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People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread

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There are no objective criteria that separate normal and abnormal. I mean, for some, eating dinner past 10 pm is totally fine, while for others, it’s all about putting cereal before adding the milk. Are you about to say that’s totally not okay? There you go. There is a yin and yang to any normalcy, and as long as we have people whose experiences are fully subjective, we will have both sides.

Except we’re talking the year 2000. When someone asked on r/AskReddit “What was normal in 2000, but strange in 2020?” it surely hit close to home for many. 41.1k upvotes later, the illuminating answers are in.

And on this one, we may once and for all come to an agreement on millennium things that look really heckin' odd today. Like saying dot com out loud ‘cause it felt like the cool thing to do, or burning a bunch of CDs, we've already started...

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#1

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread 2000: Your parents telling you not to believe everything you read on the internet.

2020: Your parents believing every post they see on Facebook.

Dijiwolf1975 , priscilladupreez Report

Final score:

135points

chi-wei shen 4 years ago

Good parents are still telling to not believe everything you see on the internet.

56points

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#2

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Recording songs off the radio to make a personal mix tape. Always got annoyed at the DJ for talking over the end of the song

digitalchicken , snd63 Report

Final score:

123points

Downunderdude 4 years ago

Yeah! +1

30points

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#3

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Buying a stack of blank Cd’s so you can make your own custom mixes

LeftHandMorty9 , sashaatx Report

Final score:

118points

Foxxy (The Original) 4 years ago

I have about 20-30 blank CD’s from over 5 years ago because USB’s came in and hold more memory. I don’t know what I should do with them coz I don’t know anyone who uses them these days.

22points

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2000, which feels like a whole eternity away, was one hell of a year. Do you remember the millennium bug, for example? It was supposedly going to cause global chaos, like planes falling out of the sky, missiles firing by accident, all simply because the dates on computers had to be reset at midnight on January 1, 2000.

Nothing happened and we’re still rolling in 2020. However, from how the world has been doing so far, it seems this time, we're gonna need some more luck.

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#4

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Watching a show weekly at the same time to catch new episodes

sib2972 , aleksdorohovich Report

Final score:

118points

Linus Nilsson 4 years ago

I actually miss this

46points

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#5

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread MTV music videos actually had videos

theinkedmuneca , public domain Report

Final score:

116points

Steve Barnett 4 years ago

'I want my MTV!'

45points

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#6

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Memorizing a phone number.

nofrigginway , PublicDomainPictures Report

Final score:

116points

Linus Nilsson 4 years ago

Still do...

37points

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The same year was a golden age for retro mobile phones and marked the rise of the legendary Nokia 3310. Everyone at the time was either playing Snake on their phone, or Solitaire on the computer. We lived in the world of phone calls and SMS messages, and no one was frightened to death by a random call like we are now.

2000 was also the time when reality TV changed television for good. It was the year when Big Brother aired on screens, gaining worldwide popularity. According to Esquire, the allure of it was that “it could 'turn your life around.'” You could win £100,000 and leave your life behind while 10 million people would watch their idols on eviction nights.

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#7

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Pay phones. If you see one now it’s like spotting a leprechaun, genie or unicorn and you ask it if it grants wishes

JustAnother0utcast , MichaelGaida Report

Final score:

109points

Daria B 4 years ago

Still plenty in Korea. At subway stations mostly.

8points

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#8

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Rewinding movies when you’re done watching them

Raze321 , igpetry Report

Final score:

100points

Tara Brooks 4 years ago

“Be Kind, Please Rewind”

52points

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#9

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread I remember 25 years ago getting on a plane and realized I forgot some important paperwork in the car. The flight attendant let me get off the plane and I ran through the terminal and out to the parking lot to my car to retrieve it. Then quickly ran back in, zipped past the security screener, out onto the tarmac and climbed up the stairs to the plane. It was a rather small airport so it took less than 5 minutes. But I doubt I’d be allowed to do that today.

Rustyboyvermont , iwnph Report

Final score:

99points

chi-wei shen 4 years ago

Trying to run past security definitely would trigger an alarm.

