It seems like only yesterday that the world stopped in anticipation of the upcoming apocalypse that Y2K was meant to unleash upon us all. Now, as we enter into year Y2K +22, it seems like as good of a time as ever to relive the year that followed the apocalypse that never was. For those of you who are too young to have experienced it for yourselves, here's a bit of a look at what the year 2000 was like, but for those of you who lived through it, enjoy the nostalgic walk down memory lane.
"Blast From The Past"
New Year's Eve is supposed to be a joyous evening that's filled with celebratory feelings, but, on December 31st, 1999, after months of preparation, millions of people around the world were bracing themselves for the end of the world instead of the start of a new millennium. There was an unhealthy fear that all of the computers around the world were going to malfunction right at midnight, thus triggering the beginning of the end...
Even though it turned out that all of those fears were unwarranted, there were a lot of people who took to bunkers which they had stocked up with non-perishable goods. I am kind of curious to know if any of them are still down there...
"What's An Xbox? "
Gaming has come a long way in the last 2 decades. Consoles, in 2022, have the ability to connect to the internet wirelessly - thus allowing users to download games and play them without ever leaving the comfort of their homes, and the consoles' graphics no longer look computer-generated. The visuals might not have been as good as they are now, and the gameplay was not as fluid, but, in 2000, we made the best of what we had.
And, what we had was Sony's brand new Playstation 2. The PS2 didn't have any built-in storage, but it did have slots for 8MB memory cards, and, for the time, the graphics were revolutionary.
"When Phones Were Phones"
Texting took longer, there were only a select few ringtones available free of charge, they couldn't play any music (other than the ringtones), and they lacked the ability to connect to the internet. In other words, unlike the mobile phones of today that are, essentially, pocket computers that have the ability to make phone calls, cell phones in the year 2000 functioned as phones and not much else.
Topping the charts as one of the most popular cell phones of its time...the Nokia 3390. It had long battery life, functioned as it was designed to, and even had a few games on it.
"That Is One Hungry Snake"
It was an absolute game-changer when the new generation of Snake came out on the Nokia 3390, and the snake was able to go through walls. It doesn't seem like a lot now, what with the unlimited amount of apps that are available through the various app stores these days, but, back in the early-2000s, it was a huge deal because phones, usually, only came with 3 games: minesweeper, snake, and memory.
Since there was no way to add or download any new games or features, there were people who made their mobile phone purchasing decisions based on the ringtones and games they came with.
"Survivor's Ready? "
In the summer of 2000, reality TV, as we know it, was born. Hundreds of millions of people tuned in around the world to watch 2 tribes of 8 strangers jump off of a boat in the middle of the South China Sea and build separate communities on nearby beaches. They lived in the shelters that they had built themselves and competed in challenges every few days, periodically, voting one another off the island until only 1 sole survivor remained.
Having just concluded its 41st season, for 21 years, Survivor has continued to evolve over the years, but nothing will compare to the hype of the show's first season.
"There's Nothing He Can't Do"
Every generation has its celebrities that gain popularity beyond what most people would have expected. One man, in particular, got his start in the late '70s, and, in the '80s, had blossomed into one of the biggest action stars in the world, made a huge comeback, in the early 2000s, but not how most people would have thought. "Walker, Texas Ranger" was a great show in its own right, but it was his "badassness" that made Chuck Norris relevant again.
I wouldn't call them "Chuck Norris jokes", because no one jokes about Chuck Norris and lives to tell the tale, but let's face it, without Chuck Norris memes wouldn't exist.
"It's Like Waiting For Luggage At The Airport"
On the off-chance that someone is going to watch a television program on cable, at the time that it first airs, all they need to do is google what time and day the show is on, and, in as quick of a time as their internet connection will allow, the sought after information will be in front of them. The people who have lived their whole lives with this ability will never understand what it was like to watch the TV guide channel...
We'd wait patiently as the next few time slots worth of shows scrolled before our eyes, hoping desperately that we wouldn't get distracted and miss the channels that we were waiting for.
"A First For Everything"
In a season 3 episode of "Dawson's Creek", that aired in 2000, the series' showrunners took a chance and aired something that other shows had shied away from. One season after coming out as gay, Jack McFee (played by Kerr Smith) had his first kiss with another man. This might not seem like such a big deal nowadays, but, 21 years ago, it was HUGE for the LGBTQIA2S+ community...
Actually, it was groundbreaking. Never before, on American television, had two people of the same sex shared a passionate kiss. People can say what they will about "Dawson's Creek", but that moment on screen helped millions of people feel less alone.
