1. Flatscreen TVs were super expensive and rare, so being a baller meant having a TV VCR combo in our rooms (which was usually like a 13-inch screen)...
2. ...or our own personal landlines (because we didn't mind talking on the phone with each other back then):
3. Headphones like this were the AirPods of the time — except they hurt like hell whenever you wore them:
4. While Riverdale is the big show now, when it came to teen dramas in 1999 it was all about Dawson's Creek and Felicity (the latter of which gave us all false expectations about what college would be like!):
5. And when it to came paranormal teen shows it was all about Roswell...
6. ...and, of course, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel (Sabrina wishes it could be this angsty):
7. While Daria was probably the most relatable teen show on TV:
8. There was no Wiki so we had no choice but to use Encarta to do research papers (the other option was to look things up in the encyclopedia):
9. There was no bigger pop star in the world than Britney Spears — like, not even Ariana Grande compares to her on how much of the impact she had:
10. Lauryn Hill had just released The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (an amazing album that everyone owned) the previous year and was arguably the biggest and most respected name in music:
11. The 1975 who? Blink-182 were the biggest thing in alt-rock:
12. Obviously there were no streaming services like Netflix, which meant watching movies at home meant renting them from Blockbuster (also, going to the video store and looking around was also a fun way to pass the time)...
13. ...or ordering pay-per-view, which required we call the cable company directly to place the order (it was also usually more expensive then just renting it from the video store):
14. Ricky Martin's "Livin' la Vida Loca"...
15. ...and Cher's "Believe" were such huge hits that we couldn't escape hearing them EVERYWHERE (which was mainly the radio and MTV). Even our parents knew the songs:
16. Everyone wanted the oh-so-fucking-cool-looking iMacs (like wanting an iPhone XS Max today):
17. We couldn't ask Yahoo Answers, so learning about sex meant watching Loveline on MTV (or listening to the show Sundays through Thursdays on the radio):
18. DVD players were expensive, so only our rich friend(s) would have one. Everyone else still watched things on VCRs:
19. Also VCRs were important 'cause it was the only way we could tape something off TV (there was no Hulu, so we need to do this if we weren't going to be home to see a new episode of something):
20. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace was the most-anticipated movie of all time (there hadn't been a new Star Wars movie in 16 years at the time) and everyone bought some sorta merch from it:
21. The Matrix came out of nowhere and blew all of our minds:
22. And these were the teen movies we loved and watched over and over:
23. Wide-leg carpenter jeans and cargo pants were FASHION:
24. So was owning a bucket hat:
25. Everyone owned at least one "Item of the Week" piece of clothing from Old Navy (it was usually some sort of fleece item):
26. And we had to finish off an outfit with some chunky Skechers...
27. ...or sliders with white socks:
28. You couldn't play video games online so we had to split screen games like Super Smash Bros., GoldenEye, and Mario Kart 64 on Nintendo 64 to play against our friends:
29. Using hair mascara was a way to give ourselves instant highlights (even though it did eventually turn into dusty chunks later in the day):
30. No Korean skin-care regimen for us! Our nightly skin care routine basically came down to: If it stung the hell out of your skin it meant it was working!
31. We had to carry around our Sub Club cards with us at all times 'cause there was no way to look up how many stickers (points) you had accumulated otherwise:
32. Using the internet meant AOL:
View this video on YouTube
33. And AIM was the only way we could talk to our friends without using our home phones (texting or WhatsApp was NOT a thing we could even imagine ever existing):
34. If we wanted to reach someone and they weren't home then we would have to page them (cell phones were expensive and few teens had them):
35. Spotify and Apple Music are the norm now, but back then Napster was a game-changer and we all downloaded every single song we could think of (even if we didn't have a CD burner to put the music onto):
36. No YouTube meant if we wanted to see the hottest new videos then we would have to tune into TRL, or wait until the weekend and watch them on VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown:
37. South Park was the most controversial show on TV and we had to watch behind our parents' back 'cause they heard something about it on 20/20:
38. One-strap backpacks were the coolest backpack you could have:
39. Everyone carried around Wite-Out pens, which we primarily used to write on our backpacks and brown paper bag book covers:
40. Nothing made us feel more grown-up than having Starbucks Frappuccinos during homeroom (there also weren't a ton of Starbucks back then, so we had to buy our SB drinks from the supermarket):
41. While Fruitopia was our perfect lunchtime drink:
42. Online content was limited, so if we wanted to listen to new albums and/or read magazine articles we'd hit up Tower Records or the Virgin Megastore
43. If we wanted to get to tickets to a concert we had to buy them in person, either going to a Ticketmaster or the actual venue to buy them (and both involved waiting in long lines if it was a popular concert):
44. We didn't have ASOS or H&M (in the States), so one of the coolest places to get clothes was from Delia's (which was ordered through a catalog!):
45. And finally, we were all low-key freaked about Y2K:
