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Being a teen is a wild ride. Everything’s changing, from your body and sense of self to your peer relationships and desire for independence. What’s more, every generation of teens is growing up in their own era with its own unique set of circumstances.
Someone asked the internet, “What did it feel like to be a teenager in the early 2000s?” and netizens didn’t hold back with their answers and insights. Here’s a collection of our favorites.
More info: Reddit
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#1
Glorious…. Still had computers with minimal social media. Cameras on phones were like 2MP and no where or one to send anything you did take a picture to. Glorious!
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#2
Honestly, a lot of fun. Most of us didn't really have cell phones, certaintly no smart phones, and our parents couldn't get ahold of us 24/7 or track our locations. We also could do stupid s**t without worrying we'd become viral on the internet.
Bored Trash Panda 1 month ago
I'm sorry, knowing how I was as a child, my son has had a phone since he was 8 (currently 12). Plus he walks home from school and is alone at home sometimes with no house phone so we feel more comfortable. Plus I have a tracer app on it. He is very limited on what he can do on it though.
#3
People were more social and generally felt street smarter because there was no brain rot.
Petra Peitsch 2 months ago
There was, but internet was not so wide-spread for every other dumba.ss to have it, so you didn't saw their shít.
According to the Psychology Today website, the teen years can be a time of both discovery and disorientation. The transitional period from 13 to 19 can raise questions of independence and identity. As teens cultivate their sense of self, they may face difficult choices about academics, friendship, sexuality, gender identity, and substances.
Most teens have a relatively egocentric perspective on life. They typically focus on themselves and think that everyone else is focused on them too. They may struggle with insecurities and feelings of being judged, while relationships with family members often take a backseat to friends, romantic interests, and personal appearance.
#5
I miss sitting around at lunch with my discman and burnt cd. The internet hadn’t fully kicked off the way it is now yet. But there were communities on livejournal that were incredible to be part.
Things weren’t as simple as the 80s / 90s, but emerging tech was exciting, we were cautious about what we did online. Not so much at house parties. Clubbing and partying with friends, being in the moment, taking the occasional photo with our cameras was amazing.
#6
Pretty rad. A great time to be a fan of Lord of the Rings.
In her article for The Teen Mag, Kaila Hu writes that, for many teenagers, the right outfit can act as a psychological boost and enhance their self-esteem. Beyond being a simple wardrobe, the right clothing can become a symbolic representation of self-identity, something almost every teen will grapple with at some point.
The fashion choices made by teens can indicate their group affiliations, helping them form connections with like-minded peers in what is typically a turbulent time. In fact, fashion becomes a language through which many teens pin down a sense of belonging, helping to establish friendships, social networks, and even romantic relationships.
#7
Printing out directions from map quest to get to new places.
Firstname Lastname 2 months ago
And then stopping at the gas station to ask some poor local to reroute you when you need new directions because the road is closed for construction.
#8
We had emergent technology before big business and government put their disgusting hands into it. It was truly the Wild West and it was absolutely incredible. Kids today got f****d.
Susie Elle 1 month ago
Yeah the chatrooms without supervision were definitely the Wild West. I remember the chatroom of one of the kid's tv channels had SO MUCH nsfw stuff flying around, it was crazy.
#9
You remember your friend phone number, both house and cell phone
Your “smart”phone only have 3 core features: call, message, snake game
Foxglove🇮🇪 2 months ago
I still remember my childhood phone number 45+ years ago, and our local councillor's number - he and my dad had the same name so we had a LOT of wrong numbers. And the number of a former lover from 1989!
Being a teenager in the early 2000s was a unique experience characterized by a blend of emerging technologies, distinctive fashion trends, and evolving social dynamics. Music sharing platforms, millennium-inspired trends, online interactions, and live shows like Total Request Live (TRL) on MTV all merged to create a heady mix of entertainment.
This era also witnessed the mainstream rise of emo and pop-punk music, genres that resonated with teenage angst and emotions. Bands like My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Linkin Park, and Blink-182 became the voice of a generation wrestling with identity and self-expression, according to Vogue.
#10
If you had moderate computer skills you could get away with so f*****g much.