"Spinning Discs"
Before iPods and MP3 players came into existence, CDs were the go-to way when it came to listening to music. Likewise, prior to flash drives and portable external hard drives, CDs were also used to carry and transfer data. It wouldn't have been uncommon for people to have multiple binders that were full of CDs that had music, data, video games, and pictures on them.
As a result of the dozens, or hundreds, of discs that people would have at home, CD towers were a mainstay in most homes' computer rooms.
"Summer Mix 2000: Campfire Tunes"
And, now, we come to burning the CDs. For those who have no idea what that means, no, I'm not talking about a good old fashion CD bonfire. Burning CDs is how we used to get music or data onto those pesky discs - and it used to take a very long time to do so. But, at the time, there was no other way to make mix CDs for friends or road trips.
Following the difficult process of selecting which tracks to add to the mix came the uncertainty around whether or not the burn would be successful. If not, the disc was tossed in the trash, and the process was started all over again.
"Are We There Yet? "
Before Google Maps, or any other mapping apps for that matter, we relied on MapQuest to help us get to places with which we were not familiar. It was impossible to access the site from our phones because our phones were phones and not yet mini-computers. Usually, the night before leaving for a trip, it was customary to go to the MapQuest website and print off directions.
Unlike today, the sound of a road trip navigator's voice was not Siri, nor was it Alexa, it was the person sitting in the passenger seat. And we had to hope they didn't miss a line on the directions sheet.
"Jaws. Golden Gun Setting. Explosives. First To 50 Kills. Silo. "
By 2000, Nintendo 64 was already in its 4th year and was just a year away from being replaced by the GameCube, but some of its classic games were still topping the charts in popularity. Unlike today, in 2000, if someone wanted to play a multiplayer shooter game, they would have to go over to their friend's house, and there weren't many options. But why would we have needed options when we had GoldenEye?
GoldenEye was the multi-player game of choice for sleepovers and drinking games. Everyone had their favourite character, weapons of choice, and, of course, the level that they knew inside and out.
"He Knew It Was Gonna Be Him"
In the late-'90s, led by the Backstreet Boys, there was a huge influx in the number of boybands and pop groups that were breaking into the music scene and topping the charts. By the turn of the millennium, after releasing their "Black & Blue" album, the Backstreet Boys went on a bit of a hiatus from recording, leaving the door open for their "frivals" (friend/rivals) from N'Sync to take over as the world's top boyband.
The boys from N'Sync topped the charts in 2000, with "No Strings Attached", but a bit more than a year later, Justin Timberlake said, "Bye, Bye, Bye" to the boyband in order to "Justify" bringing "SexyBack".
"EEEEEEAHHHHEEEEESCCCREECCHHEEEEAAHHH"
These days, almost every American has access to the internet. 2 decades ago, however, things were very different. Only about 41.5% of Americans had internet at home in 2000, and the ones that did were still using a 'dial-up' connection that when in use, occupied the household's phone line. And who can ever forget the horrible screeching sounds of the internet attempting to connect, or the feelings of despair as the line failed to connect?
And don't even get me started on the outrageously long amount of time it would take to download anything. Worst of all, every time a family member would pick up the phone, the download would be disrupted, and it would be back to square one.
"Re-Birth"
It wasn't very long ago that, thanks to a few ill-received films in the mid-'90s, superhero movies were considered to be the laughing stock of the film industry. It had reached the point where they were no longer taken seriously at the box office, and they weren't even on the radar for the Academy Awards. It was because of one film, in particular, that superheroes were once again considered "cool". Without it, the Marvel Cinematic Universe might have been snapped out of existence.
In 2000, the first live-action X-Men movie was released and, when it was, superhero movies were changed forever. The film is widely regarded as the movie that gave the superhero film genre new life.
"It Doesn't Look Very Floppy"
If we were to travel back to the year 2000 and tell the people back then about the amount of data that we're able to store on hard drives these days, it would blow their minds. Even moreso, try telling them about how easy it is to transfer large amounts of data in a short amount of time. You see, back then, there were no 2TB portable external hard drives, but, there were floppy discs.
These 3.5-inch bad boys were able to hold a little less than 1.5MB of data, and it took ages to transfer even that amount of data to the 8GB hard drives that most people had at the time.
"Have A Question? Just Ask Jeeves"
In 2021, after 16 years of operating as a place for people to ask the questions they desperately wanted the answers to, the Yahoo! Answers website was shut down. As heartbreaking as this was, for the millions of people who relied on faceless strangers to give them advice, this is something that the first generation of home internet users has grown accustomed to. Don't believe me? Just ask Jeeves...
