I think we massively over-romanticize how great 2000s childhoods were.
By @piawelp · Nostalgia
My kids think my childhood was this magical, pre-internet paradise. I keep trying to explain to them that a lot of it was just being bored and waiting for dial-up to connect so I could talk to one person on AIM.
The full story
My kids (10 and 12) are in this phase where everything from the late 90s/early 2000s is iconic. They see retro stuff on TikTok and think my entire childhood was some kind of perfect, analog wonderland before screens 'ruined everything'. I keep having to explain that it wasn't all butterfly clips and Dunkaroos. A sleepover wasn't fun because we were 'unplugged,' it was fun because it was the only way to see your friends after 9pm. Otherwise you were just... at home. Bored. Watching whatever your parents had on TV. Want to know what a Friday night was? Calling your friend's house and having their dad pick up the phone, then waiting 25 minutes for their dial-up internet to finally connect so you could have a 3-minute conversation on AIM before someone else needed the phone line. You couldn't just text everyone. You couldn't just look up the answer to a question. If you missed your favorite show, that was it. It was gone. You'd have to wait for a rerun, maybe next summer. We remember the highlights—the Blockbuster trips, the weirdly colored ketchup, the inflatable furniture. But we forget the endless hours of just... nothing. No music on your phone, no podcasts for a car ride, no GPS to get anywhere. Just a burned CD with 12 songs on it and a map your mom printed from MapQuest. It built character, maybe, but was it better? I really don't think so.
How people voted
- Facts — 31% (21 votes)
- Depends — 46% (31 votes)
- No Way — 24% (16 votes)
Readers say “Depends” (46%) — 68 votes and 5 comments so far.
What people are saying
@codysorta — Sounds soft.
@violetok — My dad used to pay me a dollar to sit in the back of the car on road trips and just not talk. That's how boring it was.
@lostthebet — Kids these days wouldn't last a week without their phones.
@oopsie — I'd make them sit through a 3-hour slideshow of my terrible middle school photos. Show, don't tell.
@violettbh — But isn't some level of boredom good for kids?
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