In hindsight, what do you think of the 2000s?

[Prowler]

You know, the previous decade? It's been a while, so it's easier to look back and understand its place in history now.

As someone born in 1990 myself, the 2000s were the decade where I spent the later end of my childhood and spent my entire teenage years. I turned 10 years old in the year of 2000, and turned 19 years old in the year of 2009. So the past decade was clearly a rollercoaster and a lot of things happened in my life and changed throughout it. People change a lot each year when they're under 19 years old, so each year of the past decade was quite different for me. I was born in 1990, but don't really have a lot of vivid memories of the 90s until 1998 or so. Plus, that was the decade of my infancy and childhood, so it's not like change happened as fast as it did in the decade of my teenage years.

From a personal standpoint, the 2000s were an emotional rollercoaster for me. Most of you here are old enough to be a bit far removed from your teenage years already, so you remember how awkward your teenage years were and how different of a person you were at the time as well.

I wasn't too happy for most of the 2000s, but looking back, my biggest concern was fitting in at school, avoiding fights and worrying about my grades and tests. I had no bills to pay or any worries about not having enough money to entertain myself. I always had enough video games and toys to occupy myself with and also had the internet.

Now, as for the decade itself and its impact in the world... oh man, where to begin? First of all, it was the turn to a the new millennium. Something historical that only happens ever 1000 years. The year 2000 sounded SOOOO futuristic in 80s movies, tv shows, books, etc. and made the 2000s look like a decade with flying cars and teleportation technology, etc. But we all know that's not what happened.

Rather early in the decade there were the September 11 attacks in 2001. These attacks changed the world and our perception of security in the West. It's odd because the world was arguably more dangerous in the 80s, 90s, 70s, etc., but 9/11 seems to have warped people's sense of security all over the West. As did other terrorist attacks that happened since then. This was when Isalmic terrorism truly became the "monster" that we know as today. In the 70s-80s terrorist groups in Europe were homegrown and committed by far-right and far-left groups, so it was a different type of it. Plus, for most of the 90s Islamic terrorism stayed in Muslim majority nations and Israel. Americans and Europeans thought they were safe in their own home countries and that the conflicts were "elsewhere" in the world, but 9/11 and other attacks on the previous decade proved them wrong. And thus the whole Islamophobia animal became larger and larger and we're still seeing the consequences of that these days in politics and society. Not to mention 9/11 crushed the optimism of people. In the 80s and 90s people seemed genuinely excited about the future and the technological advances. The 90s had very RAPID technological advancements and the internet changed our lives a lot.

The previous decade also had the biggest global recession since the Great Depression. 9/11 had already crashed the 90s bubble, but 2007-2008 was when it REALLY sunk in that those days were over and that it was gonna be pretty much impossible for the financial and job security found in the 80s and 90s to be back.

The most controversial global affairs in the decade were the Iraq War and George W. Bush's presidency, pretty much.

Now, onto less controversial stuff...

The early-mid 2000s were full of Nu Metal and crappy Rap music. Nu metal already was carrying over from the late-90s and began weakening around 2003 or so, but it was still rather popular at the time. Wasn't emo music also a thing in the 2000s and reggaeton as well?

As for TV, the 2000s were arguably the golden years of cable TV and TV in general in most of the world. Cable TV became a standard in the mid-90s and carried over to the 2000s with a lot of channels popping up and a lot of the best content on TV being found in such channels. From current shows to reruns of older shows that introduced newer generations to them.

In the 2000s you also still had some attitude and edge in media and people didn't over-analyse cartoons, anime, tv shows and movies to try figuring out if they were "racist/sexist/homophobic". People just wanted to watch entertainment. Identity politics also weren't really a thing.

I'd say the 2000s were the decade where TV shows began getting longer, getting better production values, attracting more high-profile actors and becoming better than movies. Before that, most long-running TV shows were sitcoms and acting on a TV show instead of movies made actors seem "lesser".

Some very iconic TV shows came out in the last decade: House, Lost, Supernatural, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Californication, etc.

The internet was already firmly established in the 2000s, but it was still a bit bare bones for half of the decade and you could still live without having home access to it. Plus social media in the past decade was NOWHERE NEAR the monster it is today. You had a bunch of different social networks all over the world and they were basically just places for people to add their HS-University classmates and post a few photos. Middle aged people weren't using such websites. And people did not tell their life stories in those places either. Then FB goes global around 2009-2010 and EVERYTHING changes.

