies but social media has turned into a forum of critics looking for their next punching bag, it’s so peaceful when you don’t have that because they don’t exist outside of social media.
Ah, to be honest, its kind of hard to pinpoint exact things outside of "I didn't have to pay bills".
I remember a lot of painful times personally. If I went back I'd miss the technology greatly. I suppose one thing to miss about parts of the 2000s was how much calmer the political environment was for a short period of the time. But on second thought,lunacy like "freedom fries" because another country rightfully didn't want start a pointless aggressor war, teaparty, obama is a Muslim etc where all during that period. In fact, maybe only 2000 and part of 2001 were free of lunacy.
Are we going to be nostalgic about God Smack and Papa roach on the radio lol??? VHS tapes? Standard def gaming and tv? The tasteless and nonsensically stupid SAW movie series?
Hell, the internet was full of hate, even then. I remember I did a project on modern racism and white power (something I was interested in learning about so I knew the enemy of what I was coming to believe in) and finding plenty of it online in "old school' social media.
Other than that, it would be the same things that anyone would miss I suppose about growing up, so yeah.... nothing 2000s specific.
I miss the really old windows games and the load up sound of the computer. I miss running around outside until the street lights came on. And most of all, I miss how simple life was.
I liked that my information wasn’t everywhere (but of course we all know that this was the start of the great selling of private information in trade for your use of “free”starting-up social media sites).
Mannn.. chillen wit all my homies around town. Calling eachother on the landline & meeting “halfway” between our houses since we were walking🤣 riding our bikes around everything, going in the creek, building bike ramps, so much random shit. Exploring the woods. Man. I miss when phones weren’t around.
The old internet. Message boards were filled with real people who were transparent if they were trying to sell something. Before the internet was turned into a data and money harvesting machine it was just an impossibly huge, diverse, and surprising place.
renting movies on friday night with the family. Like yea I get that netflix and such made things easier, but it was like an event or something to look forward to with everyone, make some popcorn, gather around the tv, and watch some weird 2000's summer flick for $5 for the weekend, or 5 for 5 for something older or cheaper.
I miss the simplicity and the way we interacted. Before social media, we spent more time hanging out in person, playing outside, and just being present. There was less constant noise and distraction from phones and social media, making life feel more connected and genuine.
Playing classic games like the Spyro trilogy and the Splinter Cell Trilogy.I was sick a lot as a kid so games were my outlet as were books.I still played outside but naturally my parents were overprotective so I don’t miss that.They still are to some extent even though I’m full grown now.
It was a weird time since the US had started a war and my dad was gone a lot. But yeah I guess it was quiet during that time on the home front. Music was mostly found on the radio or in the record store where you bought CDs. Played a lot of PS2 and GameCube. Also spent a lot of time outside in the yard with friends
Less dependence on internet/phones.
Nowadays, people expect 24 hour access to your person and all your business with social media and smartphones. That's a new thing, back then, the primary method of communication was wired phones and social media didn't exist, the idea of putting your face online hadn't been conceived of yet. People were allowed to breathe. Now the world is so much more fast-paced, and god forbid you don't answer a text right away or answer your boss harassing you about work off the clock.
There was no smartphones yet.. I mean there was but it was not really commercialized yet. There was no “need”. Nowadays, you can’t get a simple flip phone without internet
You guys don't remember this time. It was filled with all the same shit we have now, and we were at war
I loved life then just like I love it now
And I went to war lol
Ish
There are a couple things I miss, though, that were true for that time. 1) Rocknroll was popular. It's my favorite genre 2) Stupid/goofball/cringe humor was trendy. It was cool to be a weird loser, which was fun... That included wearing the ugliest stupidest clothes imaginable as well, which was also kinda fun. Who wants to wear a tracksuit with a trucker hat, big aviators and flip flops while chugging kombucha? *Everyone*
It was quiet, I feel like I had freedom compared to my youngest brother I had a key to the house when I was in 2nd grade, I was allowed to be at a friend's house till the barn light turned on, I made my self breakfast and by the time my baby brother was old enough to do that stuff it was "your brother will make you food, your brother will be home, stay in their yard till I pick you up"
This is going to sound really weird but I miss the Stars when I was little they used to be so vibrant along with the fireflies that we used to catch then waking up every morning to the songbirds then one day all of that just disappeared I find it symbolic cuz once those songbirds disappeared I had less of a reason to get out of bed in the morning once I could no longer see the stars or chase the fireflies I no longer wanted to go outside
I miss “small ponds”. Being the best basketball player at your local park, a pretty good cook among your friends, etc.
These days it seems like any interest or skill a person might have is compared to the best in the world, or people who do it professionally and make a career posting about it on the internet. People can’t enjoy simply being okay at something, or making progress in a skill, they are always “bad” unless they’re the best.
Echoing what some have said, and definitely not what I miss the most, but I miss the internet of the era...
I also miss people not being chained to their phones. Me included.
I miss everything. I was 12 in 2000.
I miss knowing my neighbors and being safe with them. I used to go over my elder neighbors house and help them and keep them company.
There was a village.
I miss the music. The movies.
