19 Millennials Are Sharing Things That Were Common In The '90s And 2000s That Would "Baffle" Anyone Under The Age Of 25
That's why when Redditor u/ToeKnown9863 asked, "What's a '90s/2000s trend that would baffle kids today?" Thousands of Gen X'ers and millennials shared the good, the bad, and the ugly of Y2K trends. From burning CDs to Pogs — here are 19 of their best responses:
If you can think of Y2K trends that would leave the younger generations speechless, feel free to tell us about them using this anonymous form!
1."Downloading music off Limewire to iTunes, running to Walmart while it downloads, buying blank CDs, and burning them once it's downloaded. Then, thinking of a cool name for your new CD."
"I spent three days downloading the movie 300 while it was still in theaters. Burned it to a DVD, made some Jiffy Pop, and bought a Code Red Mountain Dew. I popped in my freshly burned DVD that Friday night and thought how awesome it was that I was going to watch a movie that was still playing at the theater down the street.
Then the movie started, and I remembered thinking that it looked cheap for a Hollywood movie. Suddenly, a naked guy walked onto the screen, followed by three others...I then realized I had spent three days downloading a dirty movie."
—u/Daguvry
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2."Playing literally one video game for the entire summer, no online walkthroughs. If you wanted a hint, you needed to buy a paper guidebook, hope your friend knew the tricks, or call a 900 number for help."
"My mom had to block 900 numbers because I racked up a huge bill trying to beat a King's Quest game."
—u/violent_potatoes
3."Trapper keepers confuse me now, yet I literally screamed to high heaven to get my mom to buy me the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles one."
"For those who are unaware: a Trapper Keeper is a binder. Yes, we '90s kids were judging coolness by the kind of binder we had."
—u/WitheredRosePetals82
4."Not just having a landline, but SHARING a landline."
"Everyone in the house had the same number. If you called, anyone in the house might pick up. If you were calling your crush, you had to be prepared to negotiate with suspicious/hostile family members, but that was somewhat understandable.
It got really weird when you had adult roommates! Suddenly, you're the social secretary for your popular, ladies' man roommate, trying to explain that you don't know where your other roommate is to a very angry woman, and ducking calls from a collection agency.
And you'd have to collaborate on the voicemail message. Yes, there was only one voicemail/answering machine for the entire household, too. We used to record elaborate and hilarious messages every two weeks, sometimes with running jokes.
It was a wild time that I actually don't miss."
—u/haysoos2
5."Pogs: We just collected little cardboard circles to play a dumb, boring game."
—u/LouBarlowsDisease
"Yeah, it was hot for about a year, then it was GONE as if it never existed. People weren't even talking about Pogs anymore.
I think my dad might still have my old slammers in storage somewhere."
—u/nmezib
6."Buying ringtones."
—u/overfiend1976
"And ringbacks! I didn't know how they were popular, but in the early aughts, my girlfriend paid for a service that would play a heavily compressed MP3 to the person calling you, instead of the regular dialing sound prior to answering the phone."
—u/markh100
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7."There was no 'Google Maps.' You had a huge book sitting in your glove box. If you didn't know the way, you had to literally chart it and try to follow it. Or just memorize the whole thing."
—u/MightBeTrollingMaybe
"I used to help my grandpa navigate his RV when I'd spend summers with my grandparents as a kid. Pulling out the atlas because he wasn't sure where to go was always a blast. I think that those experiences and video games are why my spatial awareness and direction finding are as good as they are.
Now, when I look up a new place on Google Maps, I'll street view the final bit just to know what to look for. I've had people act like my ability to know where I'm going is witchcraft."
—u/Silbyrn_
8."Chain emails: I'd be so embarrassed to do that today..."
"I used to fill out these long 'About Me' Q&As because I thought people were interested in reading my 50 answers."
—u/Advanced-Koala2559
9."Having to wait a week for 10 photos to be processed and printed."
"When we would get them back, they were mostly unidentifiable, but we were just excited to have one 'good' picture that was only slightly blurry."
—u/Lia_Delphine
10."If you missed a new episode of a TV show, you just missed it."
"Your only chance to see it again was when it became a rerun the next season. There was always a showtime that showed old episodes, where new ones aired during the season. The Simpsons aired new episodes on Sundays and had many airtimes during the week, showing old episodes, so you waited until the episode you missed was added to the rotation.
This changed in the 2000s when entire seasons were released on DVD box sets. Then you could watch without having to wait for it in the rotation."
—u/Embarrassed_Bath5148
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11."Dialing *69 so you could figure out the phone number that just called you. No, we didn't all have Caller ID, and yes, it cost money."
"And yes, they used 69."
—u/EmperorSexy
12."Having to run to the bathroom/kitchen/do chores during a commercial break and having a sibling yell, 'It's back on,' so you could return to the TV in time."
"Additionally, knowing what time shows were premiering, so you knew to do your chores before then, so you could watch undisturbed."
—u/ConsistentCollar2694
13."Waiting for songs to come on the radio so you could record them on a cassette tape, and getting mad if the DJ talked over the intro. Kids today will never know the struggle of timing it perfectly and still ending up with the DJ's voice at the beginning."
—u/RudeResearcher4761
"I still have one or two songs in my entire playlist that I transferred over from physical media that have radio hosts speaking over the beginning and end, and I can't bring myself to ever find the proper non-radio versions.
They are just a part of the song now, and it will sound weird without them."
—u/Onigumo-Shishio
14."The simple act of being bored while waiting in a doctor's office, traveling, or attending family parties, etc."
"There was no nightmare rectangle keeping us preoccupied."
—u/ShedMontgomery
15."When swing music and dancing went from nonexistent to full-blown movement from 1996–1998. That trend was gone in a flash."
—u/Coffee-N-Kettlebells
"Zoot-suit riot baby! It was a very unique three years in music. Best of all worlds, even our movie soundtracks were amazing."
—u/Intrepid_Kiwi_7995
16."Buying a magazine to know what will be on TV this week."
—u/Parallel-Unicorn
"On that same note: Everyone tuning in and watching a show or movie at the same time, besides a live sports broadcast, you don't see anything like that nowadays because of streaming.
I remember when a popular TV show's new season premiered, and everyone would be watching the exact same thing the night it aired, or when a new Disney Channel movie aired, everyone at school would be watching it that night."
—u/kakapoopoopeepeeshir
Related:
17."Riding to a friend's house to see if they could hang out: If they couldn't, you were just like, 'Okay, I'll start my 2-mile bike ride back home to find something else to do.'"
—u/ColdIndependence5820
"I lived in the Midwest for a few years in high school, in a little town a few miles from one of those rail-to-trail bike trails. In the summer, a bunch of us would ride something like 15 miles each way...for an ice cream cone.
But at least it was something to do."
—u/absolutenobody
18."When TLC was actually 'The Learning Channel.' It was like a no-frills version of the Discovery Channel, except it came standard on cable. You had to pay extra for Discovery."
"But you were still able to learn about Egyptian pharaohs, cave murals, origins of the human species, aliens, and other cool stuff.
Then it caught the reality TV virus."
—u/vsysio
19."Living in the moment: Because there were no smartphones, no one cared about documenting every moment of their lives for likes and views. And if we did, we used a digital or disposable camera."
"Not only was it freeing, but none of the dumb things we did were preserved online…unless we spent hours uploading them onto Facebook."
—u/Dry-Subject-718
Did you remember any of these trends/habits? What are some other aspects of the '90s and 2000s that would shock kids today? Tell us about them in comments or answer anonymously using the form below!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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