Our childhood never ends. Yes, we get older but the core memories from that time, surrounding everything from the people we hung out with to the places we visited continue to live in our head rent-free, occasionally reminding us about themselves when we least expect them to.
However, not all of them are equally vivid, and some might need a bit more stimuli to come back. And the internet is excellent for this task. There are entire communities where people are actively reminding one another about the good old days. (We've already covered some, like the one dedicated to '80s & '90s memes.)
The Facebook group '2000s Y2K Childhood' is one of them. It currently unites 74,600 members, and whether you grew up during that era too or are just interested in learning more about it, their posts perfectly illustrate it. Here are some of the most popular ones.
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I Loved Those Pens
We Had No Idea
Aside from the few fearmongers threatening the end of the world, the dawn of the new millennium felt, at the time, like entering the future.
Humans marveled at how far technology had advanced in the 20th century. Just under half of all American homes had the internet and were able to Ask Jeeves for the location of the nearest RadioShack and create bad AOL screennames.
The mobile phone was becoming less of a brick, and you could even play 'Snake' on one.
These Speakers
I remeber these always switched on with a satisfying whoomph! That and the urge to put your finger in the hole.... (get out of the gutter pandas!)
New Fresh Play Doh
There weren't any social media apps to scroll through immediately after opening your eyes in the morning (and just before closing them at night).
Even Friendster, the often-mocked social network, didn't exist until 2002, and Facebook wouldn’t appear until two years later.
So how was everyone spending their time?
Nobody Knows
Fighting Over The TV
Petition To Bring This Mcdonalds Back
Seriously though, what happened to McDonald's? I go in there every day to pick up people's Uber orders and it's practically a graveyard of the majestic palace of fun it was in the days of yore. Empty, touch screen kiosks for placing your order, and then a bag is dumped on the counter when it's ready. One manager in the front and a bunch of line cooks in the back. It is extremely sad.
As Allen Kim and Breeanna Hare pointed out for CNN, they waited patiently for the news.
If you weren't reading the newspaper or sitting in front of the TV, you could go hours without knowing the latest crazy thing the president said.
In 2000, daily weekday circulation for newspapers in the US was estimated at nearly 56 million.
Mentally I’m Here
Took me a second to realize that this isn't literally a picture from my old school... wow some things are just universal, huh?
Grandparent's Secret Handshake
Dream 2000s Bedroom Starter Pack
The Most Iconic Four-Way Call To Ever Exist, Prove Me Wrong
The... only... ever four way call to exist? Can't imagine there's a lot of competition in this category at the Oscars
It isn't though, a lot of 2000's girls shows used to have multiple people calls like that
Load More Replies...The four-way call on Bratz: "Hey girls, Sleepover at Cloe's tonight?" Much cooler imo
Booooo you whore!!! (just a real quote from this scene, please don't hate me lol) but seriously you should watch this masterpiece.
Load More Replies...In order to document your life, you had to carry around an extra device: an actual camera; the concept of the cameraphone was still a few years away from becoming mainstream.
And Netflix was just getting started: it could recommend movies, give you three DVDs at a time, and let you keep them for as long as you wanted. “The dream 20 years from now,” CEO Reed Hastings said in 2002, “is to have a global entertainment distribution company that provides a unique channel for film producers and studios.”
Damn Not Even The Fast Charger
I Remember Coming Home From School Every Evening To Watch The Best Lineup
I Had One Of These I Was Sad When The Marker Dried Out Though
Do They Think Kids Don’t Use Paper ?
What? Do they now sing 🎵We just got an email, we just got an email, we just got an email, I wonder who it's from?🎵. Because that will hurt me on a personal level
But why do we feel nostalgic for these things? Krystine Batcho, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at LeMoyne College and a licensed psychologist, thinks that this emotional experience allows us to get a better understanding of our own selves.
"It helps to unite our sense of who we are, our self, our identity over time," Batcho said. "Because over time, we change constantly, we change in incredible ways. We're not anywhere near the same as we were when we were three years old, for example. Nostalgia, by motivating us to remember the past in our own life, helps to unite us to that authentic self and remind us of who we have been and then compare that to who we feel we are today."
This also gives us a sense of who we want to become in the future.
Out Rockin My Jeans From 2004 Today!
Having Cell Phones In 2000s
Ooooh Yikes
2000s
"The other way that nostalgia serves an essential psychological function is that it is a highly social emotion. It connects us to other people," Batcho added. "It does that [in] so many beautiful ways. In the beginning, when we're very young, it's part of what bonds us to the most important people in our life, our parents, our siblings, our friends. As we go through life, it can broaden out and extend to a wider sphere of the people we interact with. It's a social connectedness phenomenon and nostalgia is in that sense a very healthy pro-social emotion."
And online communities such as '2000s Y2K Childhood' only back up these words.
Halloween In The Early 2000s
Yasss
The Man Who Had A Piercing On His Thing And Got Electrocuted
I Love Shrek Lol
Who Remembers These Growing Up In The 2000’s
Unpopular opinion, I never liked these because they fit really weird and got stuck in my hair (Edit: I know they're bracelets. I have no idea how they ended up in my hair)
One Fine Day A Woof And A Purr A Baby Was Born And It Caused A Little Stir
I Use To Love This Game!
Yea To Take Her To The Mall To Get Some Food And Leave
Good Ol’ Triangle Club. Where Everybody Knows Your Name
My God, I feel old now that people are considering the early 2000s nostalgic....
People born after 9/11 can now legally drink in the US. So there's that...ಥ_ಥ
The only interactive toys I had growing up were fuzzy felts, plasticine, etc. Things we could actually touch and feel. No such things as home computers back then.
really? I had a home computer in 1983 so... older than that?
Load More Replies...I had my first two kids in 2004 & 2005 - so much of this related to them rather than my born in 1982 old self
My God, I feel old now that people are considering the early 2000s nostalgic....
People born after 9/11 can now legally drink in the US. So there's that...ಥ_ಥ
The only interactive toys I had growing up were fuzzy felts, plasticine, etc. Things we could actually touch and feel. No such things as home computers back then.
really? I had a home computer in 1983 so... older than that?
Load More Replies...I had my first two kids in 2004 & 2005 - so much of this related to them rather than my born in 1982 old self