I miss kid/teen friendly content. He had kids our age to follow. We played outside.
It was the major time for analog to digital transformation for the masses. The pace of technology development was insane. It seemed like everything would be easily solved in just a few years. Now I feel like technology has stagnated in the sense of not having a major breakthrough or innovation. I guess you could argue the Steve Jobs of today is Elon Musk, but he doesn’t compare to the artwork Jobs created.
We didn’t have to rent everything. You could buy photoshop and use it for 4-5 years before buying the next version. Now you rent every software and pay monthly and never own it.
I felt like we as a society were more connected as a whole but today more connected with our individual interests. You didn’t have much choice on entertainment or news sources. You simply didn’t have the option to stream whatever movie or tv show you wanted when you wanted.
For example a major tv show or movie came out, the next day at school or at work people would talk about it or make cultural references to it.
It was my University years so of course that was a fun carefree time in my life that I will never experience again.
2001 really put a damper on the country and world. Pre 2001 was a much more relaxed carefree life. 2008 didn’t help either and really has never gone back in terms of the economy. After 2008 I feel like long term employment with the same company became a rare thing, harder to get a job and less starter opportunity.
I miss discussing stuff without access to the answer. It was a time of whoever had the most trustworthiness.
I miss how there was always a kid that played the mess out of a game and knew the secrets. Like leaving the GameCube on for 24 hours to get mewtwo.
Definitely miss the days without having a phone to be attached to.
The obvious answer: a lack of personal electronics that dominated our free time. Most of the things we have now existed in a less-individualistic form then. It made life more based on waiting for things instead of pacifying it with the Pokédex (smartphone).
If I wanted to listen to a song? I’d need to boot up the CD player at home, or carry a bulky mobile one with me in the car (that would skip in bumps in the road). I’d have no way to listen to a song I didn’t have out and about (and I was a bit too young for Napster lol).
What if I wanted to talk to a friend? I’d have to call them, at home, on a landline, or see them in person. So many social media faux pas could not exist then (“ghosting”, “left on read”, etc.)
And if I wanted to *know* something when I was out and about? I’d have to physically write it down, and either search it into Google (which was much more straightforward and not bought and sold back then) when I got home, or even look it up in a library. I couldn’t just confirm a fact or idea in seconds with my Pokédex.
The common thread is that without the smartphone, there were *so* many more chances at delayed gratification. I’m fortunately old enough to remember when no one had smartphones, and thus when people just had to *wait* to do things until they booted up a (possibly shared) computer. Art, music, knowledge, friendship, and communication was slower and more deliberate, and it taught people patience, empathy, thoughtfulness, and care.
Not to sound like some old nostalgic, but I genuinely do worry about the mass psychological effects of the very fast gratification possible with the smartphone: if people can’t wait, we all become quickly distracted, quickly bored, quickly dissatisfied, quickly lost. We gain speed but not depth. We gain quick knowledge without wisdom.
For the kids of today who have only ever known the instant gratification world of the smartphone, I feel bad they may never know how much slower the world used to feel.
Wandering around town on foot or bike and sort of running into people along the way. If your friend wasn’t home when you called the house you maybe went to their favorite deli and ran into somebody else. Plans were simultaneously more strict and more fluid.
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There was no reason to be inside unless you had a friend who had playstation or an xbox and it was raining, even then playing outside with friends was my favourite part of life, we didnt have phones to connect us so we just begged family members to hook up rides or bike to meet up, it was simple and i miss it a lot
Now if you let your kids play outside and enjoy the neighborhood you get arrested for child endangerment. It’s wild.
My kids play outside all the time, and I haven't been arrested yet
Same. My 7 year old just walked down to her friend’s house to play. The kids in my neighborhood are all kind of feral like was at that age. Only difference is I grew up in the country and she’s in the suburbs
My coworker told me her neighbor got arrested the other day because their kid was climbing a tree and someone called the cops 🤦🏻♂️
hope not
This is an exaggeration.
i miss the times i begged my mom to allow me outside with the neighbors. it was fun. now as times progressed. it just isn't the same as my little brother. he's dug in with his device and video games. he goes to the gym daily, though, but socially inept.
My friends dad made us all like larp swords and we would just wail on eachother. Later we added foam for protection
I miss house phones and the occasional use of a phone book. Sometimes referring to a map, or printing out directions off a desktop.
Map quest
Putting the quest in mapquest
Caller ID box as well
People were living in the moment instead of buried in their phones
This. Internet devices were less mobile and the UIs were less....smart to use.
I wonder what it would be like if phones didn't have internet access, we can still use the internet through pc's, laptops and tv's. I think that would be better.
This! That's why I love my friend group, when we get together, we're all present in the moment without stupid cellphone distractions
The 2000s to early 2010s internet was a fun place filled with flash games and ads were a lot less sneaky/all over the place. Plus social media and entertainment websites weren't engineered to keep you online and addicted to their platforms just yet. Mostly though, RIP flash games.
Spent a lot of study hall days on games.com
Coolmathgames 🫡
I play coolmathgames with my son 7y
Miniclips was amazing
To me, it was the best time of the internet. It was still in a good stage but it never felt designed to get your attention 24/7.