For half of the 2000s, you didn't have youtube or wikipedia like websites. Two websites that also changed the internet and the world. If you wanted to know something specific or rewatch an old commercial or tv show you loved, you pretty much had no way to do so. If you wanted to read about TMNT you had to go to Mirage's website or find some really accurate fanmade website on Geocities or something to learn more.

Also, Internet forums were in their golden age. No Social media like we know as today and also no websites like Reddit were around still. So it was either going on chat rooms, commenting on blog entries or joining forums of your favourite cartoon, game, wtv. to have a good discussion.

In the 2000s, it was still mostly "nerds" or people without much of a social life who spent a lot of time online that went beyond checking their e-mail or going or checking Myspace. Openly admitting you posted on forums would get you funny looks from people.

Cell-phones also changed A LOT throughout this decade. Remember when the most cutting edge phone around was the Nokia 3310? No one knew what a smartphone at the time was.

The video game industry also changed a lot. Sega was off the console market and Microsoft decided to venture into console gaming. The first Xbox was released in this decade. But the PS2 was the king for the majority of it and the Wii and the original DS came right after it. The GBA was also a pretty popular system. Back to Microsoft, the 360 changed online gaming in consoles forever.

The 2000s were also a decade where a lot of people became anime fans. Now that it was easy to find and watch anime that didn't air in your country, it was great becoming an anime fan in your teens back in 2006-2008, lemme tell ya!

As for fashion... well I don't pay much attention to fashion and I suppose it depends on where you live, but I recall a lot of teenagers around my age sporting a stupid "helmet" Zach Effron like hairstyle

We also still had mostly original movies and TV series instead of constant remakes.

Overall, like every decade, the 2000s had their ups and downs. They were sort of like an extended and more refined version of the 90s that still had some magic of discovery left. The very last decade where actually having to wait for a TV show or movie to air on TV to be able to watch it and also the very last decade where not having internet at home was perfectly doable and didn't heavily constraint your life. And also the last decade without "likes" and people being obsessed with social media. Don't you miss the days where you didn't see your friends plastering their beach holidays all over their FB and IG pages, and also when they didn't Tweet or update their status with something random they just thought?

...wow my longest post ever. Beat that, Leo!

[Wesley]

Agree with most of what Prowler said, though I was mostly happy in that decade. Can’t think of anything else to say about it. As I was born in 1986, the first half of the 2000s was my teenage years and the second half was my young adult ones.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Wesley

Agree with most of what Prowler said, though I was mostly happy in that decade. Can’t think of anything else to say about it. As I was born in 1986, the first half of the 2000s was my teenage years and the second half was my young adult ones.

I forgot mentioning this decade also represented changes for Europe as the EU got bigger with a lot of new members joining in 2007 and also a lot of countries adopting the Euro as their currency on this decade. We adopted it in 2001-2002 and everything got more expensive.

The previous decade was kind of a lost decade for Portugal economically speaking where we barely grew after growing a lot during the 80s-90s and now had countries like Slovenia, Estonia and Czech Republic catching up to us in GDP and wealth. Then the global crisis came in and a few years later we were the European country struggling the worst after Greece. The wounds have been healing since 2014 or so and the economy is growing the most since the 90s, but things still feel a bit rough and I don't feel like we're growing much in terms of wealth and economics. Everything is getting more expensive and we're turning the country into a tourist theme park and a paradise for old retired people from richer countries, but things for Portuguese people haven't improved much.

[IndigoErth]

I'm old enough that it mostly just happened in a flash and relatively uneventful. I just have a harder time believing that movies and things that came out then are nearly 20 years old already. Seriously, how did that happen?

[CyberCubed]

The 2000's are over? I mean for me, the year 2005 was like last year or something.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

I'm old enough that it mostly just happened in a flash and relatively uneventful. I just have a harder time believing that movies and things that came out then are nearly 20 years old already. Seriously, how did that happen?

That's how I feel about the current decade. All the years have mostly blended in together, especially after 2012.

Being born in 1990, it means my age overlaps with decades. The current decade was the decade of my 20s and the 2020s will be the decade of my 30s. And the 2000s spanned my entire teenage years.

The movie Borat is from like 2006? 2007? That movie is really over a decade old by now? Jeez.

I've lost track of when a lot of movies and video games came out this decade, tbh. Movies like Django and games like GTA V still feel rather brand new to me. And I can't believe BOTW came out two years ago already.

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

The 2000's are over? I mean for me, the year 2005 was like last year or something.

Oh you

2005 is quite ancient by now for me. 2011 still feels like yesterday to me, however

[CyberCubed]

I was around 20 in 2005, that's why it feels like yesterday to me. Anything from when I was 20 years old and older all feels like it happened between a small handful of years.

[Wesley]

Originally Posted by Prowler

The previous decade was kind of a lost decade for Portugal economically speaking where we barely grew after growing a lot during the 80s-90s and now had countries like Slovenia, Estonia and Czech Republic catching up to us in GDP and wealth. Then the global crisis came in and a few years later we were the European country struggling the worst after Greece. The wounds have been healing since 2014 or so and the economy is growing the most since the 90s, but things still feel a bit rough and I don't feel like we're growing much in terms of wealth and economics. Everything is getting more expensive and we're turning the country into a tourist theme park and a paradise for old retired people from richer countries, but things for Portuguese people haven't improved much.

Ireland prospered a lot in the early 00s (a period called the Celtic Tiger) until the Irish financial crisis happened at around the same time as the Great Recession in 2008. I believe we struggled the worst after Greece and Portugal. Like ye, the economy began to start to turn around since 2014, though a no-deal Brexit could be disastrous for us in the future.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I was around 20 in 2005, that's why it feels like yesterday to me. Anything from when I was 20 years old and older all feels like it happened between a small handful of years.

Even now that you're 33-34? I mean, I turned 20 in 2010 and that year no longer seems like yesterday to me. 2011-2012 does a bit, however. And that's because my life significantly changed from 2010 to 2011 and especially to 2012.

2012... mixed feelings. That year feels a bit recent still but at the same time kinda distant as well. I feel like it's the last year where I truly felt "young" and like an older teenager. And the last time I still had "hopes and dreams". Since then I became more cynical and bitter.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Wesley

Ireland prospered a lot in the early 00s (a period called the Celtic Tiger) until the Irish financial crisis happened at around the same time as the Great Recession in 2008. I believe we struggled the worst after Greece and Portugal. Like ye, the economy began to start to turn around since 2014, though a no-deal Brexit could be disastrous for us in the future.

Ireland was part of the PIGS just like us, Greece and Spain. Admittedly I don't know how bad Ireland did exactly. I do know that Spain's case was rather different from Portugal's. But they did have unemployment levels close to Greece's. Like 23% or so at some point. Really crazy. Also, their crisis seems to have mostly been due to the estate/housing bubble bursting while Portugal's and Greece's were more about trade deficits and such.Spain seemed to bounce back better and has been growing more strongly since the end of the crisis. Greece used to be a bit wealthier than Portugal but the crisis ate a lot of their wealth so now they're a bit poorer than us and get lower wages on average.

Btw, I feel like everyone forgets about Iceland when they talk about the Eurozone crisis. They were the first country o get hit hard by it alongside Greece back in 2008, remember that? They took measures fast to fix it, though.

Anyway, to sum up the historical situation and why things are as they are now with a quick history lesson: Portugal was a very poor country in the first half of the 20th century and one could argue that we didn't truly become a developed nation until the 1980s or so. Disastrous political instability left the country in a state of chaos in 1910-1923 and then we spend like 3 decades of continuous austerity measures under a fascist regime. Illiteracy was also rampant.

Wikipedia sums up things well enough:

In 1822, Portugal lost its main colony, Brazil. The transition from absolutism to a parliamentary monarchy involved a devastating Civil War from 1828 to 1834. The governments of the Constitutional Monarchy were not able to truly industrialize and modernize the country; by the dawn of the 20th century, Portugal had a GDP per capita of 40% of the Western European average and an illiteracy rate of 74%.[2][3] Portuguese territorial claims in Africa were challenged during the Scramble for Africa. Political chaos and economic problems endured from the last years of the monarchy to the first Republic of 1910–1926, which led to the installing of a national dictatorship in 1926. While Finance Minister António de Oliveira Salazar managed to discipline the Portuguese public finances, it evolved into a single-party corporative regime in the early 1930s—the Estado Novo—whose first three decades were also marked by a relative stagnation and underdevelopment; as such, by 1960 the Portuguese GDP per capita was only 38 percent of the EC-12 average.[4]

