The 2000s sit at a weird cross-section of time where we still lived analog lives but were given a taste of the digital lifestyle we live now. We were constantly upgrading to the latest tech to make our lives more convenient, even though they look so outdated now.
Looking back, all of these rituals place this decade in a bygone era of patience we didn’t know we were capable of.
Buying ringtones for one specific song
Remember when you didn’t have smartphones that could play any audio file as your alarm/notification sound? Your ringtone was everything. You would see late-night commercials or magazine sidebar ads that told you to text a keyword to purchase a 30-second ringtone of your favorite hit song.
For what was usually several dollars apiece, you could make sure everyone heard your phone blow up when your mom called. And if your phone wasn’t polyphonic, the notes you heard were robotic beeps and boops.
Burning CDs for road trips
There was no better gift than a Mix CD; your absolute must-have item when going on any car ride longer than 30 minutes.
You had to painstakingly enter your favorite songs into a list on your computer, insert a blank silver CD into your computer’s tray, and burn the information onto the disk using Windows Media Player. One wrong move and your computer would skip while burning it, ruining the CD and turning it into a shiny coaster.
After marking the track list on the front of the CD with a Sharpie, you’d store your collection of CDs in a giant leather binder in your car and scroll through them while driving to find the perfect playlist.
Watching the TV Guide channel scroll
Remember when you couldn’t access every TV channel’s streaming information by clicking an “Info” button or looking up your show in an alphabetical grid?
You used to rely on something called the TV Guide Channel. It was a non-stop channel that occupied the bottom half of your TV with a robotic and automated scrolling menu of every channel and what was currently playing on each
. If you wanted to see if something was on channel 62, you had to watch as it slowly scrolled through every channel alphabetically (or by channel number). If you blinked when channel 62 finally got there, you would have to wait around 15 minutes for it to get back to that channel again.
Free AOL CDs in the mailbox
If you lived during the 2000s, you got plastic cases or colorful cardboard mailer sleeves full of AOL “Free Trial” CDs shoved in your mailbox every other week.
America Online was how millions of people got access to the internet, and they literally put those CDs in mailboxes, inside Cap’n Crunch boxes, and at registers at Hollywood Video.
There were probably at least 15 AOL CDs under your childhood bed. Kids made artwork out of them, used them for frisbees, or upside down as reflective coasters for their parents’ coffee tables.
MySpace profile music
MySpace was king of all social media, and if you spent enough time on there, you were allowed to play around with HTML and proudly display your “Profile Song.”
As soon as someone clicked on your profile page, your song would automatically play at maximum volume without warning.
Picking your “Profile Music” was a big flex; it let all your “Top 8” friends know you were feeling certain vibes or that you belonged to a unique subculture. It was also the first time we really had a digital theme song.
Printing MapQuest directions
Remember before you had GPS in your pocket at all times?
Before heading out to a house party or vacation, you’d hop onto your desktop computer, type in the addresses, and print it out. You would literally leave your house with 2-3 pages of stapled-together turn-by-turn directions and a small, pixelated map screenshot.
Whoever was riding in the passenger seat was known as the navigator and would loudly read the directions as you drove. If you took a wrong turn, you couldn’t just “re-route” like we do today.
You had to pull into the nearest gas station, ask for directions, or spot a landmark that matched your printed directions.
Returning DVDs to drop boxes
Netflix wasn’t quite a thing yet, so movie nights meant leaving your house to drive to a store like Blockbuster or Hollywood Video.
You were expected to return the DVD by a certain time the next day to avoid pricey late fees. This caused what was commonly known as the “drop box ritual.”
You would rush to the store in your pajamas before work or late at night after the movie to shove the slim plastic case into a metal slit in the store’s window.
Dropping that DVD into the bin was satisfying. It’s what notified employees that you fulfilled your duty as a citizen.
Waiting for photos to be developed
Even at the turn of the century, we still had to wait to see photos from your birthday party or tropical vacation. Disposable cameras and film rolls were still wildly popular for special occasions because digital cameras still weren’t common.
Once you dropped the film off at your local drug store or “1 Hour Photo” shop, you’d have to return later to pick up your thick envelope of printed photos.
Desktop weather widgets
Back when computers actually stayed put on a desk, we loved accessorizing our screens with desktop “widgets” or “gadgets.” A popular one was the weather widget.
A cute little box that sat on your desktop background and showed you a silly sun icon, some clouds, or a thermometer. It made us feel like our computers were alive and aware of the outside world.
This was the era of Yahoo! Widgets and Google Desktop.
Carrying a separate MP3 player
Remember when your phone was just for talking, and your iPod or Zune was just for music? Most people walked around with two devices on them at all times.
Phones had such limited storage and poor battery lives that you needed a completely separate device to store your 1,000-song library. It was not uncommon to see people walking around with their flip phone in one hand and their MP3 player in the other, swapping between the two.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
Like our content? Be sure to follow us.