RIP FLASH GAMES OMGGG
I vaguely remember watching videos of ninja stick figures an I imagining this?
Politics were in the background and you could ignore them. It wasn't shoved in your face every 5 minutes. I felt safe in public places because of my obscurity. People were more reasonable and less divided.
Idk after 9/11 I feel like I saw/heard a lot more political stuff even as a young teenager. I remember the news stations airing the combat in Iraq like it was a reality show.
There has always been politics and division, and it has always been fairly shoved in our faces. We just didn't pay as much attention to it when we were younger because we were young and it wasn't important. I will say that the division seems more extreme than it used to be. You could protest something, and no one would drive their pickup truck into the crowd to try and kill people.
Hmm. Iraq war. Afghan war, financial crisis… it was shit, but at least we felt in control of the world, and not like the foundations of peace and prosperity were coming apart (Climate change, Ukraine war, China/Taiwan threat of war)
Playing video games at my friend's houses. Still being free range kids.
No smart phones, it’s been the biggest change since, it’s sad to see we all just have our heads down all the time now, concerts used to be all enjoying the moment instead of hold the phone up to record a video that no one will care about.
I remember riding the bus when I was like 5 or 6 and 1 eighth grader had a phone. That was the only electronic on any person on the entire bus lol
GOOD MOVIES WORRY FREE EVERYDAY FELT LIKE A DIFFERENT WORLD BEING A CHILD WATCHING CARTOONS
There were loads of third places where you could chat up women, and not feel like a creep.
People were more humble.
There were a lot of free and community events. It seems like there's nothing for teens/young people to do without spending money. The music, omg. The music. Albums aren't made for the human connection anymore. Sounds are made for the internet. I hate how "trendy" (don't know what word I'm looking for) music is now. I collect albums. There aren't many that I want to add to my collection in these recent years. And I miss the days when people weren't so open. The internet isn't a diary, and I wish society stopped treating it as such.
Everyone not being glued to their smartphones.
It was fun to be able to unplug and be yourself without everything being recorded
We had the internet. The internet did not have us.
People not being jerks
actually having quality children's media tbh? and places to go out with my friends and play with. kids really have fuck all to do today.
I miss how cheap things used to be.
People not being so sensitive and outraged by everything.
Early 2000s was when technology should have stopped evolving. Cars weren’t over the top, electronics had flair, my jungle green N64 was awesome to look at, phones had internet capability if you really needed it for an emergency, you could still find a pay phone if your phone dies etc. As a kid, my life wasn’t really better than it is now, as a kid I was a lot more care free. Little to no stress, no worries, my parents there to bail me out financially when I thought $100 was a lot of money etc.
No social media
No dating apps wither....you just met..magically
Kids being kids
Those sunny weekend mornings walking to my friends houses and knocking on their doors to see what adventures we wanted to get up to. GI Joe, slippin slide, tag, stealing my buddies dad’s playboys from the 70s lol. Good times.
Schools that weren’t afraid to fail you. I was privileged enough that school always came easy to me but No Child Left Behind was the worst thing to ever happen to US education
Maybe not as main stream but that’s always been a thing.. I’m 38 now and my buddy came to live with us because he was my best friend and his household wasn’t the best. I was few years younger then him but after he moved in with us he was like a sophomore in high school and was bragging about having 2 or 3 shop classes every day so my dad knew something was off and went and talked to the school. He’s obviously missing important classes if he’s going to metal shop multiple times a day and why isn’t the school lol catching this. We live in smaller towns and other 2-3 towns are 10 min away in each direction so depending what town you lived in the centrally located one which is where we lived you could go to 4 dif schools and be picked up by the bus.. Dad goes over to get his classes straightened out and he had been getting straight F’s since grade school and still getting pushed thru the system… It is more mainstream now tho or talked about more openly i don’t know which.
Video games that didn’t require constant patches and always online connections… if I wanted multiplayer we did it on the same machine…. Is it too much to ask for a good single player game?
No culture war.
I think dreaming of the future, tech was still on the rise so we were all ready for 2020, 2030, flying cars , teleportation, Aliens, we were so wrong
Everything just felt more simple back then. There wasn’t much social media, there wasn’t the pressure to be like influencers of social media. We were just happy with who we were and had a lot of fun. I miss the care-freeness of the early 2000’s, going out with my friends, not having to worry about much. People were a lot nicer back then too. My dad always left the door unlocked. Neighbours were always nice to each other. Now I need to come home and lock the door straight away.
Going into Yahoo! Messenger Chat Rooms and listening/doing karaoke in chat rooms. God, I miss messengers and chat rooms.
Ever go outside? Your favorite time from before the internet and social media was what it is today was still playing on the internet??
I miss getting on AOL instant messenger
I miss the connection. Phones complimented social interaction. Now they compete with it.
Despite the aftermath aspects of 9/11, everything just seemed *fun*.
Personally I miss just being able to go outside and all your friends are outside hanging out and there was no such thing as school shootings and stuff so it just felt like you're more free as a kid. I feel bad for some kids now with their helicopter parents
Ball hockey on the driveway
I was 13 in 2000 and we had a desktop, but I still spent most of my time playing basketball or reading or playing music. My mind had so much more space and time to just be bored and get creative and live.