Starting in the early 1960s, Portugal entered in a period of robust economic growth and structural modernization, owing to a liberalization of the economy.[5] As an expression of such economic opening, in 1960 the country was one of the EFTA founding member states. Yearly growth rates sometimes with two digits, allowed the Portuguese GDP per capita to reach 56% of the EC-12 average by 1973.[4] This growth period eventually ended in the mid-1970s, for that contributing the 1973 oil crisis and the political turnoil following the April 25, 1974 coup which led to the transition to democracy. From 1974 to the late 1970s, over a million Portuguese citizens arrived from the former African overseas colonies, most as destitute refugees—the retornados.[6][7] After nearly a decade of economic troubles, during which Portugal received two IMF-monitored bailouts, in 1986 the country entered the European Economic Community (and left the EFTA). The European Union's structural and cohesion funds and the growth of many of Portugal's main exporting companies were leading forces in a new period of robust economic growth and socio-economic development which would last (though with a short crisis around 1992–94) to the early 2000s. In 1991, GDP per capita surpassed the 1973 level[4] and by 2000 it had achieved 70% of the EU-12 average, which nonetheless constituted an approach to the Western European standards of living without precedents in the centuries before.[8] Similarly, for several years Portuguese subsidiaries of large multinational companies ranked among the most productive in the world.[9][10][11] However, the economy has been stagnated since the early 2000s and was heavily hit by the effects of the Great Recession, which eventually led to an IMF/EU-monitored bailout from 2011 to 2014.

The country adopted the euro in 1999. Despite being both a developed country and a high income country, Portugal's GDP per capita was of about 80% of the EU-27 average.[12] The Global Competitiveness Report of 2008–2009 ranked Portugal 43rd out of 134 countries and territories.[13] Research by the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) Quality of Life survey in 2005[14] ranked Portugal 19th in the world. Portugal is home to a number of major companies with international reputation such as Grupo Portucel Soporcel, a major world player in the international paper market, Sonae Indústria, the largest producer of wood-based panels in the world, Corticeira Amorim, the world leader in cork production, and Conservas Ramirez, the oldest canned fish producer in continuous operation.

As you can see, the 20th century was quite a rollercoaster for our country.

So, basically, we became a European tiger around the 1960. And then also experienced good growth after 1986 and throughout the 90s due to us joining the EU and getting a lot of funds.

But around 2001-2002 was the first time I heard we were in a crisis and barely grew up until 2014. In 2011-2014 the country was basically in the toilet financially. We had a record high 17% unemployment rate in 2014 and experienced young people immigrating en masse in the highest numbers since the 1960s. In the 80s and 90s we had hopes and saw a light at the end of the tunnel, but the previous decade ruined all of that. And even if our economy stabilised our growth isn't particularly impressive and our qualified young population either leaves sooner or later or won't be able to take over because our population is very fats ageing by now and we're basically gonna lose a lot of population in a few decades if the trend continues. We have one of the lowest fertility rates in Europe and are catching up to Japan in terms of ageing population. There's no country without people and we're not exactly highly populous. The highest population we've had historically was like 10.8M people. Also, two-thirds of our population lives near the coast and in the metro regions of Lisbon and Oporto, the two biggest cities. The hinterland is pretty empty and gets emptier the closer you get to the border with Spain. We're a VERY centralised country which makes the government forget about a lot of large parts of the country.

When I was a kid I kept hearing Portugal was gonna be the Florida or California of Europe one day... maybe for rich foreigners who want to retire in a country where they get a lot of tax benefits and can easily afford goods for low prices compared to the ones in their home countries. For Portuguese people themselves, this isn't exactly a Florida or California. The nice hotel beach and pool areas of Algarve and Madeira don't represent the entire country.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Circa 10 years ago, I used to define it in two words:

Reality (fantasy? ) television and Islamist terrorism.

[Andrew NDB]

Augh, jesus.

The early 2000s seem so much different than the later 2000s to me. The early 2000s were me stumbling around in largely dark times... the later half, me being pretty stabilized with a daughter and a steady work career. The latter half, also starting to get into film.

I remember how happy I was when Obama won the vote, and the celebrations therein. It seemed like the world was going to change then. Everything and the media and, well, everyone... was very different then.

