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75 Things Millennials Say Felt Normal In The 2000s But Are Luxuries Now
If you had a time machine that took you back to the early 2000s, you’d probably use it—and we’d be there right by your side, with snacks for the journey.
The early 2000s were a vastly different and—arguably—far better time than the endless global crises we face in 2026. Many things that were completely normal and commonplace back then feel rare and luxurious now, and internet users shared the ones they miss the most. You’ll find their nostalgic posts as you scroll down.
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#1
Not having to pay for a subscription for things like... Microsoft Word? You bought it once and you had it. Everything now is in a subscription format. I hate it.
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#2
Calling an insurance company or doctors office or something and being greeted by a human on the other line and not a robot.
Millennials, members of Generation Y, are people born between 1981 and 1996. So, when the world rang in 2000 with optimism and hope, the youngest millennials were around 4 years old, while the oldest ones were around 19 years old, stepping into adulthood, going to college, and dipping their toes into the job market.
Though, depending on which researcher you talk to, they might argue that Gen Y can go back as early as 1980 and as late as 2004.
Broadly speaking, millennials are incredibly diverse, start off with less household income than previous generations, and face financial challenges like record amounts of student loan debt and stagnant wages. Members of Gen Y are ambitious and don’t put off things like their entrepreneurial ideas or travel plans. However, older generations might view this in a negative light, accusing them of chasing instant gratification.
#5
Owning things. Your home, your music, your software, your media... nowadays you just rent/subscribe and keep paying for everything endlessly all the time without ever owning it. Total scam.
#6
Concerts, sporting events. Used to be somewhat negligible, I was 16 and going to concerts all the time and the ticket price was never something that even factored into whether or not I would attend. Now I’m an adult with way more money than I did at 16 yet concerts are wayyyy more unaffordable for me now than they were back then.
There is no ‘perfect’ period in history that is ever free from all problems. And yet, not all decades are alike. The 2000s had plenty of geopolitical, economic, and social problems. However, they pale in comparison with the permacrisis environment we have found ourselves living in in the 2020s.
On top of that, you have the subjective factor at play here. Many people feel strong nostalgia for the years when they were energetic, carefree, had few responsibilities, and made positive memories. For most people, this is their childhood or youth, though it can be any period of time.
So, with this in mind, it’s not just that the early 2000s seemed like a simpler, happier time to live in. If you are a millennial, you also yearn for the ‘good old days’ when you were younger and the future seemed bright despite the challenges.
#7
Shopping at thrift stores.
tamborinesandtequila:
Resellers have ruined thrifting. Greed destroys everything on every level.
#9
Quality. Things were better made, better quality, and lasted longer. If I got a pair of Levi’s, I knew they’d last forever and I didn’t pay over $50 for them. I didn’t have to watch out for words or phrases that suggested better quality than what they are (leather was leather, hand stitched really meant hand stitched, and you got ice cream and milk chocolate instead of frozen dessert and chocolate candies).
Have you read through these millennials’ nostalgic posts and upvoted the ones you agree with? Once you have, we’d like to turn the discussion over to you in the comments.
What generation are you, and which decade do you miss the most, and why?
Which parts of life in the early 2000s do you think were vastly better than the current day? On the other hand, what do you value the most about life in the 2020s that the 2000s lacked?
Let us and the other readers know what you think!
#10
Privacy. Everywhere you go these days someone is filming everything around you. Every one of us is probably on hundreds of other people’s videos, and all of those videos are somewhere in the internet for everyone else to see.
#11
Real wood, not particle board or plywood. Lots of furniture used to be real wood for not that much money, now real wood furniture is an expensive luxury.
#12
Not being available to anyone at anytime because I wasn’t obligated to answer my phone because it’s always with me.
#14
I know this isn't exactly the answer you're looking for but I have to say that it's sadly a luxury for a child to experience innocence and a good childhood nowadays.
With all the wars, hyper specialising and disconnect from reality that children are experiencing, they unfortunately tend to grow up so fast. When I compare my time as a teenager to teenagers today, my heart breaks for them. I used to look like my age while teens nowadays looks so much older. I used to dress and act so innocent like a child should. But children (of all ages) nowadays aren't allowed to act and be innocent for some reason. It's so sad.
#16
Boxing day sales where they were genuinely trying to get rid of stock at real discount prices.
#17
I miss when people didn’t have to monetize every single thing. Nowadays, and yes society has a large blame for this since so many of us are struggling, but people make so much profit on things and the greed is insane. Just watching shark tank, you see how many people’s margins are extremely high percentages. Then occasionally, you’ll see good people who come on the show and don’t want to make huge profit because they have good hearts. The sharks don’t like that, though. And that’s because the world has succumbed to greed, profit, and monetization on everything and anything possible.
#18
Hanging out at the mall.
I despised it at the time, or at least the aura of the act due to how aspirational it was to everyone, but now I find myself wondering what in-person socializing does anyone aspire to? Bring back the friggin mall.
#19
The internet still being locked away to your big robot box at home and not a thing that follows everyone everywhere.
#21
Does anyone else just miss the VIBE of our day? Like just 15-20 years ago things felt so much lighter… things felt fun, a little more care free than now. Idk i wish i could explain it better but just thinking about life in general it just felt so much easier even when things were still really hard.