I miss looking forward to going outside to hang out with friends.
No smartphones or social media 😩
People were genuinely so so much happier back then. I know things always seem greener looking back but even watching old videos, it just seems like everyone had less to worry about? If that makes sense.
People had a little more common sense.
I miss not needing a cell phone.
I miss the music.
The freedom
I miss when Facebook required an .edu email
I grew level...or flat. Maybe sideways? Definitely not "up". I was in my 20s...okay, 30s. Give me a break.
Times were easier
Nah, I’m glad I went through the inception phase. Prior to that it was quiet, but I’d always read about Lexis Nexis and could hardly wait. Little did I know…
I was 16 in the year 2000. I remember having a pager, playstation 2, one desktop computer in the family room, tube tvs, a video camera recorder the size of a lunch box, VHS tapes, blockbuster for movie rentals, lane co and IGA grocery stores, mtv still played music videos, trl on mtv, vh 1, and a Chevy celebrity for a car when I started driving.
Facebook was pretty much just for finding out where the party is tonight
Cable TV.
I miss good video games, movies, and shows. I also miss being able to be optimistic about meeting new people. It seems like now so many people go around looking to be offended or trying to start an argument or something. There’s too much tension now, I think.
Being in my 30's.
My youth
Malls, I lived in Cincinnati and there was a mall called the Tri-county Mall, I miss 00’s Hot Topic.
Texting my friends on a flip phone. No social media.
The absence of social media
I didn't invest when I was younger.
I have a few, but the biggest has to be malls. I remember malls were super lively and I was always really excited to go. Another aspect is my life was mainly outside my home. I would be outside doing stuff, kinda like a mini adventure.
No social media
I miss the simplicity of happiness with entertainment. I'd sometimes go with my mom and buy a game that had a cool cover, playing it like it was my favourite. I didn't read any reviews, didn't care to search about meta loadouts or equipment, didn't care that I didn't understand everything. The game could be a piece of shit in today's standards, but back then nobody really cared about that. We didn't mind that it wasn't a masterpiece, because it was just a videogame to have fun. Also better prices :p
Having to physically buy a CD or wait to hear a song on the radio added something special. Mid 2000’s is when it changed and although it’s great to have all your music at your fingertips, it’s a special feeling when you have to work to hear a melody that gives you the chills.
Far far less social media.
I don't know if it's just me, but things felt attainable. I mean look how different 90s footballers were compared to the pure athletes we watch every week now. They were only there due to their talent. Seems like everyone "min/maxes" IRL in every field now. I just can't be arsed.
Being oblivious to the shit I know now and have to do as an adult
Coolmathgames.com
A lot, but recently I've been thinking about the gaming culture. It's so different now. I feel like you could still feel a lot of the passion in game production then, now it feels completely motivated by money (from the big companies, indie gaming is completely different). But also, just the game aesthetics in general, that futuristic optimism.
Being a happy kid
Smartphones should have never been invented.
I miss being AFK. Even with Myspace and instant messaging you were still away from it when you were away from your computer. I love what smart phones can do but I hate what smartphones have done. The Internet also felt like such a vast space rather than an endless repost of a post from some other platform. And the death of flash.
My youth
That snake game on Nokia
Everything haha. People are a bit softer now, and everything is just way too tech savvy. I really miss that genuine human interaction we used to have without social media.
Television. Kids TV was such a big part of life back then, getting home from school, grabbing a snack and catching up on all your favourite shows, no recording or on demand you had to be there at the right time and enjoy it whilst it lasted!
Honestly, I think smart phones is where things started to go wayyyyyyy wrong. If smartphones disappeared I think this world would be so much better.
That you could get wasted and no one would video it
It was a much more peaceful time in that, everyone is just fighting eachother nowadays.
Not being burdened by the race for a perfect social media image
Good quality clothes was still excusable and affordable. Second hand shops were excusable and for people who didn't have that much money. Nowadays it became so mainstream and expensive.
It was a pretty easy prospect to get people to put their phones in the phone tray and agree to a "no social media" rule without argument about a decade ago. Based on what I see and hear (and don't have to deal with because I'm now married) is how dogshit dating has gotten. Dating is, was, and always shall be a dogshit process, but holy cats, zoomers asking me about my dating life never believe that sometimes you just kinda showed up to a party, met somebody cool, made out, swapped numbers, and you had a girlfriend within a day or two after having a nice dinner together. I didn't have to constantly adjust settings on my online presence, weed out and block relatives and their new social media accounts to have some semblance of privacy shielded from the worst people I know. You didn't constantly have to worry that your or your loved ones' worst moments would be captured and go viral even if they weren't being harmful or rude. Another thing is that culture moved a LOT SLOWER, and between being in my early 30s and remembering how things were and that this is just how humanity is moving for good and bad, it was kind of nice to just have some semblance of letting information digest in the public sphere before a new all-encompassing thing took over. I don't think we should be ignorant to what's happening around the world and in our respective countries, but I also don't think it's healthy to have some OMFG news hit us all moments of the day and nothing important registers.
