The early 2000s were a truly magical time, filled with instant messaging, texting on your new flip phone, and reapplying your sparkliest sticky lip gloss for your crush who worked at the mall.
As we ushered in a new decade — after it was widely believed technology wouldn’t live to see 2000, thanks Y2K — new trends came about that you have probably forgotten about… until now.
Related: Biggest Celebrity Scandals Of The ’00s!
Let’s take a trip down memory lane…
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Music
Riding in on the wave of late 1990s popularity were pop queens Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Mariah Carey, joined by the likes of boybands Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC.
For those who were less pop and more punk, Avril Lavigne, Green Day, Fall Out Boy, and My Chemical Romance were probably more your speed.
Technology
Technology was just beginning to boom and make its way into more households with more personal devices being released.
As a new generation of users grew up, the need for better data transmissions became evident, and so 3G was born, bringing on an onslaught of new mobile phones including the Sidekick, Motorola Razr, and Blackberry. These early-generation smartphones had limited capabilities at the time in an age before apps, but got the job done when it came to setting the hottest ringtones for your phone and sending texts to your friends.
In other personal device news, the original iBook personal computers by Apple which launched in 1999 were the way to get work done. With their colorful clamshell design and ability to work ANYWHERE, these computers (above) were unmistakably unique.
And we can’t forget about the way we listened to music! While purchasing CD’s was still the way many listened to music in the early half of the 2000s, the iPod was introduced in 2001 and the rest is history!
Internet
Social media wasn’t even a phrase back then, but social networking definitely was, and it was all done on Myspace! Launched in 2003, the site became the most visited social networking site in the world during its peak from 2005 until early 2008. Unfortunately for fans of placing friends in your top eight, Facebook eventually knocked Myspace off the throne, with the OG seeing a decline in popularity ever since.
Much like Myspace, other sites that were wildly popular in the late 1990s or early 2000s have since been replaced by more up-to-date counterparts. Long gone (but never forgotten) are the days of messaging friends on AIM by AOL, setting a ~super cool~ away message, and sending and sharing songs on Limewire or Napster.
TV Shows
Reality competition-style TV grew to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with shows including American Idol, Survivor, and Big Brother reigning supreme. In the mid-2000s, we were also introduced to some of the first reality programs: Laguna Beach, Real Housewives, The Hills, and Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
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If you were on the younger side, you were likely watching Lizzie McGuire, That’s So Raven or Even Stevens on Disney Channel, or tuning into Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, and The Amanda Show on Nickelodeon. Animated shows such as Spongebob Squarepants and The Fairly Odd Parents also grew in popularity.
Tuning into TRL for all the hottest music on MTV was the best way to find out what music was hot that week, and learning about all things sex and relationships from Sex and the City was more eye-opening than any magazine article ever could be.
Style
What was originally custom designed by Juicy Couture for Madonna took off like wildfire and spread into the closets of celebrities and teen girls across the country. Their line of velour (and eventually other materials) tracksuits were insanely popular. The brighter, the better!
In the wise words of Paris Hilton, “trade your millennial pink for millennium pink.” She’s not wrong! Starlets of the early 2000s were rocking shades of baby pink long before the millennial pink trend. Ultimately, it was all about branding, branding, and more branding! The more logos you could throw on your bod, the better! (Those Louis Vuitton bags will haunt us forever.)
As for other fashion statements, favorites of the early 2000s included: polo shirts (again, bright colors were IN), butterfly clips in your hair (a trend that carried over from the 90s), platform flip-flops and slide-on slippers, and of course low-rise denim. And of course, how could we forget the classic UGG Boots!
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If these colorful trends weren’t really your thing, perhaps you were more of a Sk8er Boi and shopped at Hot Topic or Spencer’s Gifts?
What were your favorites in the 2000s, Perezcious readers? Any we missed that didn’t make the list? Share ’em (below) in the comments!!
[Image via Nikki Nelson/WENN & MTV Australia/YouTube & Ladylike/YouTube & W Magazine/YouTube.]
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