For those old enough to remember the earlier years of the new millennium, we can all agree life today looks a lot different than it did twenty years ago. We had the ability to grow up alongside the invention and evolution of mobile devices. However, one could argue life before these inventions were simpler times. Here’s a look back at the day in your life, not so long ago.
- Using the home phone to call your friend
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Ah yes, that cylinder block attached to the kitchen wall with the white spiral cord. It’s as if every household placed the home phone just high enough that kids would have to use a phone book (remember phones bad boys?) as a step stool. Really though, what happens if there was an emergency and we couldn’t reach the phone!? The spiral cord always made it difficult to have a private conversation since it was never long enough to make it around corners and up to your bedroom.
- You had no need to take a picture of your lunch
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In the early 2000s, you would never see a couple at lunch where the boy is slumped in his chair, restraining from eating his meal till the girl captures the perfect overhead photo. Someone rarely takes a photo of their food to print it at CVS and tape it into their scrapbook. It wasn’t until 2010 that people started caring to share what they ate for lunch with the invention of Instagram.
- A drawer dedicated to takeout menus
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It’s honestly hard to think back to a time before the glorious Uber Eats, but it wasn’t that long ago that we were using old fliers to order takeout. The junk drawer dedicated to phone numbers to various pizza and Chinese restaurants sat cluttered at the end of the kitchen counter.
- A flip phone with a keyboard
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A big turning point was upgrading from a flip phone with just numbers to a flip phone with an actual keyboard. At sleepovers, if you forgot your charger you were doomed since there wasn’t a universal phone charger that you could just borrow from one of your friends. The horizontal flip really screamed “cool kid” and we all knew it.
- Kids Cuisine
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Kids Cuisine with a Danimals could only be eaten curled up on the couch watching That’s So Raven. The wet food often tasted like the blue plastic tray it was cooked and served on; however, we never seemed to care. Trading our dessert with a sibling felt like we just won the lottery. Kids who grew up in the later 2000s will never appreciate the simplicity of a TV dinner.
- A Club Penguin membership
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Whether it be Club Penguin or Webkinz we have all shed tears over who gets to log into the computer after homework since there was only one. Your only form of communication outside of school or Kik was logging in at a certain time to play with all your friends!
- Trips to Blockbuster
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The concept of being able to stream any movie from your home television was unheard of, and the idea of walking into a store to buy a DVD was normal. Family trips to Blockbusters would include flipping through movie shelves arguing the genre for the night.