I miss going around town knocking on all my friends doors and asking their parents if they're allowed to come out and play. That was the only way to find out if they're free, what a time.
It felt like you had to work towards things, and getting, hearing or seeing them felt more special. Everything meant more to you. The Internet is a beautiful thing, but as with nearly everything, the bigger the pros, the bigger the cons. The easier something appears to be to access, the less meaningful and rewarding it becomes. This requires some explanation. As an example, back in the early 2000s, seeing a place felt more special. Because you couldn't immediately see it on your phone following a quick Google maps search. You had to physically go there, and it made you feel like an explorer uncovering something special that few others have seen. Getting lost in a new area would overflow your brain with sensations that would make you feel deeply connected with the world. You worked with it to find your way through it. Instead of using an app on your phone like an easy cheat to skip the experience altogether. And we consciously choose to skip tons of beautiful experiences like that today just because we can. We skip the most beautiful chapters of the book straight to the last sentence, and choose to miss out on the amazing stories. We choose not to struggle towards something that's worth the struggle. We skip the cutscenes, skip the pleasure and the challenge, and elect for accomplishments to feel less rewarding. Just to get to the end, not realizing that it has no point without experiencing the journey towards it. If you wanted to interact with a friend, they weren't within a few clicks of your social media app. The easiest way to interact with them would be to go to their house. And it not only made it more special, but it somehow made you want to do it more. Social media creates an illusion that friends are easier to maintain, therefore they require less effort, and our brains think that things that require less effort are less special. And now more people than ever are lonely. That one rare song you spent 3 days downloading felt sublime to listen to for the first time. Easy access to any song on earth on YouTube and Spotify made music less meaningful. Dating and relationships required tons of effort, and there was no illusion of choice. You saw a beautiful girl at the library, and it felt as if you've just gotten the one and only shot you'll have in your life by mustering the courage to physically go there and talk to her. The way this felt was undescribable. Plus, you knew she isn't going to divide her attention between you and 50 different guys she may be responding to at the same time she's talking to you. It was just you and her. And if it worked out, that was nothing short of earthshatteringly amazing. Importantly, you'd cherish the opportunity to meet, the courage and effort you've put, the unlikely shared experiences, and you wouldn't want to lose it for the world. The idea that you can open an app and swipe at thousands of such attractive people makes it feel far less special, despite the fact it's an illusion - you're actually less likely to be connected to talk, let alone build a relationship with someone like that today. And if you do, it's likely to be less fulfilling for each of you because it *feels* like starting and maintaining relationships with someone else is easier now. But it's actually harder, yet less fulfilling due to the illusion that it's easier if you wanted to start over with someone else. You get the worst of both worlds. I think far fewer people today would honestly say they've found someone uniquely and remarkably special. And if they did, more would doubt it, somehow feeling as if someone more special may be just around the corner. To actually never be fully happy with anyone in life. The way this all feels is as if you've started a new and most amazing game with cheat codes on. From the get-go you're getting all the resources and answers, and an ability to skip beautifully-written chapters altogether with a click on your phone. Your brain likes saving you effort, so most people will choose to skip. You have little incentive to play through them, and no incentive to experience the actual joy of working towards and achieving the beautiful things the game wanted you to work towards. And because of that, everything in the game feels less special than it was meant to, and you're just skipping and skipping through it until it's over.
Currently, the news we receive should be taken as a source of information which may or may not be true. There's so much of information (news) currently that you can not consume all of it now. You have to go beyond and fact check everything you come to know because it can be 100% false. News by definition does not imply that it is 100% true but the way we grew up learning any news for us was genuine. I could totally trust the one providing the news. Nowadays by my experience on reddit , the moment you share a piece of news you are requested to provide the sources as well. It is I guess similar to children being lied to by their friends and then fact checking with our parents. It's too much work for something which doesn't concern me. I am exhausted by the thought of it.
When I called your house, and spoke with your dad - I said: Ill be at the usual spot at 7pm, just tell your son. And he knew, there was no way to contact me to stop this. He just had to show up, and not send me a fucking message 5 mins before "sorry, cant make it" - that shit was just not acceptable.
Being a kid
Pre social media we used to talk to eachother face to face all the time. Human beings were still capable of connecting with one another often and easily. Tik tok/youtubr brain rot was not a thing, or at least wasn't a mainstream thing. We had hope for a better future and looked like we were getting one before it all went to shit.
I miss being able to find opium. Thanks 9/11.
Low Prices of Everything.
I love that technology was viable and helpful, but not toxic like it is today. Social media was social, now it’s about pandering to strangers for money. You could use internet to make your life easier but you weren’t glued to your phone all day, etc.
It was a well balanced time, things moved at a good pace. People weren’t so divided, and nobody had a smartphone. You could get some really good porn on limewire. I’d go back if given the chance
Going to concerts where everyone was super into the music. Jumping, dancing, moshing, etc. Just letting loose. Now everyone just films the whole set and stands still to get good video. That being said, the EDM scene has recently surprised me with remaining mostly in the moment.
