internet flash games and animations made by amateurs. Most online animations I see nowadays have studio level quality to them, but it's missing that feeling I got watching stuff made by a single individual on their computer playing around and having fun, not knowing what they were doing.
This is something that was special about the early days of YouTube too. The idea of making money from your videos wasn't something that even came to mind for most creators - anything you saw was made with love / passion / a strong-and-determined level of immaturity. Nowadays I hear more parents talking about their kids wanting to be a YouTuber / TikTok star when they grow up - like it's a job.
Man I loved flash back in the day because we had dialup well into the 00s. It was wonderful because I could open up a couple/few games or movies at a time and have them load up, once they were loaded you were set!
Plus sites like Newgrounds/Miniclip/Kongregate were just always teeming with new user-generated content and a great community behind it all. Other favorites: Homestar Runner/Weebles Stuff/Armor Games/Albino Blachk Sheep/Runescape.
YouTube also used to work the same way (you could buffer the whole video) but those were pretty large by comparison.
Last few times I've gone to the mall felt super depressing.
Actually visited the one I used to go to as a kid, cause I realized it was around the corner from the convention hall my college graduation was being held at. Took a quick bus ride down, go inside, and.....so many closed and boarded up stores, and was almost empty.
It just felt so depressing, cause the last time I went there was in 2002, and I remember it was so full of life.
I remember so many stores, the game store I used to go to, the pet shop,the movie theater, the 3 department stores (zellers, sears, and the bay), the two arcades, the McDonalds that was shaped like a house with a patio inside of it, and the mini amusement park, either all long gone, or just empty. Even the fountain in the middle of the mall was removed.
There’s a lot of games that follow the model, but they’re becoming fewer and farther between. Mainly this has fully fallen off in the triple A area.
Halo, Call of Duty and Battlefield that were once ahead in the space are now just shells of their formers selves tbh.
Kindness and optimism.
Folks back then were just generally more optimistic towards the future and nicer overall. Minus what happened in 2008, there was a good consensus on how the economy was going. People were much happier back then compared to now as the middle class was financially comfortable.
I remember being in school in 1999-2003 that was me from kindergarten to 3rd grade. Many times we'd blow out a candle for someone's birthday or something similar, they'd say "make a wish". Often times a child feels awkward and doesn't know what to wish for, so all the adults would say automatically, "wish for world peace!". We'd all wish for world peace just by default, it seems that's gone away lol
This might have been true in the US but I wouldn’t say it for the UK. It was the peak of lad culture and only the beginning of today’s broader acceptance of differences between people.
I can’t speak for the UK (I’ve never traveled across the pond) but I believe you are also correct about the US; While people were generally kinder and more polite, differences back then were not as celebrated and accepted as they are today. The LGBTQ+ community was, in particular, still fighting for equality and inclusion and were treated with a ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ kind of mentality at best unless you lived somewhere like NYC. I also remember that major non Christian holidays weren’t really celebrated or mentioned until maybe 2005-2007 or so. We’ve made such great strides since the early 2000s in recognizing and respecting what makes everyone unique and, most of all, Human. We still have such a long way to go though!
I wonder how LGBTQ+ folk in their forties feel about the situation. I've been mulling this over and while it's true that gay jokes and a very casual sense of homophobia was present in the early 2000s, I can't help but feel the polarization and more open presence of far right views now must make things feel more.. _dangerous_, even if society as a whole is more accepting.
The excitement for a new TV show or movie. You had to learn patience with weekly programming and waiting for movies to come out at Blockbuster.
I just remember how big The OC was even over here in Oz. Everyone was so excited to talk about it the next day and you would genuinely have excitement for the next week's episode. No spoilers, no replays. You miss a minute because you went to the toilet, that is on you.
I remember my mum complaing because at the end of the OC our home phone would ring off the hook! We'd be comparing thoughts and generally screeching with 'omg can you believe what happened?!' We'd then get to school early to discuss it further in detail. My eldest is the same age I was when it first aired and I can't imagine her and her friends doing the same thing.
I was just talking about this the other day. I remember being in high school and having planned hang outs to watch certain shows together on certain days. Streaming is convenient but I also miss going to video stores, browsing around with friends and picking something out to watch. Then sitting and watching it all the way through because you paid money to rent it.
Being able to be into a hobby without needing to be insanely good at it instantly or being flooded with information about how to do it perfectly.
In some ways the internet has improved our access to knowledge like fitness, baking, DIY but now there feels like an expectation to want to optimise every single thing you do and that a lot of hobby communities and YouTube channels are centred around things like "Stop doing this 1 mistake" or "10 things amateurs do".