#24
Food and rent being affordable. My first 2 bedroom was $750 and it felt like a lot. Packs of Mr. Noodles went on sale for 15 cents. I remember the first time I saw a $1.99 can of tuna in 2008. Housing. Definitely housing. My best friend's parents bought a 5 bedroom house for $120K in 2001. It's now up to $750K.
Culturally it was normal to just show up at your friend's house without calling. It was normal to call your friends without texting to see if they were around first. Now if someone calls without warning it's like, "Who's [deceased]?!"
#27
Sports. I hate needing 10 different streaming services for a season of hockey, NFL and college football.
#31
Going to a concert or show and not staring at a sea of phones and tablets. You can still have that experience in some countries, but definitely not in the US.
Ticketmaster, in your omnipotent greed. I will pay 5x (!!!) the ticket price for a venue where phone/tablets are strictly banned from being in view and the rule is harshly enforced. I rather pay 1000-2000 bucks to see a concert properly, than 200 bucks to stare at screens the whole time.
#32
I’m not a millennial but spending every day of summer outside until it got cold/playing games like soccer or basketball with a big group of people that randomly got together because of close proximity only to become good friends.
#34
Going to the bar. Drinks used to be so cheap and now it feels like you’re throwing a $20 everytime you order one.
#35
Cell phones ruined parties for kids. There is little to no evidence of what we got up to in the 90s. If you brought a camera you only took a few pictures and nothing was posted online. Film was expensive to get developed.
#36
Haircuts. My folks took me every 6-8 weeks until I was in my teens. I can only afford to get my kids one or two cuts a year total. I haven't paid to have my hair cut in 8 years, despite desperately wanting to, because I can't justify the expense.
#37
Magazines were everywhere. There used to be stacks on every table in every waiting room and racks on the walls with them, huge racks with tons of choices prominently in every drug and grocery store. And they were way cheaper than they are now. A magazine was like 3 to 5 dollars. Maybe ten max for a special double issue.
#39
Having an offline device to play music.
I tried to find a decent mp3 player recently, to get away from music streaming a bit, and there are so few decent options out there nowadays. If you want a good one, it’s £££s. Yet when I was a teen, getting one was so easy, even if you didn’t want to pay for an iPod.
#41
Niche websites run by passionate hobbyists of a given subject, and having a collection of bookmarks for a given subject, trading said links with peers like baseball cards.
#42
Everyone being so consumed by how they should be looking and trying to live up to Kardashian standards. I miss when people didn’t do everything for the gram and didn’t need everything to be so perfect all the time.
#43
Going to the movies. It was so inexpensive and something to look forward to. Now it’s $100 for 3 people.
#44
Drivers Ed classes offered in high school (US). This was a very accessible resource for just about every student, and it's just about phased out from what I've heard.
#46
Spontaneity — running into people you know somewhere … discovering a restaurant on a walk in cold.
#49
Beef being a dinner staple. The surge in beef prices have made classics like burgers a special occasion.
#51
Just walking around the mall and being able to buy stuff with my birthday money or paycheck from my summer job.
#52
Road trips with friends. It's not that my friends don't want to go on them anymore, but we can't afford the cost anymore.
#53
Healthy liquid savings accounts. Gen X and before were raised to believe that we should all have a minimum of the equivalent of 6 months’ net take home pay in liquid savings - those days are goooooone, and the average American can no longer go more than 2-4 weeks without a job.
#54
Health insurance that was almost completely covered by your employer with only a $500 deductible.
#56
Family cabins. Now owning one property is too much let alone two for middle class families.
#57
I remember the first ipads we got - every game on there was like .99 or 1.99 or something but it was your game... no ads....
and speaking of ads - just fewer ads all around back then.
#59
Magazines with CDs in them, though I did see one at B&N recently. It was like between $15 to $30.
#62
Going out to eat or get snacks. I remember I used to work at a meat packing plant the summer after I graduated highschool in 2015. Paid $11 per hour only and I felt like I could eat out way more often.
#63
Time. You can relax much more, do things much slower, listen to a song or watching something as much as you want before the next big thing comes. I felt like more people were able to come home and relax after work compared to now.
Obviously some things were more annoyingly slow (internet) but at least that wasn't monetized the way it is now where everyone is trying to be the next big thing by hitting algorithms. It allowed for some out-of-left field creativity.
#64
Clubbing for me!
In the UK pubs used to close at 11:00pm and clubs would close at 01:00am. We used to get ready and be in the pub by 6:00pm for the cheap beer and a game of pool or darts, then shots at the bar at 09:30 to get across to the queue for the club before it got too big. In by 10:00, dance till 01:00, grab a Kabab, bran a cab and by home by 2:30.
It was perfect and didn’t [ruin] the next day completely.
#69
Is it just me or does anyone else remember quarter arcades being quite common? The really small ones without restaurants in them. Usually next to a laundromat or tailor. Now they feel like clubs and you have to buy tokens.
#71
Being able to run to the store any time of night, 2am grocery runs were very common for me back in the day up until Covid.
#72
Video games used to come in large hardcover book-sized boxes that took up space on your shelf. Usually a booklet with instructions and lore was included, artwork too. Now these are collectors items.
#73
Saying 'g2g' to end a conversation [laugh out loud]. Conversations over text never really end, just suddenly someone stops responding, and there’s always the expectation that the convo can/will be picked back up to continue indefinitely.
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