I remember watching a flourishing series of fan or personal websites rise up and then be forgotten about, largely. Sad.

I remember everyone making a MySpace with music and all that (I was no exception)... to suddenly, seemingly overnight, everyone go to Facebook.

[AquaParade]

I was 11-21 in age and I didn't realize the next ten years would be so difficult. 2011-2019 has blessed me in many ways, but life feels much harder these days. Trying to be optimistic about the next ten years.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Original TMNT Cartoon Fan

Circa 10 years ago, I used to define it in two words:

Reality (fantasy? ) television and Islamist terrorism.

Reality TV appeared aroudn the turn of the century but it was mostly stuff like Big Brother where a bunch of people were stuck in a house full of cameras for a year. Then, several years later, reality tv began also being about stores, filming people doing construction work and telling us about their lives, etc. It became much more varied and specific. They found ways to milk the cow lol

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Augh, jesus.

The early 2000s seem so much different than the later 2000s to me. The early 2000s were me stumbling around in largely dark times... the later half, me being pretty stabilized with a daughter and a steady work career. The latter half, also starting to get into film.

I remember how happy I was when Obama won the vote, and the celebrations therein. It seemed like the world was going to change then. Everything and the media and, well, everyone... was very different then.

I remember watching a flourishing series of fan or personal websites rise up and then be forgotten about, largely. Sad.

I remember everyone making a MySpace with music and all that (I was no exception)... to suddenly, seemingly overnight, everyone go to Facebook.

Yes, 2000-2001 still felt like a hungover from the 90s tbh. I think 9/11 was the official end to the 90s and Zeitgeist of that time period. The world just felt different after those attacks.

Obama had a lot of hype worldwide and he's probably the most popular American president globally speaking. We don't really know much about his domestic politics and most people just viewed him as a charming polite guy who was very diplomatic and respectful in his speech with foreign leaders. The mass media in general was also pro-Obama and most American celebrities seemed to like the guy as well, so people all around the world mostly got fed positive portrayals of him. Comedians also rarely mocked the guy.

[CyberCubed]

I'm surprised technology changed so fast. In the early 2000's we were still using VHS tapes. DVDs didn't even become mainstream yet till 2003 or so, and even then VHS tapes were still common. Then we went from that to blu-rays and now online streaming.

I remember back then the concept of watching shows/movies on your computer felt so weird. It was like, "Wait, you don't watch on TV?" It seemed so strange you could watch an entire show or movie on your computer and now on your cell phone. Now I barely watch anything on TV anymore due to online streaming.

Speaking of cell phone so weird we were still using the flip top phones back then. Cell phones are now portable computers, the fact that you can watch movies, call, play videogames, etc. on your phone is crazy. And do business and e-mail.

Videogames went from the beginning of the PS2/Gamecube era all the way now to fully HD videogames. The jump in graphics from a game that came out in 2001 to a game nowadays is crazy. I remember back then thinking games looked "so realistic" and couldn't look more like real humans, like Resident Evil remake on Gamecube. Now compare that to the Resident Evil 2 remake on PS4, it is crazy. Nintendo games have also come closest to Pixar like movie quality as possible. We went from the Gameboy Advance in 2001 to now a fully portable Switch which is above PS3 power in portable form.

I mean if we were to travel back in time to the early 2000's, the lack of technology would probably shock us. I think people don't actually realize how much technology changed in just a decade or two. No GPS for phones, people had to use maps when they drove in a car if they didn't know where to go. It's crazy.

Also the world seems more global now. Everyone knows what's happening in other countries now. The world seemed more isolated in the early days of the internet. Now every countries politics and problems is mainstream. A guy in the U.S. can communicate with someone in Turkey. Can you believe even e-mail wasn't that common in the early 2000's yet?

Last but not least, more accepting of gay/lesbian people and alternate lifestyles. In the early 2000's gay's were still very much made fun of even in mainstream TV shows and movies. Nowadays you don't see that much anymore.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I'm surprised technology changed so fast. In the early 2000's we were still using VHS tapes. DVDs didn't even become mainstream yet till 2003 or so, and even then VHS tapes were still common. Then we went from that to blu-rays and now online streaming.