46points

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#10

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Printing out your route from Mapquest before leaving the house

Mason-Derulo , arttravelling Report

Final score:

87points

chi-wei shen 4 years ago

My parents still prefer to have print-outs in case the phone doesn't work properly. However, nowadays they get them from Google.

28points

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#11

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Telling people to call you back after 9pm bc that's when minutes are free

HotelMoscow , igorovsyannykov Report

Final score:

82points

Kombat Kitten 4 years ago

If it wasn't after 9 or on the weekend then it better have been an emergency. Amazing the day the started free mobile to mobile minutes if your friends had the same phone company.

19points

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#12

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Not freaking out when someone calls you out of nowhere

ElectricGelato , Alexas_Fotos Report

Final score:

80points

itz kimora 4 years ago

Wait w-what?!?!?!?

14points

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#13

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Going to Blockbuster on Friday nights

Gieder , Mtaylor848 Report

Final score:

79points

Princess Procrastination 4 years ago

Blockbuster!!! I was so sad when my local one closed.

25points

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#14

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Writing down an address or telephone number to store the information for later.

7imTim , Pexels Report

Final score:

79points

Mimi777 4 years ago

I had a little notebook of all my friends numbers and some classmates! I was born in 92. I miss those days sometimes..

13points

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#15

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Blowing into video games to fix them

lholm0494 , Bryan Ochalla Report

Final score:

78points

itz kimora 4 years ago

now its slamming the video game on social media to fix it 😂

37points

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#16

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Smoking in bars. Hell, even going to bars

3mta3jvq , zafarrancho Report

Final score:

74points

Kombat Kitten 4 years ago

I remember the smoking sections in restaurants being a thing too. My uncle would do this take a puff, take a bite, then exhale the smoke from his nose while chewing. Usually with just a slide divider that could be rolled around to make the smoking or non smoking sections bigger depending on what their customers were mostly.

20points

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#17

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread T9 texting

h0sti1e17 , reddit Report

Final score:

72points

Kombat Kitten 4 years ago

Every number had 3 or 4 letters for them. 4 letters for less used letters like 7 (pqrs) and 9 (wxyz). Space and # (pound sign) were on a button beside 0 and ?.! were normally on the other side of 0. 0 was often backspace. 1 (held down) was normally voicemail. Once you know what number the letter you want is assigned to, you press that number 1,2,3, or 4 times to pick the letter. So, "Hi Foxxy" would be 4 pressed twice, 4 pressed once, space, 3 pressed thrice, 6 pressed thrice, 9 pressed twice, 9 pressed twice, 9 pressed thrice. Waiting too long between pressing would automatically choose whatever letter you last were at before. Example if you want L and press 5 twice but not fast enough to get the last press in than it would pick K. If you wanted a new letter on a number you just used for a letter than you had to wait a second for it to register before pressing for a new letter or it may think you were still entering the last letter and then you accidentally go past your letter.

19points

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#18

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Saying that technology is useless. Or that you won’t always have a calculator in your pocket

MagentaLeopord2018 , stevepb Report

Final score:

72points

Tara Brooks 4 years ago

No one could have imagined we would all have mini computers in our pocket

26points

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#19

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Having a school project to do and busting out the Encarta disk.

ash894 , ms_brightside Report

Final score:

69points

itz kimora 4 years ago

what's an encarta disk? just wondering ^^

19points

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#20

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Smoking or non-smoking” was the first question you were asked when entering a sit-down restaurant.

MjrLeeStoned , couleur Report

Final score:

67points

Daria B 4 years ago

It still happens in Japan.

14points

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#21

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Being pleased your new car had a CD player AND a tape deck.

Substantial_Quote , AviKado Report

Final score:

60points

Jeff Requier 4 years ago

I had top of the line stereos and subs and woofers.

6points

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#22

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Switching to channel 3 to play video games

eagleblue44 , albertrenn Report

Final score:

58points

Foxxy (The Original) 4 years ago

Is this an American thing? We had to change the channel to AV to play video games.

41points

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#23

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Teen magazines (Tiger Beat, M, Mad…) that you could take posters out of and hang in your room

Final score:

58points

Tara Brooks 4 years ago (edited)

I was obsessed. I can still smell the smell of the grocery store isle, and fresh printed magazines as I ripped out the pages starring my crush.