These days, people know it as "Ask" but, back in 2000, it was Ask Jeeves. Ask Jeeves was Yahoo! Answers before Yahoo! Answers was even a blip on the radar.
"Be Kind, Rewind"
It's amazing to think that there was once a time when movies and television series were not able to be viewed whenever we wanted through our computers. Back in the early 2000s, very few people had DVD players at home, let alone built-in to their desktop computers. Alternatively, the majority of the public was still using VCRs that played VHS tapes.
They were bulky, unreliable, and took too much time to rewind movies. Occasionally, they would even 'eat' the movies and not let them out of the machine - but, until then, there were no other options.
"No Disc"
By the year 2000, home DVD players were still a novelty in most households. They were much more expensive than VCRs, and not much was known yet about the technology. The early 2000s also saw the introduction of dual VCR/DVD players that were able to play types of media, as well as copy video from one to the other in real-time.
Today we can watch most things on streaming platforms, but, back then, if we didn't want to get up to change select a movie, we'd have to invest in a multi-disc DVD player.
"Movies On-The-Go? No Way! "
These days, portable devices are capable of doing everything that a computer can do, and, sometimes, even more. That's why, when going on vacation or a long bus trip, a lot of people bring their iPads or laptops with them. Not only are they great forms of entertainment, but they also have the capability to allow users to get work done while on the road - but that wasn't always the case...
What we're looking for is a portable DVD player, and its only function was to play DVDs. To keep things interesting, every bump in the road would cause the disc to skip and, possibly, scratch it as well.
"Watchers Of The Wall"
Deciding which film to watch, from the thousands that are available on streaming platforms, is one of the toughest decisions that many people have to deal with on a daily basis. Some people think that too much choice can be a bad thing. Those are, usually, the same people who grew up with a giant wall of DVDs at home - most of which they watched once and then never again.
The size of one's DVD wall brought forth a sense of pride, or shame, for some people. And they were always organized as well - usually, by name, but sometimes by genre, and on the rare occasion, each family member would have their own section.
"Friday Night"
Before streaming platforms took over the film rental industry, the early part of Friday evening was, usually, spent at the video store. The video store wasn't just a place to rent films and video games. It was a place where people were sure to bump into their friends and family from the neighbourhood, and, depending on the store, get a complimentary bag of popcorn to eat while browsing as well.
For decades, we were able to rely on the local video store to provide the entertainment for family movie night or that first date with a special someone.
"The Headphones Were Always Warm"
2 decades ago, when a new album came out that we wanted to hear, we didn't have the luxury of Spotify bringing our favourite music to us on our portable devices. We actually had to go to the local music store and buy the CD. If we were hoping to get a sample of a new artist's music, before committing to purchasing an album, places like HMV had stations set up to help with the decision.
Many music stores used listening stations to help push the latest albums and newest artists. A few albums would be chosen each week, and customers would be able to sample a few tracks free of charge.
"Expect The Unexpected"
Two months after the premiere of Survivor's 1st season, another reality show made its national television debut. Instead of marooning contestants on an island and depriving them of food, the premise of this one was to lock a group of strangers in a house for 3 months with everything they needed and have them compete, as a group, for luxuries. Unlike the current rendition of the show, contestants on the first season of Big Brother were voted out by the fans.
The first season of Big Brother was more like a popularity contest than anything else. It was much more of a social experiment than the game show that it is today.
"It's Real If You Make It Real"
Computer games, in the early era of gaming, were simple and all worked on a similar platform as one another. And then, in 2000, The Sims was released. Gamers would lose themselves in the fantasy world of The Sims for hours, days, or, sometimes, weeks - creating the lives they wish they had. Some people went out and made that fantasy a reality, but others got lost in the world they created for their avatar self.
More than 2 decades after The Sims came out, there have been numerous additions to the gaming franchise, and the fanbase that the original game created has, now, passed the tradition on to their children - both, in the game and real life.
"Nothing Beats The Real Thing"
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of people, who hadn't picked up a book in years, began to read again. In between the lockdowns of 2020, many return readers found themselves rushing to bookstores in order to stock up on reading material. Sure, ordering books online is easier, and there's less touching of things that other people have touched, but there's something nostalgic about going to a bookstore and browsing the stacks as we did 20 years ago.
Whenever there was an hour to kill before meeting up with a friend at the movies, meandering through a bookstore and finding a quiet spot to sit and read was always a great option.