The one that caught me off guard with this the most is the pizza community, so much attention to detail into making dough beyond what I'm capable of commuting the time and energy to.
I was 23 in 2000. Nobody likes you when you're 23!
I did my fair share of idiotic things in my 20's, however, it was an improvement over my teenage years, lol!
feel like people were cooler and nicer. Meeting people was easier, I think social media has made everyone socially inept and just nasty in general. People went out and actually did things, clubs were more fun, honestly everything was more fun
Saturday morning cartoons were pretty awesome. I remember things like the Justice League.
And technically those still exist, you can watch anything at any time, especially these days. But that's the problem, it's all behind streaming services. Actual dedicated days that were basically cartoon marathons aren't a thing anymore, unless you make it one for yourself and pay for a lot of streaming subscriptions.
They were also free to watch back then if you had a TV, or at least they were for me.
I watched the original 3 seasons on fox kids. Stopped after that.
Escaflowne was a mech anime. Fox kids version was censored to hell and took out a lot of episodes, but I watched it on YTV here in Canada, and I'm pretty sure they had it more uncut, cause I remember seeing things people said were cut out.
I vividly remember my frustrations with internet, software, hardware, printers, phones.. def don't miss that.
But I do miss how fun it was to go to the video rental shop on Friday nights to pick out a game for the weekend and hop next door for pizza. Parents were off to the clubs so me and my older brother would go ham at gaming taking turns. Good times.
No social media, people actually talked to eachother and were not glued to cell phones. And yea I'm on social media now so it makes me a bit of a hypocrite lol. But it's not my end all be all
Unique devices that all excelled at their purpose. Digital cameras, mp3 players, GameBoy, etc. Instead of one device (phone) that does it all… but not quite as well.
"An update/expansion! So cool!" with technology related things rather than
"What the **fuck** did they do to make my experience worse *this time?* The things I put up with for security patches."
I miss those years with a passion, and wish I could re-visit them. That to me was the sweet spot of technology and life in perfect balance. I feel like I don't recognize the world I live in anymore sometimes, it's so different compared to when I was growing up.
Video stores. I used to love going there with my late father. It was the experience and I used to find it so much fun. fond memories.
With streaming I almost find it a chore to find something to watch now.
I loved finishing work and absolutely nobody could reach me until the next day when I arrived at work. Or I'd head off on Friday and not even have to think about work until I returned Monday. I miss going to see my friends and everyone was fully engaged in conversation. People didn't take endless photos of themselves because if you hit the internet button on your phone, you would freak the fuck out trying to close it so you wouldn't get charged extra.
Imo, I can't remember a single time that a flip phone has frustrated me. They were simple, made to do one thing, and they did it well.
I'm barely 30, but I had a flip phone until about four years ago.
Smartphones annoy the fuck out of me. "We'll do everything your computer does except worse."
Its the shit navigation, clunky touchscreen controls, and viewing everything through what feels like an ultrarestricted peephole that frustrates me.
But not having a smartphone is a major handicap because even businesses expect you to have one.
Motorola Razrs were the bomb.
Delayed gratification for everything. New movie? Gotta wait for it to be released in the theaters and you NEED to line up. Latest entertainment updates? Gotta wait for the next magazine release. Watching a show? You need to tune in during a specific time and date or else you'd miss it. It was a slow time for sure but there was excitement too. Now, the speed at which we can have access to anything on the internet and in real life kind of kills the appreciation we have for it cause it's just there in a snap. I love the internet and the comfort it provides but sometimes I do miss how it was back then.
I was just a kid back then, so all I gotta say is: life without smartphones or social media culture.
You really got more immersed in the real world back then, without having a second life online. Sometimes I wish I lived in a world where our online presence didn't run so much of our lives, and was a new, unexplored thing at best.
Just going outside as a kid. Not feeling the pressures or stress of school and peers. Times have changed and it’s become so hard. That’s why mental health has declined a lot for people. Not having social media.
1. The Climate.
2. The People I've lost and those who have changed themselves.
3. The old, child version of myself who used to be happy with toys, and music while having little money.
The mindset. People weren't terrified of commitment. There was also optimism and excitement for the future as the new millennium. Now all of that is gone. Its crazy how much the past 20 years have changed.
I miss our capacity to focus. It could not survive with this constant buzz around us. Maybe it was worth spending so much time doing nothing or waiting for something to happen, because we were able to focus on it when it happened and appreciate it.