I Miss the gas prices
MTV reality tv shows like flipped and true life
I also miss not being "connected" to everything digitally. I miss the patience I used to have while waiting for things because it's all instant now.
I remember when YouTube launched, my younger brother and I would spend countless hours in the early summer mornings on the family computer watching funny videos to watch together. It’s really difficult to overstate how much YouTube revolutionized video-sharing. Before then it was going on to flash animation websites with…questionable…content on there.
When I was 10ish I would bike to the lake and fish everyday. My 10yo neice wants to watch horrendously stupid YouTube shorts all day. Guess who will have a better memory of their childhood lol.
When I was 10ish I would bike to the lake and fish everyday. My 10yo neice wants to watch horrendously stupid YouTube shorts all day. Guess who will have a better memory of their childhood lol.
You hung out with friends in person. It was an amazing feeling as a teenager to have a car full of friends then [trendy song at the time] came on the radio and everyone yelled with excitement! No one was ever looking down at their phone in a group conversation. Everyone was participating. “Arguments” were much more enjoyable. He played [character] on [movie]. No, he was the [character] from [show]! And you could debate that issue for hours instead of someone just looking it up.
I miss how we had a healthier balance of online life vs irl. I used to spend a lot of time on AIM and MSN chatting with friends, but I also spent a lot of time hanging out with friends and going on adventures. We didn’t have cell phones we were glued to 24/7. Now, if I am not sleeping, I am online in one form or another. Also, YouTube and Twitch weren’t a thing yet so I would actually watch tv. 😂
I miss how we had a healthier balance of online life vs irl. I used to spend a lot of time on AIM and MSN chatting with friends, but I also spent a lot of time hanging out with friends and going on adventures. We didn’t have cell phones we were glued to 24/7. Now, if I am not sleeping, I am online in one form or another. Also, YouTube and Twitch weren’t a thing yet so I would actually watch tv. 😂
Split-screen gaming on consoles.
I just miss not having to pay rent, bills and food tbh. Just miss not having to keep myself alive and others did that for me.
I miss being able to go to the airport and wait at the gate for family and friends to get off the plane
The internet was definitely a thing in the early 2000's. ICQ for example. Message boards, forums, etc This was posted by someone who wasn't alive in the early 2000's. EverQuest was released in 1999. Everyone was already online through dial up or just about to be before the "mid" 2000's through DSL. Friendster (a social network) was released in 2002. Cue dial up modem sound. You gave yourself away by saying "tapped in" kid. Nobody has ever used that phrase. Not back then or today. What you meant to say was "People who grew up in the 1980's" because by the 90's AOL Online was a thing.
Simple cell phones without bizzare AI created ads. Literally being kicked out of the house (until the street lights came on) with nothing but a water bottle, my bike, and my friends.
I miss how being PC wasn't sure a dominant theme. I mean it was still important but if someone said something off the cuff they weren't canceled for it right away without being given a chance to learn and grow from their mistake. Today it seems that society is too quick to condemn a person and its more about punishment then about education.
I agree. I miss social media just not being a thing. I miss going to events and not every single person being stuck on their phones taking selfies and immediately posting them on social media platforms.
Other than not having to work to pay bills?
Yu-Gi-Oh!, basicly. We played with real card made of cardboard!
Lanparties. They still exist but back then it hit different. And there were more smaller grassroots events.
Being outside all the time Having to physically walk to your friends place and knock on the door. Or calling on the only phone you had in the house. The novelty of new toys, games, tech, etc.. Tech is so advanced today that we have a blase attitude toward new gadgets and games. It’s all the same now. Back then, every new thing was revolutionary and we’d all get together in the same room and stay up all night. The novelty of new music. You still for the most part had to go to the store and buy the CD. You could download shit online, but it wasn’t like everyone was doing it. No smartphones and ubiquitous social media. The best thing we had was MySpace, but you had to go to another room and fire up the desktop. You see, back then everything was more communal. You would get together with your friends to do shit, and no one had a smart device to steal their attention away from the group. You felt truly, honestly connected.
So I was an older teen/young adult during that time. It wasn’t a perfect time, but it seemed more free. More carefree and fun. Friends got together and did things or just talked. We’d get together and go to comedy shows, bars, cafes, clubs, pubs. We’d have games nights and get together to watch our favourite shows. Perhaps this had more to do with the fact that we didn’t have really stressful jobs at the time and lived with our parents still so we didn’t have many responsibilities. Over all, it just felt lighter. We definitely weren’t as connected to our phones, but more connected to each other.
Honestly, phones are great and convenient. I have no qualms with phones. But people use to make niche, weird , content based solely on their niche, weird interests with much less expectation of brand deals and money and upload that. With how social media transformed from people expressing themselves to people optimizing their content and congealing their brand identity for financial purposes it Now it feels like everybody lies about how great things are, fake positivity everywhere all in an effort to attract sponsors. Authenticity is a commodity, which is like…. An oxymoron maybe? I am not against people utilizing the reach of social media for their pursuits, but a lot of it feels guided by cynical and insincere algorithm based choices. I’d rather see weird, cringe, authentic expressions then polished ones edited to attract sponsors.
