27 Things You Won't Understand Unless You Went To High School In The Late '90s

    You had mail, but you had to wait ’cause your mom was using the phone.

    1. Having your parents begrudgingly agree to allow you to have a pager.

    2. Rocking a JanSport backpack, which you, of course, one-strapped and would customize with a Sharpie or Wite-Out pen.

    3. Using your TI-83 graphing calculator basically just to play Space Invaders with.

    4. And carrying around but never using your electronic organizer or spell-checker.

    Frankly, they just lived at the bottom of your JanSport.

    5. Organizing all your assignments and notes in your Mead Five-Star notebooks...

    6. …or the clear slip-front binder — that you'd customize with magazine cutouts and photos.

    7. Going to the portrait studio at the mall and getting photos taken with your friends.

    8. Selecting the perfect day organizer, which really just served as your address book and a place to write your friends' birthdays.

    It was also overrun with wallet-size group photos your friends had taken at the portrait studio in the mall.

    9. Thinking you were hot shit when wearing one of these shades...

    10. ...or these Adidas sandals, which you rocked with white crew socks.

    Nothing said "stylish" like wearing socks and sandals together. 😐

    11. Having this as your ultimate accessory.

    12. Scrubbing the shit out of your face with these drugstore staples:

    You can probably still feel the stinging, drying tingle (burn) of Stridex or Oxy pads.

    13. Constantly having to replace the lead in your mechanical pencils from clicking them too much.

    And eventually resorting to using a regular No. 2 pencil, since you had no extra lead to write with.

    14. Clicking the hell out of one of these while being bored in class.

    15. Making perfectly fitted brown paper bag book covers — which you would customize with drawings and stickers.

    Had to get the edges perfectly crisp on those covers!!! 🙌

    16. Begging your parents to give you your own private landline...

    17. ...and being jealous of that ONE friend who had a cell phone.

    18. Having that one kid in class who, for some reason, decided to become a candy raver over summer vacation.

    And their entire wardrobe consisted of JNCO jeans, Rainbow Brite T-shirts, and pacifier necklaces.

    19. When it came to "teen TV," you knew The WB was the only channel worth watching...

    20. ...and Daria, your spiritual guide, of course.

    21. Probably getting one or more copies of this book for your birthday, Christmas, or Hanukkah.

    22. Having Jock Jams play out of a boombox during your school's sports team warm-up.

    And if you were on the team, hoping you weren't the kid picked to bring the boombox each time.

    23. Having to pretend to be ~ironically~ into Spice Girls, NSYNC, and Backstreet Boys ’cause their music was considered more for elementary and middle school kids.

    "LOL, no. I only know those NSYNC songs because my little sister has the CD and she plays it all the time." —You, circa 1999

    24. Going to swing revival dance parties and dressing up like it was 1943.

    25. These were the movies that defined your life:

    26. Handwriting your important reports in cursive, with either black or blue ink.

    27. And finally, setting up your very first email address — which you weirdly NEVER used.