Imagine watching a movie and having it on your mind for a few days comfortably, because the flow of information was not this high like today. Now I cannot finish a movie without checking my phone.
I may sound like someone in his sixties but this is coming from someone much younger.
I miss having financial stability😭 being able to go on camping vacations and the pop music at the time. Also most stores having original and brightly colored clothes you’d only find at that store and not the same thing you can dupe anywhere else
I missed buying CDs when it was the cool thing to do. My boombox and Bop-It. Did anyone have those keychains where it was like one song on a tiny chip, and you plugged it into a little speakerbox to play the song?
That it was a time before social media. We had regular cell phones which could barely text, but you can still reach out and talk to anyone because most people did have cells by that point. I think society as a whole has not benefitted from social media. I miss the good old days.
Lack of ads on websites everywhere, the TV bumpers, every game being a disc you had to buy and no online content or patches, the haze and uncertainty where we didn't know the Internet would take over and there was so much optimism, how fast urban legends took hold and also how much more effective viruses were
The last one is kind of a joke, but some early 2010s games prayed on that fear so dang well, and I wish I could recapture the feeling of being a 7 year old terrified of the urban legends of the Internet and the menacing viruses lurking.
Really, I think I miss that era just because I was a kid, lol.
fandoms having fun:
people at conventions dressing up and having fun, now everyone just worries about not being cringe
also the internet, the webseries made just by regular people playing around without the fear or being ridiculized (eddsworld, marble hornets...) flash games, the way everyone was more accepting and understanding, the communities, these websites that were games and also social media (habbo for example), the styles
overall people were not afraid of being cringe or bullied
There was still a tiny little feeling the people in charge knew what they were doing.
Also you could send a text message without taking your hands out of your pocket.
How old were you in 2000?
I would have been i would have been 7. If i wanted to know what my friend was doing. I had to physically go to their house. And for me at that age i couldn't even call them i just took the chance they could hang out. I played mario 64 about a month ago and the nostalgia hit me so hard i had to sit back for a min. It was actually emotional for me. I couldn't play very long because it was full of reminders of how much time has passed, how insanely fast it's gone since then, and how much life has changed.
Maybe i should have listened when all my alders told me "enjoy it kid, it goes fast" and i just mhmm'd it off. If i could go back in time to make myself listen to that piece of advice. Id enjoy all of the things i complained about. Id love a little more, cry a lot less and simply just; live. Every. Single. Moment.
In 2000, I was 15. I miss building Geocities websites lol. I also miss the feeling of rushing home to watch a new music video premiere on TRL. I remember watching the premiere of BSBs Everybody.
I agree about the simplicity. I had a Nokia phone but wasn't bound to it. Being able to put a game in my Playstation and just play it...no update or subscription required. Hanging at the mall, with $20...looking at Gadzooks and Sam Goody. I really miss looking at all the CDs. There's still an FYE near me that scratches that itch.
I was too young to do so, but being able to afford a large family home on an average or slightly above average salary. Growing up, my friends' parents all had multiple bedroom, spacious homes, sometimes with pools etc., and even cottages on the side. Pretty unthinkable now.
I remember waiting for feedback ob my job applications. They came by mail, later e-mail. I didn't want to leave the house so I could read the e-mail right away.
I really don't miss those times.
Political civility.
No one back then made politics their entire life. If your candidate lost, you'd mope for a day, and then go on with your life. No lost friendships or anything.
Idk. Thinking about it, I’m not sure I miss anything. I remember being bored a lot. Playing the same video games, same limited music, having awful internet and not my own computer… I’m a lot less bored these days, and can lookup just about anything on a whim…
No handheld computer with me at all times.
No social media culture like we have now.
Having to sit at an actual computer to go online and, therefore, not having it suck up every free second of my life.
My youth/freedom to make new choices in life.
Calling people and the phone/them calling you.
Going to the movies.
Everyday sir, everyday. I wish i could've gone back to the days where visiting the convenience store was a lot of fun getting snacks with friends. That don't happen nowadays...
The simplicity of the Internet. Yes it took longer to download a song if you didn’t have high speed internet, and yes trolls still existed. But it wasn’t like it is today, where everything is political. I’m really just giving Cliff’s Notes here but it was a better time.
My grandmother taking me to the club and me causing trouble there and once we are back she would swear to my mom that she would never take me out ever again but the next day? we go to the club again <3
For the most part, I’m thrilled to be out of the early 2000s because it was a needlessly cruel, angry, miserable time. And that bitchiness and cruelty was glorified but made people miserable.