"Uh Oh"
Nowadays, there is a, seemingly, unlimited number of ways in which we could communicate with one another. Through our mobile phones alone, we can text, message through messaging apps, e-mail, video message, and, of course, speak through the phone line. 2 decades ago, the options were: speaking to some on the phone, sending an e-mail, or using one of the very few messenger apps that were functioning at the time.
In America, AOL was widely used but, worldwide, ICQ was the messenger app that everyone was using, but not from their phones. In 2000, we had to wait until we got home in order to check our desktop computers for messages.
"The Muggles Will Never Understand"
By the turn of the millennium, the world had still not been privy to the magical cinematic world of the "Harry Potter" series. In fact, J.K. Rowling's magical epic hadn't even finished being written by then. It was in 2000, that the 4th installment to the book series "Goblet of Fire" was released. 2000, was also the year that 3 "nobodies" were announced as the leads in the film adaptation of the series.
That's right, it was 21 years ago when the faces of the franchise were introduced. And I think it's safe to say that the casting was pretty bang on.
"Come On, It's My Turn"
Around the time that Y2K was meant to wreak havoc on the planet, computers were much bigger, and much more expensive than they are now. For a bit of perspective, in 2000, a Pentium 4 desktop computer would cost a bit less than $5,000 in today's money. As a result, households had computer rooms where the family's electronic office would be set up.
In 2000, most families only had one computer at home - some didn't even have any. Back then, scheduling computer time in our own homes was essential, otherwise...no computer time.
"Enemas Of The State, Please Take Off Your Pants And Jacket"
Throughout the late-'90s and early-2000s, punk music had a bit of a facelift. It was no longer the angry anti-establishment music it was in the '70s and '80s. Instead, led by the crazy antics of the talented trio that made up Blink 182, punk music evolved into a fun-loving anti-establishment genre. Blink showed the world that was okay to not take life seriously.
Blink 182 is a great example of a band being in the right place at the right time. These days, a band would not be able to get away with running around naked in their music videos.
"Gaining Control"
Moving a cursor around on a computer screen these days is effortless. We control the cursor, almost, as though it's an extension of our bodies. Without even thinking, our hands control the mouse or trackpad as though it's second nature, but things in 2000 were much different. Computer mice used to be such a headache to use. They would, rarely, respond the way we wanted them to, and their underside trackballs would constantly get stuck.
Due to their increased range in potential movement, topside trackball mice were all the rage in the year 2000, especially, amongst the gaming community.
"Next Gen Tech"
In 2021, listening to all of our favourite music has never been easier. Thanks to apps like Spotify, we have an unlimited amount of music at our fingertips. And we can access it all through our mobile phones - but things weren't always this way. Portable music used to look very different, and, although Discmen weren't perfect, people who remember what it was like to use a Walkman will always remember making the switch.
They are a far cry from how we listen to music nowadays but, at least, the later generation Discmen came with a skip protection function and were able to play MP3 CDs.
"Time For A Reboot? "
Countless catchphrases have come and gone over the years. In the '80s, most catchphrases came from action movies. In the '90s, they, usually, came from characters in television series. By the 2000s, however, there was a short time in the early part of the decade when the trendy thing to do was to quote commercials. We had "Amadeus, Amadeus", "Riiiiicccooollaaaa", and, of course, "Wuuuzzzuuuuuppp!!".
A hearty, yet inviting, "Wuzuuuuuup" was the way that BFFs would respond when the other would call. This all began in the last few weeks of 1999, when Budweiser dropped its now-infamous commercial.
"Know Your Role"
In 2000, professional wrestling was at its peak. The WWF (now WWE) had defeated WCW in the Monday night rating wars, and The Rock had still not conquered the film industry, but he was "The People's Champ". At the height of the "Attitude Era", hundreds of millions of people around the world were tuning in every week, and that was enough to warrant multiple wrestling video game releases every year.
The Smackdown video game series changed the way wrestling games were made. High schoolers, in 2000, would stay up all night leading their favourite wrestlers through "choose your own adventure" style storylines and wrestling their way to the championship.
"You're Gonna Love His Nuts"
Before YouTube became a thing, in order to keep ourselves entertained late at night, the main option was late-night television. This might sound racy or taboo to the people who didn't live through it, but I assure you, aside from when "The Red Shoe Diaries" was on, that was not the case. In fact, late-night television was, usually, more of a laughing matter - but not intentionally.
When it came to late-night television, if you didn't know who Vince Offer was, you weren't watching enough. With our friends, we laughed at the ShamWow and the SlapChop, but, behind closed doors, we all wanted them.