There are no objective criteria that separate normal and abnormal. I mean, for some, eating dinner past 10 pm is totally fine, while for others, it’s all about putting cereal before adding the milk. Are you about to say that’s totally not okay? There you go. There is a yin and yang to any normalcy, and as long as we have people whose experiences are fully subjective, we will have both sides.
Except we’re talking the year 2000. When someone asked on r/AskReddit “What was normal in 2000, but strange in 2020?” it surely hit close to home for many. 41.1k upvotes later, the illuminating answers are in.
And on this one, we may once and for all come to an agreement on millennium things that look really heckin’ odd today. Like saying dot com out loud ‘cause it felt like the cool thing to do, or burning a bunch of CDs, we’ve already started…
#1
2000: Your parents telling you not to believe everything you read on the internet.
2020: Your parents believing every post they see on Facebook.
Image source: Dijiwolf1975, priscilladupreez
#2
Recording songs off the radio to make a personal mix tape. Always got annoyed at the DJ for talking over the end of the song
Image source: digitalchicken, snd63
#3
Buying a stack of blank Cd’s so you can make your own custom mixes
Image source: LeftHandMorty9, sashaatx
#4
Watching a show weekly at the same time to catch new episodes
Image source: sib2972, aleksdorohovich
#5
MTV music videos actually had videos
Image source: theinkedmuneca, public domain
#6
Memorizing a phone number.
Image source: nofrigginway, PublicDomainPictures
#7
Pay phones. If you see one now it’s like spotting a leprechaun, genie or unicorn and you ask it if it grants wishes
Image source: JustAnother0utcast, MichaelGaida
#8
Rewinding movies when you’re done watching them
Image source: Raze321, igpetry
#9
I remember 25 years ago getting on a plane and realized I forgot some important paperwork in the car. The flight attendant let me get off the plane and I ran through the terminal and out to the parking lot to my car to retrieve it. Then quickly ran back in, zipped past the security screener, out onto the tarmac and climbed up the stairs to the plane. It was a rather small airport so it took less than 5 minutes. But I doubt I’d be allowed to do that today.
Image source: Rustyboyvermont, iwnph
#10
Printing out your route from Mapquest before leaving the house
Image source: Mason-Derulo, arttravelling
#11
Telling people to call you back after 9pm bc that’s when minutes are free
Image source: HotelMoscow, igorovsyannykov
#12
Not freaking out when someone calls you out of nowhere
Image source: ElectricGelato, Alexas_Fotos
#13
Going to Blockbuster on Friday nights
Image source: Gieder, Mtaylor848
#14
Writing down an address or telephone number to store the information for later.
#15
Blowing into video games to fix them
Image source: lholm0494, Bryan Ochalla
#16
Smoking in bars. Hell, even going to bars
Image source: 3mta3jvq, zafarrancho
#17
T9 texting
Image source: h0sti1e17, reddit
#18
Saying that technology is useless. Or that you won’t always have a calculator in your pocket
Image source: MagentaLeopord2018, stevepb
#19
Having a school project to do and busting out the Encarta disk.
Image source: ash894, ms_brightside
#20
Smoking or non-smoking” was the first question you were asked when entering a sit-down restaurant.
Image source: MjrLeeStoned, couleur
#21
Being pleased your new car had a CD player AND a tape deck.
Image source: Substantial_Quote, AviKado
#22
Switching to channel 3 to play video games
Image source: eagleblue44, albertrenn
#23
Teen magazines (Tiger Beat, M, Mad…) that you could take posters out of and hang in your room
Image source: roo719
#24
Getting excited about receiving an email.
Image source: somasmarti, hostreviews
#25
Television in 4:3
Image source: ThursdayIs7, fran_
#26
Pretending the internet was not gonna be much. Saying “Oh yeah, when the internet runs the world?” Or something dismissive like that.
At one point if it was on social media, people said “But it’s on social media, so it doesn’t really matter.”
People in 2020 lose careers over their posts on social media.
Image source: s968339, Pixelkult
#27
Waiting for the internet to connect. Yelling at someone in the house for being on the phone when you can’t connect.
I kept a folder of music lyrics that I ripped out of Dolly/Girlfriend magazines. Also loved reading the booklet inside the CD of all the lyrics.
Recording songs off the radio to make a personal mix tape. Always got annoyed at the DJ for talking over the end of the song.
Image source: digitalchicken, Orca
#28
I used paper maps to deliver pizza in 2001. I paid like $30 for a map book of my city so I can deliver fast and efficient plus not get lost.
Image source: JunkBondJunkie, gregroose
#29
Saying dot com at the end of everything because it was cool to do.
Image source: 1HeyMattJ
#30
Frosted tips.
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