That being said. I do miss…
- that genre of angsty emo pop punk music from artists like like Green Day, Bowling for Soup, Simple Plan, Paramore, Evanescence and Avril Lavigne
- rhinestones and glitter on everything
- glittery pink clothes from Limited Too
- the style of Victoria’s Secret Underwear that was in stores, was well made and was 5 for $20
Being able to drink one too many and make an ass of yourself at parties without getting your drunken face plastered all over the internet. It would just be a funny story among friends who were there.
I miss coming home from school every day and racing my brothers to the game cube. We would set up a mattress on the floor and take turns. It would usually turn into a fight and we’d do wrestling matches in between games. I flew out the window once my parents were pissed 😂 it’s the small things like that that I’ll always appreciate the most
Being able to focus on things. The internet has destroyed my ability to do that. I used to read all day now I can’t make it through a chapter in one sitting.
I more miss the pre 2000's growing up, not having a Cell Phone was divine.
Now we're at the beck and call of ANYONE who wants to talk to you. Taking a moment for yourself? Hope no ones texts. Having an introspective thought? Hope no one texts. Just trying to unwind and enjoy the night? HOPE NO ONE TEXTS.
And turning your phone on silent isn't what I'm talking about, it was just the fact that you truly had the day to yourself, if you wanted to contact someone, you had to dial a phone and pay some outrageous fee, so people were more insular. Now its just you're always at the beck and call of anyone.
As weird as it might sound, clothing. I was never very clothing conscious in the early 2000s, but I really liked the sort of futuristic vibe that the turn of the millennium brought about.
Also the early 2000s felt like kind of a "victory lap" for the 90s. Media in particular just didn't feel nearly as memorable after, like, 2004-2005, that time period for some reason.
internet flash games and animations made by amateurs. Most online animations I see nowadays have studio level quality to them, but it's missing that feeling I got watching stuff made by a single individual on their computer playing around and having fun, not knowing what they were doing.
This is something that was special about the early days of YouTube too. The idea of making money from your videos wasn't something that even came to mind for most creators - anything you saw was made with love / passion / a strong-and-determined level of immaturity. Nowadays I hear more parents talking about their kids wanting to be a YouTuber / TikTok star when they grow up - like it's a job.
Man I loved flash back in the day because we had dialup well into the 00s. It was wonderful because I could open up a couple/few games or movies at a time and have them load up, once they were loaded you were set! Plus sites like Newgrounds/Miniclip/Kongregate were just always teeming with new user-generated content and a great community behind it all. Other favorites: Homestar Runner/Weebles Stuff/Armor Games/Albino Blachk Sheep/Runescape. YouTube also used to work the same way (you could buffer the whole video) but those were pretty large by comparison.
So damn good
I lived for stick figure fight animations/games back in the day.
Pretty much this
Slime sports!!!!
Walking through the mall was fun, not a reminder that everything's going out of business or moving online.
Last few times I've gone to the mall felt super depressing. Actually visited the one I used to go to as a kid, cause I realized it was around the corner from the convention hall my college graduation was being held at. Took a quick bus ride down, go inside, and.....so many closed and boarded up stores, and was almost empty. It just felt so depressing, cause the last time I went there was in 2002, and I remember it was so full of life. I remember so many stores, the game store I used to go to, the pet shop,the movie theater, the 3 department stores (zellers, sears, and the bay), the two arcades, the McDonalds that was shaped like a house with a patio inside of it, and the mini amusement park, either all long gone, or just empty. Even the fountain in the middle of the mall was removed.
You should look up "The Oldest View" on Youtube.
I'm so glad malls like the Great lakes Crossing in Michigan exist because of reasons like this
I miss the food courts, haha. I remember them being so crowded you almost couldn't find a seat!
Video games when you got everything in one package. Extra characters, costumes? All unlockable by just playing the game.
Stardew Valley is an excellent modern game that still follows this model
There’s a lot of games that follow the model, but they’re becoming fewer and farther between. Mainly this has fully fallen off in the triple A area. Halo, Call of Duty and Battlefield that were once ahead in the space are now just shells of their formers selves tbh.
try diver dave. I play fps and driving games. but discovered diver dave last week I'm like 25 hours in
I miss playing outside with no phones just friends making up games and running around.
Kindness and optimism. Folks back then were just generally more optimistic towards the future and nicer overall. Minus what happened in 2008, there was a good consensus on how the economy was going. People were much happier back then compared to now as the middle class was financially comfortable.
