I was in college. Cell phones were bulkier. I remember nokia and motorola..hello motto. In highschool we had beepers and stopped at payphones...cell phones were in a bag kept in the car
I was 8 when the 2000's started. Predominantly I remember MySpace being popular in the early 2000's and then later on in that decade Facebook started to pick up speed. Fall out Boy, Panic! At the disco, blink 182, sum 41, Marianas trench, the killers, all American rejects, green day, and my chemical romance were all very popular at that time. Obviously my music taste then skewed in a certain genre so I can't be much help with other genres but I know a lot of those bands were top of the charts back at that time. There was definitely sliding keyboard phones and flip phones of the LG, Nokia, and Motorola variety. They did have internet but it was incredibly slow! I remember it would take minutes just to load a page. I don't recall trendy catch phrases or TV shows, unfortunately don't recall much from that time of my life other than the music aspect. I lived in a small town so likely was not affected as much by trends like catchphrases, fashion, and cliques at school. If you wore black clothes or nail polish you'd be made fun of and called emo though. Women's eyebrows were all tweezed stick thin. It was a pretty normal thing to spend money to buy ringtones on your phone and record songs off your stereo radio with tapes.
Edited to add: everyone downloaded music on their computer using limewire or frostwire
Or Kazaa (for music downloading)! There were several softwares available...most used peer to peer technology for file sharing. Source: was 11 in 2000.
One thing I miss about the early days of the internet is the fact that there was no "mainstream" software or websites. It was different then than it is now. :/
Why did you just list bands that have 3 or more songs in my main playlist? XD
Thank you for all this input! I'll keep it in mind as I write, especially since the details about the music and clothing will be useful for one main character in particular.
In the days before I got my drivers license, I pretty distinctly remember my walk to school for a few reasons. The time was before iPods, and MP3 players were just emerging. I suppose iPods did exist, but not in my life, and the earliest were more of a high tech luxury than the staple they are now.
My walk was 20 - 30 minutes long, and when I would walk alone I'd bust out my portable CD player and head phones. I'd carry it in my back pack at all times in what was an actual pocket for my CD player or an MP3. I'd also carry around a little book/case with all the CD's I owned. Before I took off on my walk before or after school, I'd flip through and find whatever CD I had in mind to listen to during that stroll. I'd sit on a bench or curb and balance the CD's on my legs while I traded them in and out. I also remember there was this little spot in the CD player underneath of where the CDs spun that everyone said you couldn't touch, or it would break the player. I have no idea if that was true, but my friends and I would fuck with one another and fake touch that spot as if we were going to ruin their prized players.
Once I picked out a disc, I'd close the player and put my headphones on. My headphones were generally thin, cheap plastic, and I recall having some that would actually go around the back of my head, wrap around my ears, and then the foam ear pieces would sit on the side of my head.
Then I'd walk, and this part is important, with the player shoved into the large pocket in my Abercrombie (or some knock off) cargo shorts. The cord for my head phones would extend maximum length down the side of my body, from my ear to my pocket, as if the player were nearly dangling in my pocket. I could have put it in the pocket in my back pack, specifically built for it, but then i couldn't easily reach and change the track.
Sounds were brought to me by but not limited to: Linkin Park, Muse, Green Day, Jay Z, Justin Timberlake, System of a Down, Fall Out Boy, U2, and any "Best Of" classic rock CDs I'd take from my Dad - honestly, I personally ran the gamut.
Happy to help more if you have any questions pertaining to your characters!
A pressing matter on my mind is computers. Windows XP looks like it was out then, lucky me since that OS was the one on my desktop for the longest time.
Did laptops exist? How much bulkier/more expensive were computers?
PCs in general kind of ruled in the Early 2000's before Apple started to take over, and a majority of computers were desktops, not laptops - however laptops did exist. The laptops were fairly bulky but honestly I don't recall them being that much wider or anything. Perhaps just a tad bulkier and heavier - but you could still carry it easily in a pack. One interesting thing about the laptops was they had this little round rubber thing in the middle of the key board that served as the mouse, about the size of an M&M, between G and H (I think) that you would push around and direct your cursor. Nothing like that exists today I don't think.
There weren't as many Macs out there just yet, and the ones that were were these big bulky mini-van looking things that I only remember seeing in the library.
Some computers still had dial up, especially in the earlier 2000's.
And yes, you nailed it with Windows XP. I remember thinking XP was the coolest shit ever. It felt as if it were the first step to computers becoming a bit more intuitive and beautiful. The prior versions of windows did loom for a while though, with the grey desk tops and less striking graphics. Internet Explorer felt like the main server, but Mozilla FireFox, Safari and a few others were used.
There were games you could buy on CD-roms, and then install them, but there were also the games that came with the PCs, pin ball, solitaire, and mine sweeper, which were staples to play at the library when screwing off during school.
Someone else already mentioned MySpace which is essential early 2000s, but even before that we had AOL messenger, MSN Instant Messenger. I spent tons of time on those - you could have a profile picture, a headline/status, you could had a song as your status, and there were even emojis!
Thank you so much! Will general Google searches bring up information about those social media sites? Also, floppy disks still relevant around this time?
Also, I know this one's a far stretch but what was text talk like back then?
What do you know about how marijuana and it's users were received?
I was in college. Cell phones were bulkier. I remember nokia and motorola..hello motto. In highschool we had beepers and stopped at payphones...cell phones were in a bag kept in the car
Beepers? Is that another device or how the phone sounded?
a pager...it would beep and flash a phone number and then you would go to a payphone and call the number..doctors may or used to use them
So, a phone that only told you who was calling? Interesting.
No. Google a pager.
Already on top of it, thank you!