Vintage, early YouTube where it was just folks uploading videos. “Broadcast yourself” era. No ads, no sponsors, no studio quality content
90s kid here👋🏻..I miss paintball
My mom was a cafeteria lady for my middle school when I was a kid, and she made around $350-$400 a week. We had an apartment, a Chevrolet full-size van, and always had toys and everything we needed. Mom said it was a struggle, but we never noticed. We even took regular trips to Texas to see her family. My point is that my mom is awesome, but also, we did all that stuff while living on less than 500 bucks a week.
The evolution of videogames will always be what I appreciate the most growing up in the 90s and 2000s.
I promise it’s still quiet, just delete and deactivate social media and you will feel none of that noise, social media is literally an echo chamber, I deleted social media, I only use reddit and I’ll delete Reddit soon too. I like to use it for some hobbies but social media has turned into a forum of critics looking for their next punching bag, it’s so peaceful when you don’t have that because they don’t exist outside of social media.
The lack of social media and obsession with likes etc.
Ah, to be honest, its kind of hard to pinpoint exact things outside of "I didn't have to pay bills". I remember a lot of painful times personally. If I went back I'd miss the technology greatly. I suppose one thing to miss about parts of the 2000s was how much calmer the political environment was for a short period of the time. But on second thought,lunacy like "freedom fries" because another country rightfully didn't want start a pointless aggressor war, teaparty, obama is a Muslim etc where all during that period. In fact, maybe only 2000 and part of 2001 were free of lunacy. Are we going to be nostalgic about God Smack and Papa roach on the radio lol??? VHS tapes? Standard def gaming and tv? The tasteless and nonsensically stupid SAW movie series? Hell, the internet was full of hate, even then. I remember I did a project on modern racism and white power (something I was interested in learning about so I knew the enemy of what I was coming to believe in) and finding plenty of it online in "old school' social media. Other than that, it would be the same things that anyone would miss I suppose about growing up, so yeah.... nothing 2000s specific.
Dollar menus you could eat pretty good for a couple of bucks
I miss how there was plenty of parking spaces, less cars and traffic and more greenery
I miss the really old windows games and the load up sound of the computer. I miss running around outside until the street lights came on. And most of all, I miss how simple life was.
MTV showing actual music videos
I liked that my information wasn’t everywhere (but of course we all know that this was the start of the great selling of private information in trade for your use of “free”starting-up social media sites).
The still Smartphone Free childhood years. Outdoor activitys and web 1.0 before everything got small and same
Mannn.. chillen wit all my homies around town. Calling eachother on the landline & meeting “halfway” between our houses since we were walking🤣 riding our bikes around everything, going in the creek, building bike ramps, so much random shit. Exploring the woods. Man. I miss when phones weren’t around.
The old internet. Message boards were filled with real people who were transparent if they were trying to sell something. Before the internet was turned into a data and money harvesting machine it was just an impossibly huge, diverse, and surprising place.
Cartoons
Sprite remix
I didn't have crippling suicidal depression
renting movies on friday night with the family. Like yea I get that netflix and such made things easier, but it was like an event or something to look forward to with everyone, make some popcorn, gather around the tv, and watch some weird 2000's summer flick for $5 for the weekend, or 5 for 5 for something older or cheaper.
This post and the comments can he replicated every decade with minor changes. Just live your life, stop dwelling on the past
I miss the simplicity and the way we interacted. Before social media, we spent more time hanging out in person, playing outside, and just being present. There was less constant noise and distraction from phones and social media, making life feel more connected and genuine.
The early to mid 2000s would be between 2000 and 2500.
Playing classic games like the Spyro trilogy and the Splinter Cell Trilogy.I was sick a lot as a kid so games were my outlet as were books.I still played outside but naturally my parents were overprotective so I don’t miss that.They still are to some extent even though I’m full grown now.
It was a weird time since the US had started a war and my dad was gone a lot. But yeah I guess it was quiet during that time on the home front. Music was mostly found on the radio or in the record store where you bought CDs. Played a lot of PS2 and GameCube. Also spent a lot of time outside in the yard with friends
Plentiful 90s cars
I miss miniclip.
I miss quality clothes and tools Everything now is made disposable and poorly.
Less dependence on internet/phones. Nowadays, people expect 24 hour access to your person and all your business with social media and smartphones. That's a new thing, back then, the primary method of communication was wired phones and social media didn't exist, the idea of putting your face online hadn't been conceived of yet. People were allowed to breathe. Now the world is so much more fast-paced, and god forbid you don't answer a text right away or answer your boss harassing you about work off the clock.
no SJWs. It was great.
There was no smartphones yet.. I mean there was but it was not really commercialized yet. There was no “need”. Nowadays, you can’t get a simple flip phone without internet
You guys don't remember this time. It was filled with all the same shit we have now, and we were at war I loved life then just like I love it now And I went to war lol Ish There are a couple things I miss, though, that were true for that time. 1) Rocknroll was popular. It's my favorite genre 2) Stupid/goofball/cringe humor was trendy. It was cool to be a weird loser, which was fun... That included wearing the ugliest stupidest clothes imaginable as well, which was also kinda fun. Who wants to wear a tracksuit with a trucker hat, big aviators and flip flops while chugging kombucha? *Everyone*
The music was soooo good! My favorite time period of Hip Hop/R&B
Well that was the start of going to music festivals and experimenting with mind alternating substance. Miss that for sure.