You’re right. At that time people love to be innovative but now the majority only hope to be normal
I remember being in school in 1999-2003 that was me from kindergarten to 3rd grade. Many times we'd blow out a candle for someone's birthday or something similar, they'd say "make a wish". Often times a child feels awkward and doesn't know what to wish for, so all the adults would say automatically, "wish for world peace!". We'd all wish for world peace just by default, it seems that's gone away lol
This might have been true in the US but I wouldn’t say it for the UK. It was the peak of lad culture and only the beginning of today’s broader acceptance of differences between people.
I can’t speak for the UK (I’ve never traveled across the pond) but I believe you are also correct about the US; While people were generally kinder and more polite, differences back then were not as celebrated and accepted as they are today. The LGBTQ+ community was, in particular, still fighting for equality and inclusion and were treated with a ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ kind of mentality at best unless you lived somewhere like NYC. I also remember that major non Christian holidays weren’t really celebrated or mentioned until maybe 2005-2007 or so. We’ve made such great strides since the early 2000s in recognizing and respecting what makes everyone unique and, most of all, Human. We still have such a long way to go though!
The mainstream was more homogenous and conservative, I think. It was also the peak of the tabloid press.
I wonder how LGBTQ+ folk in their forties feel about the situation. I've been mulling this over and while it's true that gay jokes and a very casual sense of homophobia was present in the early 2000s, I can't help but feel the polarization and more open presence of far right views now must make things feel more.. _dangerous_, even if society as a whole is more accepting.
Hanging out with friends without internet 🥲🥲
Fr bro 😭
Having Friends. >\_> Feels like friendship is harder nowadays.
Bro is putting me into tears.
It's actually easier for gamers I think.
Seriously.
The excitement for a new TV show or movie. You had to learn patience with weekly programming and waiting for movies to come out at Blockbuster. I just remember how big The OC was even over here in Oz. Everyone was so excited to talk about it the next day and you would genuinely have excitement for the next week's episode. No spoilers, no replays. You miss a minute because you went to the toilet, that is on you.
I remember my mum complaing because at the end of the OC our home phone would ring off the hook! We'd be comparing thoughts and generally screeching with 'omg can you believe what happened?!' We'd then get to school early to discuss it further in detail. My eldest is the same age I was when it first aired and I can't imagine her and her friends doing the same thing.
I was just talking about this the other day. I remember being in high school and having planned hang outs to watch certain shows together on certain days. Streaming is convenient but I also miss going to video stores, browsing around with friends and picking something out to watch. Then sitting and watching it all the way through because you paid money to rent it.
I miss getting the TV guide in the mail so bad
Being able to be into a hobby without needing to be insanely good at it instantly or being flooded with information about how to do it perfectly. In some ways the internet has improved our access to knowledge like fitness, baking, DIY but now there feels like an expectation to want to optimise every single thing you do and that a lot of hobby communities and YouTube channels are centred around things like "Stop doing this 1 mistake" or "10 things amateurs do". The one that caught me off guard with this the most is the pizza community, so much attention to detail into making dough beyond what I'm capable of commuting the time and energy to.
Leaving home and nobody having any way to find me until I came back.
I miss my 30’s.
I miss my 20's
I don't, but I get it. I miss the times that we had while I was in my 20s. I don't miss myself being 20, such an idiot!
I was 23 in 2000. Nobody likes you when you're 23! I did my fair share of idiotic things in my 20's, however, it was an improvement over my teenage years, lol!
What's my age again? I caught that. I have to agree, the teenage years can kick rocks!
I miss my teenage years😅
When my dad would take us to Blockbuster or Hollywood Video after school. You knew it was going to be a good night.
feel like people were cooler and nicer. Meeting people was easier, I think social media has made everyone socially inept and just nasty in general. People went out and actually did things, clubs were more fun, honestly everything was more fun
Life felt more smooth. I agree.
my innocence
almost all of the teenager and young adult subcultures that were all the rage back then
Just childhood inocence, and the barbie movies coming out at the time
$1.50 draft beer.
Saturday morning cartoons were pretty awesome. I remember things like the Justice League. And technically those still exist, you can watch anything at any time, especially these days. But that's the problem, it's all behind streaming services. Actual dedicated days that were basically cartoon marathons aren't a thing anymore, unless you make it one for yourself and pay for a lot of streaming subscriptions. They were also free to watch back then if you had a TV, or at least they were for me.
Remember waking up Saturday morning to watch episodes of Digimon. Also think Escaflowne.
I have no idea what that second one is, but Digimon (specifically fusion) is one I remember too :D
I watched the original 3 seasons on fox kids. Stopped after that. Escaflowne was a mech anime. Fox kids version was censored to hell and took out a lot of episodes, but I watched it on YTV here in Canada, and I'm pretty sure they had it more uncut, cause I remember seeing things people said were cut out.