I remember back then the concept of watching shows/movies on your computer felt so weird. It was like, "Wait, you don't watch on TV?" It seemed so strange you could watch an entire show or movie on your computer and now on your cell phone. Now I barely watch anything on TV anymore due to online streaming.

Speaking of cell phone so weird we were still using the flip top phones back then. Cell phones are now portable computers, the fact that you can watch movies, call, play videogames, etc. on your phone is crazy. And do business and e-mail.

Videogames went from the beginning of the PS2/Gamecube era all the way now to fully HD videogames. The jump in graphics from a game that came out in 2001 to a game nowadays is crazy. I remember back then thinking games looked "so realistic" and couldn't look more like real humans, like Resident Evil remake on Gamecube. Now compare that to the Resident Evil 2 remake on PS4, it is crazy. Nintendo games have also come closest to Pixar like movie quality as possible. We went from the Gameboy Advance in 2001 to now a fully portable Switch which is above PS3 power in portable form.

I mean if we were to travel back in time to the early 2000's, the lack of technology would probably shock us. I think people don't actually realize how much technology changed in just a decade or two. No GPS for phones, people had to use maps when they drove in a car if they didn't know where to go. It's crazy.

Also the world seems more global now. Everyone knows what's happening in other countries now. The world seemed more isolated in the early days of the internet. Now every countries politics and problems is mainstream. A guy in the U.S. can communicate with someone in Turkey. Can you believe even e-mail wasn't that common in the early 2000's yet?

Last but not least, more accepting of gay/lesbian people and alternate lifestyles. In the early 2000's gay's were still very much made fun of even in mainstream TV shows and movies. Nowadays you don't see that much anymore.

Yes, my family's first DVD was Casablanca in like 2001. Then we got Fellowship of the Ring. DVD menus were so cool and creative. And not having to rewind them after you were done was a really cutting edge experience at the time. Also not worrying about the tape wearing over the years.

And DVD players were expensive as hell for the first couple of years. That's why a lot of people bought a PS2 to get a cheap DVD player.

Agreed with most of your post.

[DarkFell]

Passing through High School was a big highlight for me within the year of 2K.

[newfan]

Time has just crept up on me since around 2010. Different life in the first half but then it has been 19 years

I remember getting my first cell phone when everyone started having them, Nokia was the popular brand here at the time, mine was a crappy pay as you go phone, I don't think I know anyone who uses pre-paid now, not for some time, so many contract deals.
Think I got my first DVD player in around 2001/2002. I was happy to move on from VHS tapes, no rewinding, tapes being chewed up, taking up more space. Less quick to move to Blu Ray when it came out but I did eventually. DVD players were so expensive when they came out, the better named ones anyway. More and more people started to use the internet in their homes too very early on, broadband was so welcomed after using dial up.

[Wesley]

Agree with most of what’s already been said.

Also, music became easier to discover since 2005 thanks to YouTube and later Spotify, though there was Napster before that. Hard to believe now that people used to have to buy an album first to be able to hear most of the songs on it that weren’t singles.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by DarkFell

Passing through High School was a big highlight for me within the year of 2K.

My brother finished HS in 2000/2001. Must have been an interesting time to turn 18.

Originally Posted by Wesley

Agree with most of what’s already been said.

Also, music became easier to discover since 2005 thanks to YouTube and later Spotify, though there was Napster before that. Hard to believe now that people used to have to buy an album first to be able to hear most of the songs on it that weren’t singles.

I think Spotify didn't truly become global until the current decade, though? For years it was mostly a Scandinavian thing. It became available here in Portugal around 2014 iirc. And it still doesn't exist in some countries, like South Korea, for example.

Oh Napster. That service was HUGE. It was the first time I was able to download OSTs from my favourite NES and SNES games. I remember me and my brother downloading SNES F-Zero OST and burning it into a CD. It was so cool to be able to listen to game music on a Discman and without having to play the game itself.

Fanmade websites on Geocities, tripod and Angelfire were still around as well. I miss all the fanmade websites, even if a lot of them were crappy and had annoying BGM midi files that you couldn't turn off and just looped over and over again . But there was passion behind such fansites and people did it for fun and for free.

And what about texting? That was BIG in the previous decade, especially with those tariffs and packages "500 free SMS messages to phones with the same operator". Nowadays very few people text anymore. They just use a free service like Discord or Whatsapp and save their mobile money/data for 4G internet browsing.