Things people did in the 2000s

Bob Weaddababyeetsaboy

TIL 1-800-COLLECT still exists

when Mr. T and Carrot Top dominated our commercial breaks

lol apparently a 6 minute collect call on 1-800-CALL-COLLECT is like 42 bucks now

a strange return to the early 20th century, when long distance was insanely expensive and barely used, and provided largely so AT&T could claim it offered some special public benefit justifying its monopoly ownership of local phone companies. who is the target market for ludicrously expensive collect calling in 2020?

prison inmates

ugh. god our society is fucked.

that makes sense. sadly.

244. Watched movies with Tobey Maguire and/or Elijah Wood in leading roles.

It was neat when they told Tobey to act natural when filming on a street, and so he did finger guns, went into a club, did a line of coke and started dancing on a piano in Spider-Man 3.

244. be reminded of the existence of Sven Goran-Eriksson and Lembit Opik on a regular basis and not just when this happens

I can't believe this is real https://t.co/8t9wVfZac5 pic.twitter.com/r3VlPQ0VtG

— Patrick Maguire (@patrickkmaguire) June 8, 2021

lol wtf!

Speaking of the 2000s, I interviewed Opik when I was a journalism student in 2003, and found him super inspiring and likeable. I spent the day with him on a secondary school visit. Even then he was undoubtedly a self-obsessed goofball, but the kids were rapt with him, and he gave a speech about the importance of getting involved in politics, campaigning, not being apathetic, etc. that was as inspiring as anything I've heard on the subject. His subsequent career as a triple-z-list celeb, Sunday Sport columnist, and holder of bad opinions is an utter embarrassment, obviously, but also a real waste of a talent that probably wasn't that apparent to many, even himself.

245. visited Stileproject for proto-edgelord vibes

246. extremely relatedly, thought 'pimps' and 'hos' were funny concepts to roleplay as middle-class white people

lol #245

247. Often thought about, but couldn't quite explain why "Stuff White People Like" felt extremely racist while trying to be the opposite

248. Saved Karyn.

249. Bought string quartet tribute albums

250. Consider 256mb mp3 players with LED displays serious cutting edge shit. More of a self-own here because I was well behind the curve on music players.

251. Shagged Ariane

252. Laughed at cross-dressers. ("I'm a LADY!")

Of course now all the disablist/anti-trans/racist blackfacing elements are indefensible now, but really they should have been at the time as well. Not that I'm getting on my high horse here. I only boycotted it on the grounds that Lucas/Williams are horribly unfunny performers and absolute despicable wankers to boot.

253. Not automatically lol when you thought about Joseph Kony and the Lords Resistance Army

lol @ 251, had completely forgotten about that particular gem

254. Ran a spyware scan on your parents' computer and removed bonzibuddy.

(Today: help your parents use spying apps from google, apple, facebook)

My in-laws once asked me, in the 2000s, to look at their computer because it was “going slow”. Literally a full half of their Internet Explorer window was bullshit toolbars, because they always clicked Yes to everything.

374a. used physical tickets to get into events

471b. lots of fast food places didn't take debit cards yet (at least in the early 2000s)

258. Yelled "Whazzup!" at each other

259. Yelled "Nice one Brova!" at each other

xpost I have a friend who said that to me a week ago, and she's only 25 - she woulda been like, a toddler when that came out.

but she didn't know it from the original commercial - did it appear somewhere else recently?

260. "Bud...Weis....ER!"

260b. worried that the frogs screensaver was a virus
261. still used a screensaver

262 sent people links that hijacked their screensaver with pr0n/frightening old ladies/space invaders.

471b. lots of fast food places didn't take debit cards yet (at least in the early 2000s)

― cancel culture club (Neanderthal)

In the UK there was still a smattering of smaller food outlets and shops that didn't until the pandemic!

honestly I kinda wish nobody did, I'm more cognizant of how much money is leaving my bank account if I'm physically handing someone currency rather than a card.

263. Crunk
264. Melidramatic Popular Song

265. still waited for The Avalanches to release a new album
266. gave up on waiting for My Bloody Valentine to release a new album

267 said that it was “like buttah”

from an snl sketch that ran from 1991-1994

268 started threads with thread titles like

When will y'all realize that Marissa Nadler is the nu-gothique schnizzle?

ok look my memory isn’t what it was

269. Improv Everywhere

1. cut a hole in the box

271. This is the thread where you roll up the rim to win

272. Your mum

273. Adult kickball leagues

274. Go to internet cafes while travelling.
(boring option, but probably the most 00s thing for me)