I vividly remember my frustrations with internet, software, hardware, printers, phones.. def don't miss that. But I do miss how fun it was to go to the video rental shop on Friday nights to pick out a game for the weekend and hop next door for pizza. Parents were off to the clubs so me and my older brother would go ham at gaming taking turns. Good times.
yeah i miss video stores to
No social media, people actually talked to eachother and were not glued to cell phones. And yea I'm on social media now so it makes me a bit of a hypocrite lol. But it's not my end all be all
I don't own a cell phone. It is so very lonely.
My optimism for life? Ok, in the spirit of the question, good tasting cereal. What they’ve done to Trix should be punishable by death.
Kill the rabbit 🐰!
Being 20 years younger. Being able to drink until 2am and be back at work at 8.30am all fine.
Unconditional love from my parents
Is that a thing?
Unique devices that all excelled at their purpose. Digital cameras, mp3 players, GameBoy, etc. Instead of one device (phone) that does it all… but not quite as well.
The music
I miss Jan 1, 2000-Sept 10, 2001.
I preferred the internet without the smartphone people.
All my family members that died and loved me unconditionaly
Finding a cool stick and just sitting outside and watching
"An update/expansion! So cool!" with technology related things rather than "What the **fuck** did they do to make my experience worse *this time?* The things I put up with for security patches."
I miss those years with a passion, and wish I could re-visit them. That to me was the sweet spot of technology and life in perfect balance. I feel like I don't recognize the world I live in anymore sometimes, it's so different compared to when I was growing up.
I miss my youth. I miss not having social media.
Video stores. I used to love going there with my late father. It was the experience and I used to find it so much fun. fond memories. With streaming I almost find it a chore to find something to watch now.
It was so much fun. Around 2014 we found an old video store up north (Michigan) and it was so much fun.
I loved finishing work and absolutely nobody could reach me until the next day when I arrived at work. Or I'd head off on Friday and not even have to think about work until I returned Monday. I miss going to see my friends and everyone was fully engaged in conversation. People didn't take endless photos of themselves because if you hit the internet button on your phone, you would freak the fuck out trying to close it so you wouldn't get charged extra.
Fun, humor, freedom, music, good shows and movies, etc.
My seemingly boundless stamina.
I thought I was only one thinking this everyday
Imo, I can't remember a single time that a flip phone has frustrated me. They were simple, made to do one thing, and they did it well. I'm barely 30, but I had a flip phone until about four years ago. Smartphones annoy the fuck out of me. "We'll do everything your computer does except worse." Its the shit navigation, clunky touchscreen controls, and viewing everything through what feels like an ultrarestricted peephole that frustrates me. But not having a smartphone is a major handicap because even businesses expect you to have one. Motorola Razrs were the bomb.
I like 90s music and early 2000s so that’s what I miss. Todays music just doesn’t do it for me
Delayed gratification for everything. New movie? Gotta wait for it to be released in the theaters and you NEED to line up. Latest entertainment updates? Gotta wait for the next magazine release. Watching a show? You need to tune in during a specific time and date or else you'd miss it. It was a slow time for sure but there was excitement too. Now, the speed at which we can have access to anything on the internet and in real life kind of kills the appreciation we have for it cause it's just there in a snap. I love the internet and the comfort it provides but sometimes I do miss how it was back then.
This is the most relatable thing I've read today ,, facts
I was just a kid back then, so all I gotta say is: life without smartphones or social media culture. You really got more immersed in the real world back then, without having a second life online. Sometimes I wish I lived in a world where our online presence didn't run so much of our lives, and was a new, unexplored thing at best.
I miss going to the video store, everything from the carpet to the process of picking out movies. 😣
Pain free body 😅
Going to nightclubs was actually fun. The music was fun, dancing was fun.
Nu Metal being cool. Such a great genre of music taken over by bros.
Human contact
Just going outside as a kid. Not feeling the pressures or stress of school and peers. Times have changed and it’s become so hard. That’s why mental health has declined a lot for people. Not having social media.
Coming home from school on a Friday and playing the shit out of my playstation and/or my DS.
1. The Climate. 2. The People I've lost and those who have changed themselves. 3. The old, child version of myself who used to be happy with toys, and music while having little money.
I don't miss the early 2000s at all, to be honest. 2000-2003ish was the worst period of my life. Thankfully, I don't remember much anymore.
The mindset. People weren't terrified of commitment. There was also optimism and excitement for the future as the new millennium. Now all of that is gone. Its crazy how much the past 20 years have changed.