LinkTheHylian 1 month ago
I remember when my primary school got computers around 98-00, and when it was raining we'd all gather around the four (free to use, IT room was off-limits outside of class) computers in the lobby and play Simpsons .wav files all throughout lunch. We had to stop when we kept playing Apu saying the line "Sorry Mr. Simpson but we're putting that b***h on ice." and were busted by the deputy headteacher.
#11
Everything felt like it was in the moment and time didn’t seem to move as fast. We weren’t all plugged in and constantly online.
You could beef with someone and fight it out and it was squashed after that, now kids beef, get embarrassed because everyone’s a cameraman and then it turns into vendettas.
There’s a reason you hear people say s**t was better back then, and in a real way, it was. Yes now we have so much more, but was it worth the cost?
Huddo's sister 2 months ago
I fought with a 'friend' and then wrote her a letter to explain how I was feeling and why. This made her more offended and she stopped talking to me for two years!
#12
All the guys either wore a puka shell necklace or the metal ball necklace.
The Doom Song 2 months ago
Not just the guys.... My ball necklace only broke last year after 20+ years of wearing it
Of course, back then mobile phones weren't smart yet, social media was basically non-existent (MySpace would only show up in 2003), and parents couldn’t track their kid’s every movement. So, there was still a sense of youthful freedom and the knowledge that, if you did something stupid, only the people there would see it.
Around the same time, celebrity culture underwent significant transformations, influenced by technological advancements, evolving media landscapes, and shifting public interests. The reality television boom, paparazzi, tabloids, the influence of pop icons, and the metrosexual trend all redefined what it meant to be a post-90s teen.
#13
The golden age of video games - Halo, COD, BioShock, GTA4, Fallout, etc.
Listening to musicians for their albums, not just hit singles.
Fighting over the Internet or the phone, couldn't have both. I still remember the notification sounds of MSN messenger.
Being apprehensive to send that 30¢ text message to your crush, because that was expensive.
The big thing that sums up my experience was being in an age of discovery - finding the next best hilarious clip on YouTube, sifting through thousands of albums and bands on iTunes, trying out new sports in highschool, first parties, first time drinking.
Felt like a time of experiencing life on a raw, wild level, with no fear of "forever" consequences that it seems that kids these days need to worry about (smart phones, cyber bullying, social media in general).
#14
Social media and phones were still very much in their infancy stage, so it felt like we lived in the moment. Not sure if it’s like that now.
Lene 1 month ago
I loved a lot of the SoMe in the early-mid 2000s. Vampirefreaks had lots of awesome weirdos to talk with. Some were stupid, ofc, but most were really nice. In Denmark we had Black Market for the alternative folks out there (metal heads, punks, goths, hippies etc). It was so great to feel like I belonged in this group of people. Lol. The earliest SoMe I tried was back in 2000/2001, it was a virtual place called Netstationen (again, a Danish site) and it was so much fun because you did the chatting but you also got to build a room (? Can't quite remember what we all built). I was amazed at the fact that I could type stuff to someone hours away and they'd answer me immediately. Being online was my big hyperfixation when I was at boarding school. Whenever I could I'd sit there in front of the computer. Lol.
#15
Genuinely cool. It feels like when Andy said “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them”.
If you were a teen in the early 2000s, you can probably relate to a lot of the things in this list. One thing’s for sure, teens of that era had to adapt to a whole lot of change while still navigating adolescence.
Do you ever reflect on what it felt like to be a teen at the turn of the millennium? Upvote your favorite insights in this list and don’t forget to leave a comment if the urge takes you!
#16
I listened to a lot of t.A.T.u., AFI, and Evanescence.
MySpace was just starting to gain traction, but online chat rooms were still the go-to way to meet new people. The first question in any room was always, “A/S/L?” - and yes, there were plenty of creeps.
I can still hear my mom yelling at me to get off the computer so she could use the phone. The joys of dial-up internet! :)
It was also the time I transitioned from male to female as a youth.
Aside from the extreme lack of trans resources and complete disregard from nonprofits like PFLAG, it was a much simpler time.
Mind you, many of us were still processing the events of 9/11 and watched as America thrust itself into war.
#17
All the musicians on tv were wearing blue jeans and dancing. It was all about dancing
#18
I drove a low-riding Honda Civic with a body kit, huge white rims, graphics on the side, and a stereo system that would punch your brain out of your head.
Lots of time spent at the mall food court and movie theater.