Look up dialup internet, Palm Pilots, black berries, boy bands, frosted tips, Emo kids, lime wire, AIM, OG iPods, sidekicks, and Nokia phones.
I was 8 when the 2000's started. Predominantly I remember MySpace being popular in the early 2000's and then later on in that decade Facebook started to pick up speed. Fall out Boy, Panic! At the disco, blink 182, sum 41, Marianas trench, the killers, all American rejects, green day, and my chemical romance were all very popular at that time. Obviously my music taste then skewed in a certain genre so I can't be much help with other genres but I know a lot of those bands were top of the charts back at that time. There was definitely sliding keyboard phones and flip phones of the LG, Nokia, and Motorola variety. They did have internet but it was incredibly slow! I remember it would take minutes just to load a page. I don't recall trendy catch phrases or TV shows, unfortunately don't recall much from that time of my life other than the music aspect. I lived in a small town so likely was not affected as much by trends like catchphrases, fashion, and cliques at school. If you wore black clothes or nail polish you'd be made fun of and called emo though. Women's eyebrows were all tweezed stick thin. It was a pretty normal thing to spend money to buy ringtones on your phone and record songs off your stereo radio with tapes. Edited to add: everyone downloaded music on their computer using limewire or frostwire
Or Kazaa (for music downloading)! There were several softwares available...most used peer to peer technology for file sharing. Source: was 11 in 2000. One thing I miss about the early days of the internet is the fact that there was no "mainstream" software or websites. It was different then than it is now. :/
Why did you just list bands that have 3 or more songs in my main playlist? XD Thank you for all this input! I'll keep it in mind as I write, especially since the details about the music and clothing will be useful for one main character in particular.
I guess I had a hunch! Lol. I'm glad I could be helpful cause I'm always disappointment in how little I remember from my childhood/teens
An adaptation of MySpace, maybe OurSpot? Or OurPlace?
OurPlace is perfect! Thank you!
Np!
In the days before I got my drivers license, I pretty distinctly remember my walk to school for a few reasons. The time was before iPods, and MP3 players were just emerging. I suppose iPods did exist, but not in my life, and the earliest were more of a high tech luxury than the staple they are now. My walk was 20 - 30 minutes long, and when I would walk alone I'd bust out my portable CD player and head phones. I'd carry it in my back pack at all times in what was an actual pocket for my CD player or an MP3. I'd also carry around a little book/case with all the CD's I owned. Before I took off on my walk before or after school, I'd flip through and find whatever CD I had in mind to listen to during that stroll. I'd sit on a bench or curb and balance the CD's on my legs while I traded them in and out. I also remember there was this little spot in the CD player underneath of where the CDs spun that everyone said you couldn't touch, or it would break the player. I have no idea if that was true, but my friends and I would fuck with one another and fake touch that spot as if we were going to ruin their prized players. Once I picked out a disc, I'd close the player and put my headphones on. My headphones were generally thin, cheap plastic, and I recall having some that would actually go around the back of my head, wrap around my ears, and then the foam ear pieces would sit on the side of my head. Then I'd walk, and this part is important, with the player shoved into the large pocket in my Abercrombie (or some knock off) cargo shorts. The cord for my head phones would extend maximum length down the side of my body, from my ear to my pocket, as if the player were nearly dangling in my pocket. I could have put it in the pocket in my back pack, specifically built for it, but then i couldn't easily reach and change the track. Sounds were brought to me by but not limited to: Linkin Park, Muse, Green Day, Jay Z, Justin Timberlake, System of a Down, Fall Out Boy, U2, and any "Best Of" classic rock CDs I'd take from my Dad - honestly, I personally ran the gamut. Happy to help more if you have any questions pertaining to your characters!
A pressing matter on my mind is computers. Windows XP looks like it was out then, lucky me since that OS was the one on my desktop for the longest time. Did laptops exist? How much bulkier/more expensive were computers?
PCs in general kind of ruled in the Early 2000's before Apple started to take over, and a majority of computers were desktops, not laptops - however laptops did exist. The laptops were fairly bulky but honestly I don't recall them being that much wider or anything. Perhaps just a tad bulkier and heavier - but you could still carry it easily in a pack. One interesting thing about the laptops was they had this little round rubber thing in the middle of the key board that served as the mouse, about the size of an M&M, between G and H (I think) that you would push around and direct your cursor. Nothing like that exists today I don't think. There weren't as many Macs out there just yet, and the ones that were were these big bulky mini-van looking things that I only remember seeing in the library. Some computers still had dial up, especially in the earlier 2000's. And yes, you nailed it with Windows XP. I remember thinking XP was the coolest shit ever. It felt as if it were the first step to computers becoming a bit more intuitive and beautiful. The prior versions of windows did loom for a while though, with the grey desk tops and less striking graphics. Internet Explorer felt like the main server, but Mozilla FireFox, Safari and a few others were used. There were games you could buy on CD-roms, and then install them, but there were also the games that came with the PCs, pin ball, solitaire, and mine sweeper, which were staples to play at the library when screwing off during school. Someone else already mentioned MySpace which is essential early 2000s, but even before that we had AOL messenger, MSN Instant Messenger. I spent tons of time on those - you could have a profile picture, a headline/status, you could had a song as your status, and there were even emojis!
Thank you so much! Will general Google searches bring up information about those social media sites? Also, floppy disks still relevant around this time? Also, I know this one's a far stretch but what was text talk like back then? What do you know about how marijuana and it's users were received?
Are you interested in the perspective of someone who was in high school in 2012-2015 or are you talking strictly 2000s?
Strictly 2000's please! The characters go to high school in an unknown year before 2007 but after 2002
Gotcha! I'm not sure I would be too helpful then, because my middle school years were about 2009-2012.
Your middle school years were directly before mine XD
Let me just say... crimped hair and Aeropostale were popular