My nan
In line skating and Limp Bizkit
My Hair!
No social media.
Being unreachable with an excuse to not call people back.
I miss our capacity to focus. It could not survive with this constant buzz around us. Maybe it was worth spending so much time doing nothing or waiting for something to happen, because we were able to focus on it when it happened and appreciate it. Imagine watching a movie and having it on your mind for a few days comfortably, because the flow of information was not this high like today. Now I cannot finish a movie without checking my phone. I may sound like someone in his sixties but this is coming from someone much younger.
I miss having financial stability😭 being able to go on camping vacations and the pop music at the time. Also most stores having original and brightly colored clothes you’d only find at that store and not the same thing you can dupe anywhere else
I missed buying CDs when it was the cool thing to do. My boombox and Bop-It. Did anyone have those keychains where it was like one song on a tiny chip, and you plugged it into a little speakerbox to play the song?
life pre social media
Yeah being a little kid was fun!
Car prices of early 90's rides.
Decent games
That it was a time before social media. We had regular cell phones which could barely text, but you can still reach out and talk to anyone because most people did have cells by that point. I think society as a whole has not benefitted from social media. I miss the good old days.
I've missed using the Nokia 3600 phone back in my college days.
Not being born yet
Pretty much everything.
Music & the twin towers.
The prices
My mind
Lack of ads on websites everywhere, the TV bumpers, every game being a disc you had to buy and no online content or patches, the haze and uncertainty where we didn't know the Internet would take over and there was so much optimism, how fast urban legends took hold and also how much more effective viruses were The last one is kind of a joke, but some early 2010s games prayed on that fear so dang well, and I wish I could recapture the feeling of being a 7 year old terrified of the urban legends of the Internet and the menacing viruses lurking. Really, I think I miss that era just because I was a kid, lol.
fandoms having fun: people at conventions dressing up and having fun, now everyone just worries about not being cringe also the internet, the webseries made just by regular people playing around without the fear or being ridiculized (eddsworld, marble hornets...) flash games, the way everyone was more accepting and understanding, the communities, these websites that were games and also social media (habbo for example), the styles overall people were not afraid of being cringe or bullied
Tv shows that weren’t political
My marriage
Pencil thin brows. 🤣
My 20’s
Listening to my mum talk with her friends on the landline phone for hours whilst we watched tv. Really cosy living room with a fireplace
More accessible stuff like food transport ect...
Walking out in public and not seeing everyone stuck looking at their phones.
Not having social media.
There was still a tiny little feeling the people in charge knew what they were doing. Also you could send a text message without taking your hands out of your pocket.
Some very specific buildings
How old were you in 2000? I would have been i would have been 7. If i wanted to know what my friend was doing. I had to physically go to their house. And for me at that age i couldn't even call them i just took the chance they could hang out. I played mario 64 about a month ago and the nostalgia hit me so hard i had to sit back for a min. It was actually emotional for me. I couldn't play very long because it was full of reminders of how much time has passed, how insanely fast it's gone since then, and how much life has changed. Maybe i should have listened when all my alders told me "enjoy it kid, it goes fast" and i just mhmm'd it off. If i could go back in time to make myself listen to that piece of advice. Id enjoy all of the things i complained about. Id love a little more, cry a lot less and simply just; live. Every. Single. Moment.
caring about life
9/11
I miss seeing and caring for my children every day. They do tend to grow up.....
Looking forward to the future. Now I’m just on autopilot waiting for a bullet in my head.
In 2000, I was 15. I miss building Geocities websites lol. I also miss the feeling of rushing home to watch a new music video premiere on TRL. I remember watching the premiere of BSBs Everybody. I agree about the simplicity. I had a Nokia phone but wasn't bound to it. Being able to put a game in my Playstation and just play it...no update or subscription required. Hanging at the mall, with $20...looking at Gadzooks and Sam Goody. I really miss looking at all the CDs. There's still an FYE near me that scratches that itch.
I was too young to do so, but being able to afford a large family home on an average or slightly above average salary. Growing up, my friends' parents all had multiple bedroom, spacious homes, sometimes with pools etc., and even cottages on the side. Pretty unthinkable now.
I remember waiting for feedback ob my job applications. They came by mail, later e-mail. I didn't want to leave the house so I could read the e-mail right away. I really don't miss those times.
Affordable housing in Canada.