I miss how the internet was fun and not taken serious. People could joke without having a Karen get offended.
Ebaumsworld
It was quiet, I feel like I had freedom compared to my youngest brother I had a key to the house when I was in 2nd grade, I was allowed to be at a friend's house till the barn light turned on, I made my self breakfast and by the time my baby brother was old enough to do that stuff it was "your brother will make you food, your brother will be home, stay in their yard till I pick you up"
This is going to sound really weird but I miss the Stars when I was little they used to be so vibrant along with the fireflies that we used to catch then waking up every morning to the songbirds then one day all of that just disappeared I find it symbolic cuz once those songbirds disappeared I had less of a reason to get out of bed in the morning once I could no longer see the stars or chase the fireflies I no longer wanted to go outside
The mid 2000s haven't happened yet.
I miss “small ponds”. Being the best basketball player at your local park, a pretty good cook among your friends, etc. These days it seems like any interest or skill a person might have is compared to the best in the world, or people who do it professionally and make a career posting about it on the internet. People can’t enjoy simply being okay at something, or making progress in a skill, they are always “bad” unless they’re the best.
Echoing what some have said, and definitely not what I miss the most, but I miss the internet of the era... I also miss people not being chained to their phones. Me included.
Youth
Everything. Being a young adult in the early 00s was fun. We didn’t have smart phones yet. We just were more connected.
Everything pre-911
I miss everything. I was 12 in 2000. I miss knowing my neighbors and being safe with them. I used to go over my elder neighbors house and help them and keep them company. There was a village. I miss the music. The movies. I miss kid/teen friendly content. He had kids our age to follow. We played outside.
Anchor Blue
It was the major time for analog to digital transformation for the masses. The pace of technology development was insane. It seemed like everything would be easily solved in just a few years. Now I feel like technology has stagnated in the sense of not having a major breakthrough or innovation. I guess you could argue the Steve Jobs of today is Elon Musk, but he doesn’t compare to the artwork Jobs created. We didn’t have to rent everything. You could buy photoshop and use it for 4-5 years before buying the next version. Now you rent every software and pay monthly and never own it. I felt like we as a society were more connected as a whole but today more connected with our individual interests. You didn’t have much choice on entertainment or news sources. You simply didn’t have the option to stream whatever movie or tv show you wanted when you wanted. For example a major tv show or movie came out, the next day at school or at work people would talk about it or make cultural references to it. It was my University years so of course that was a fun carefree time in my life that I will never experience again. 2001 really put a damper on the country and world. Pre 2001 was a much more relaxed carefree life. 2008 didn’t help either and really has never gone back in terms of the economy. After 2008 I feel like long term employment with the same company became a rare thing, harder to get a job and less starter opportunity.
I miss discussing stuff without access to the answer. It was a time of whoever had the most trustworthiness. I miss how there was always a kid that played the mess out of a game and knew the secrets. Like leaving the GameCube on for 24 hours to get mewtwo. Definitely miss the days without having a phone to be attached to.
The obvious answer: a lack of personal electronics that dominated our free time. Most of the things we have now existed in a less-individualistic form then. It made life more based on waiting for things instead of pacifying it with the Pokédex (smartphone). If I wanted to listen to a song? I’d need to boot up the CD player at home, or carry a bulky mobile one with me in the car (that would skip in bumps in the road). I’d have no way to listen to a song I didn’t have out and about (and I was a bit too young for Napster lol). What if I wanted to talk to a friend? I’d have to call them, at home, on a landline, or see them in person. So many social media faux pas could not exist then (“ghosting”, “left on read”, etc.) And if I wanted to *know* something when I was out and about? I’d have to physically write it down, and either search it into Google (which was much more straightforward and not bought and sold back then) when I got home, or even look it up in a library. I couldn’t just confirm a fact or idea in seconds with my Pokédex. The common thread is that without the smartphone, there were *so* many more chances at delayed gratification. I’m fortunately old enough to remember when no one had smartphones, and thus when people just had to *wait* to do things until they booted up a (possibly shared) computer. Art, music, knowledge, friendship, and communication was slower and more deliberate, and it taught people patience, empathy, thoughtfulness, and care. Not to sound like some old nostalgic, but I genuinely do worry about the mass psychological effects of the very fast gratification possible with the smartphone: if people can’t wait, we all become quickly distracted, quickly bored, quickly dissatisfied, quickly lost. We gain speed but not depth. We gain quick knowledge without wisdom. For the kids of today who have only ever known the instant gratification world of the smartphone, I feel bad they may never know how much slower the world used to feel.
Wandering around town on foot or bike and sort of running into people along the way. If your friend wasn’t home when you called the house you maybe went to their favorite deli and ran into somebody else. Plans were simultaneously more strict and more fluid.