19points

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#24

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Getting excited about receiving an email.

somasmarti , hostreviews Report

Final score:

54points

Princess Procrastination 4 years ago

I still am excited whenever I get an email

32points

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#25

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Television in 4:3

ThursdayIs7 , fran_ Report

Final score:

53points

Tara Brooks 4 years ago

Television at 4:30 am. Creeeepy

13points

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#26

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Pretending the internet was not gonna be much. Saying "Oh yeah, when the internet runs the world?" Or something dismissive like that.

At one point if it was on social media, people said "But it's on social media, so it doesn't really matter."

People in 2020 lose careers over their posts on social media.

s968339 , Pixelkult Report

Final score:

51points

Ben Smith 4 years ago

People losing their career because of posting on social media is more a demonstration of how stupid people are.

20points

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#27

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Waiting for the internet to connect. Yelling at someone in the house for being on the phone when you can’t connect.

I kept a folder of music lyrics that I ripped out of Dolly/Girlfriend magazines. Also loved reading the booklet inside the CD of all the lyrics.

Recording songs off the radio to make a personal mix tape. Always got annoyed at the DJ for talking over the end of the song.

digitalchicken , Orca Report

Final score:

50points

Steve Barnett 4 years ago

di do di do do dit dooo.... ke ching CHING CHING Ching... crackle.... kre kre kre ......

17points

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#28

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread I used paper maps to deliver pizza in 2001. I paid like $30 for a map book of my city so I can deliver fast and efficient plus not get lost.

JunkBondJunkie , gregroose Report

Final score:

47points

Martha Meyer 4 years ago

When the apocalypse comes and there is no internet anymore, these will be worth gold.

35points

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#29

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Saying dot com at the end of everything because it was cool to do.

1HeyMattJ Report

Final score:

42points

Zachariah Brown 4 years ago

ur mom.com😂

26points

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#30

People Are Sharing What Things Look Strange Now, But Were Completely Normal 20 Years Ago In This Viral Thread Frosted tips.

Laeif , Toglenn Report

Final score:

32points

Tara Brooks 4 years ago

Those are not frosted tips!

13points

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Note: this post originally had 38 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.

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Liucija Adomaite

Liucija Adomaite is a creative mind with years of experience in copywriting. She has a dynamic set of experiences from advertising, academia, and journalism. This time, she has set out on a journey to investigate the ways in which we communicate ideas on a large scale. Her current mission is to find a magic formula for how to make ideas, news, and other such things spread like a virus.

Liucija Adomaite is a creative mind with years of experience in copywriting. She has a dynamic set of experiences from advertising, academia, and journalism. This time, she has set out on a journey to investigate the ways in which we communicate ideas on a large scale. Her current mission is to find a magic formula for how to make ideas, news, and other such things spread like a virus.

Justinas Keturka

I'm the Visual Editor at Bored Panda, responsible for ensuring that everything our audience sees is top-notch and well-researched. What I love most about my job? Discovering new things about the world and immersing myself in exceptional photography and art.

I'm the Visual Editor at Bored Panda, responsible for ensuring that everything our audience sees is top-notch and well-researched. What I love most about my job? Discovering new things about the world and immersing myself in exceptional photography and art.

What do you think ?

Torchicachu 4 years ago

it was kinda funny because a lot of them i still did and im only in high school

5points

ADHORTATOR 4 years ago

I can relate to almost all of them...seems I am old now

5points

David K 4 years ago

Me too. Born in 1986 and I can relate to everything on the list.

3points

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Robin Childers 4 years ago

It's faster to dial a number than to go through my contacts to find it.

3points

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Torchicachu 4 years ago

it was kinda funny because a lot of them i still did and im only in high school

5points

ADHORTATOR 4 years ago

I can relate to almost all of them...seems I am old now

5points

David K 4 years ago

Me too. Born in 1986 and I can relate to everything on the list.

3points

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Robin Childers 4 years ago

It's faster to dial a number than to go through my contacts to find it.

3points

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