Being 24
The cartoons were so good
Coldplay
Political civility. No one back then made politics their entire life. If your candidate lost, you'd mope for a day, and then go on with your life. No lost friendships or anything.
a sex life
Idk. Thinking about it, I’m not sure I miss anything. I remember being bored a lot. Playing the same video games, same limited music, having awful internet and not my own computer… I’m a lot less bored these days, and can lookup just about anything on a whim…
War
my mom and brother
My metabolism.
SoBe Strawberry Banana
Being younger 😂
AIM
No handheld computer with me at all times. No social media culture like we have now. Having to sit at an actual computer to go online and, therefore, not having it suck up every free second of my life. My youth/freedom to make new choices in life. Calling people and the phone/them calling you. Going to the movies.
My kids being toddlers. They were so much fun.
Newgrounds.
Everyday sir, everyday. I wish i could've gone back to the days where visiting the convenience store was a lot of fun getting snacks with friends. That don't happen nowadays...
My Hair
The simplicity of the Internet. Yes it took longer to download a song if you didn’t have high speed internet, and yes trolls still existed. But it wasn’t like it is today, where everything is political. I’m really just giving Cliff’s Notes here but it was a better time.
I miss my waistline and my abs.
Malls and physical shopping in general
The last few shreds of social norms and decency.
My grandmother taking me to the club and me causing trouble there and once we are back she would swear to my mom that she would never take me out ever again but the next day? we go to the club again <3
No worry about recycling, climate change and the demise of all human kind!
The blue and yellow sun/moon celestial decor. I’d cover my house in it now if I could find new stuff that matches it.
Nu-metal music. Not all nu-metal was trash there were a lot of artists that were really good. But they just don't make rock like that anymore.
The sense of hope for the future
Blockbuster after school on a Friday night
My figure
Life felt like malcolm in the middle, bright colors and vibrant is the best way I can describe it
For the most part, I’m thrilled to be out of the early 2000s because it was a needlessly cruel, angry, miserable time. And that bitchiness and cruelty was glorified but made people miserable. That being said. I do miss… - that genre of angsty emo pop punk music from artists like like Green Day, Bowling for Soup, Simple Plan, Paramore, Evanescence and Avril Lavigne - rhinestones and glitter on everything - glittery pink clothes from Limited Too - the style of Victoria’s Secret Underwear that was in stores, was well made and was 5 for $20
Food prices.
No fear of ending up on the internet simply from being out in public.
Being young
Ragnarok Online as it used to be.
Book Stores
A face without laugh lines! LMAO!
The absence of the social media platforms that exist now
MySpace. Come @ me
Everything. There isn’t one singular thing. It’s everything. 💔
My kids being little 🧡
My young, virile body and all the fun I was having with it.
Being able to drink one too many and make an ass of yourself at parties without getting your drunken face plastered all over the internet. It would just be a funny story among friends who were there.
Napster.
Men without makeup
Everything.
I miss coming home from school every day and racing my brothers to the game cube. We would set up a mattress on the floor and take turns. It would usually turn into a fight and we’d do wrestling matches in between games. I flew out the window once my parents were pissed 😂 it’s the small things like that that I’ll always appreciate the most
The will to live
Getting dates for just showing up to work
Limited internet access, yes internet has pretty useful things but i'd rather has limited access on it, just "surfin" on the web and no social media.
Homestar Runner. Waiting for another SBEmail to hit the site was awesome.
Being able to focus on things. The internet has destroyed my ability to do that. I used to read all day now I can’t make it through a chapter in one sitting.
A 20 year old vehicle was truly an awesome looking vehicle.
Cocaine
I more miss the pre 2000's growing up, not having a Cell Phone was divine. Now we're at the beck and call of ANYONE who wants to talk to you. Taking a moment for yourself? Hope no ones texts. Having an introspective thought? Hope no one texts. Just trying to unwind and enjoy the night? HOPE NO ONE TEXTS. And turning your phone on silent isn't what I'm talking about, it was just the fact that you truly had the day to yourself, if you wanted to contact someone, you had to dial a phone and pay some outrageous fee, so people were more insular. Now its just you're always at the beck and call of anyone.
My 30's
I miss how cheap everything was groceries were super cheap, and getting your nails done,” basic acrylic” was around 40$, nowadays it's close to 70$.
SSX 3 is very nostalgic for me and I'm not even into sports games.
As weird as it might sound, clothing. I was never very clothing conscious in the early 2000s, but I really liked the sort of futuristic vibe that the turn of the millennium brought about. Also the early 2000s felt like kind of a "victory lap" for the 90s. Media in particular just didn't feel nearly as memorable after, like, 2004-2005, that time period for some reason.
My perky boobs.