#19
56k internet, chat rooms, bad bleached hair, MTV/Fuse music videos before school, not everyone had cell phones but if they did they were either prepay tracphones/nextel chirping/or razr flip phone if they were fancy, if you didnt have a cell people would have to catch you while you were home, using pay phones in public, having a big book of cds in your car, cd player faceplates getting stolen….
Ashtophet’sRevenge 1 month ago
Ok I’m older but my big book of CDs was amazing… but ended up adding kid stuff over time…
#20
Much better than now I believe even though experience varies depending on particular situation, but it was time of wonders and progress.
Leslie Victor 1 month ago
So much of this is a bittersweet homage, it seems clear that there is a lot of discontent out there....
#21
Myspace changed everything for me when it came to realizing the broader world outside of my [poop]hole town. I met hippies, Hardline straight edge punks, people imitating Hindi goddesses, and black metal lunatics. I discovered my love for music and interacted with hundreds of interesting and cool people (all of them) are elsewhere now. It was probably the last time I truly valued physical media and went out of my way to buy CDS, and it was the last decade where most of my family was still alive. People say viewing the past isnt helpful but life was f*****g better then
Huddo's sister 2 months ago
My friend made a Myspace account for me when I was at her place, I promptly forgot the password and never went on it again!
#22
So much baggy clothing, and each item of baggy clothing was pretty baggy. We were told the harms of smoking but did it anyway (kinda like teens today with vaping or Zyns) The internet was slowly becoming a thing, low speeds but you could still chat on ICQ or MSN Messenger.
#23
Technically this was just before 2000 but it fits. In middle school I was one of those kids using P2P file sharing and ripping my friends CDs and such. I had a friend who's idea took this a step further. They made a crude streaming music service with only free sites and free compression software that was actually functional. They linked it all up to 1 main site and gave that link out to many kids in school to use in computer lab, library, etc. because CDs were bulky to carry around and portable MP3 players weren't really a thing. We even used the school's network (after getting someone else's creds to cover our asses) to upload this massive database that we snuck-in via small batches using an external ZIP drive because USB flash drives weren't a thing and our home internet was too slow. This would NEVER happen these days but it was fun for teenage enthusiasts at the time. I still can't believe it actually functioned well. So yeah, I miss the wild discovery of computers/internet in the 90's.
Final score:
3points
#24
Being in a teen in the 2000s was a blessing. We didn’t have the pressure to be on social media 24/7 and few chances of our worst moments being plastered all over social media. We also had safer neighborhoods and more time outdoors, the opportunity to unplug when needed, greater enjoyment of family time, tighter bonds of friendship and people looking out for each other more, and the like.
I work with teenagers now and I don’t see as much of that among them as I did in my generation. I think their generation’s pressure to be connected constantly, parents and children working long hours (the latter if they work in family businesses), economic conditions, and the like are major contributors, but not the whole of why they have so much pressure.
I do see that they long for experiencing simplicity my generation experienced when we were children. I pray they do that the opportunities we have in that respect and will be able to pass that on to their children and grandchildren!
Final score:
3points
Huddo's sister 2 months ago
I am interested to see what happens with teens socialising in Australia now that the government has banned under 16s on social media.
#25
Beyblades and yu ghi oh were in
Huddo's sister 2 months ago
And they are both back now! I have kids having Beyblade battles at least once a week at my after school care program.
#26
I was a teen in the 1970s. If we wanted to talk it was either the house phone or face to face. Games? We played them outside or inside on a table. All the players had to be present. Life was simpler then. Electronics? A portable radio. Best of all? No preplanned song lists on the radio. DJs were often given freedom to play what they wanted. Songs that would turn you on to new bands. I heard "Killer Queen" when I was 15 and at a pool. I immediately became a fan. 1st time I saw them (University of Maryland's Cole Field House) the tickets were $7.50. Good times, great memories
Final score:
1point
LinkTheHylian 1 month ago
I also heard that it was the style to wear onions on your belt at that time.
What do you think ?
Smeghead Tribble Down Under 2 months ago
My sweet summer children. Nothing will ever surpass being a teenager in the 90s. (born 1980)
Smeghead Tribble Down Under 2 months ago
My sweet summer children. Nothing will ever surpass being a teenager in the 90s. (born 1980)
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