Oh, millennials. The internet pioneers. The T9 texting geniuses. The business-casual-blazer-in-the-club warriors. What a culture. What a legacy. A legacy that might not be as appreciated as it should be by the generations who followed, but ain’t that just the way of the world?
1.
“Full photo albums on Facebook for every single night out.”
2.
“Going to school all dressed up. Like, I literally wore high heels to school. You don’t see that in schools these days.”
3.
“Putting together what could only be described as interpretive dance performances for our favorite songs, which were often wildly inappropriate for our age.”
4.
“I’ve got to believe the current generation wouldn’t understand the joys of prank calls.”
5.
“Plastic inflatable chairs. I HAD to have one in the late ’90s because everyone else did. I don’t know if they’re a thing now, though.”
6.
“Wearing a polo shirt over another polo shirt with the collars popped.”
7.
“The MySpace Top 8. My nieces and their friends (high schoolers) were APPALLED when I told them we ranked our friends and how they would absolutely get bumped down the list when you had fights, and then the bump down would cause even more drama. Also, putting breakup music on your page when you and your boyfriend broke up or had a fight. Just MySpace in general is major cringe for our youngins. 😂”
8.
“Look up the cultural phenomenon of the show Jackass.”
9.
“When I was in high school, there was a smoker’s corner where we all smoked cigarettes and played hackey sack before school. My son looked at me like I had three heads when I told him it’s weird not to see a bunch of kids standing around there when I drop him off at (the same) school. He was like, ‘Mom, if we were smoking, our teachers would come out and yell at us.’ Which is definitely a good thing. They could still play hackey sack, though.”
10.
“Making a mix CD for the sole purpose of cruisin’ on Friday/Saturday down Main St.”
11.
“Having your undies coming out of your pants. Either boxers or G-strings.”
12.
“Rock music, but rock like Creed, Puddle of Mud, and Godsmack were unfortunately extremely popular. Also, Nu Metal bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit, Incubus, Linkin Park, etc. — all very cool and popular. I would include emo, but I think the kids kind of like that stuff now. But not the good emo, like Brand New and The Used, the generic commercialized emo.”
13.
“Our slang. Cool beans is cringe.”
14.
“I don’t think it is ‘cringe’ now, but skateboarding was cool when I was a teenager, and now, it is kinda something dads do.”
15.
“They probably don’t consider getting a driver’s license cringe, but that was about the coolest thing you could do when we were teens because of the freedom it afforded you, and they don’t seem to care about that.”
16.
“I remember the AIM days when you saw (or heard) a friend log online, you’d message them with just ‘hi’ or ‘^_^’ to start chatting about random shit. I don’t see people really do that anymore.”
17.
“Hanging out at the mall? Of course, this may just be an issue of some people these days calling the cops on any teenager they see in public without a parent nearby.”
18.
“‘LOL’. They still use this a lot, but it’s sarcastic now, not actually ‘that’s funny.’ I have some Gen Z coworkers, and they use it in a ‘tres drole’ way.”
19.
“Talking on the phone instead of texting. Actually, talking to people at all.”
20.
“DDR? I was never into it, but I had friends who would go to the arcade at the mall and play/dance for hours, lol. I feel like it was super popular in the early 2000s.”
21.
“Roller blading became cool, and then was cringe all in the span of five years, it feels like.”
22.
“Trollface. My older brother dressed up in a suit and bow tie with a drawing of Trollface as a mask and went as that for Halloween. My school also sang the Trololol song for an assembly.”
24.
And finally, “The reverse is that we thought Crocs were very out of style and now kids ALL wear them, lol. Crocs almost went out of business because of it.”
Was anything missed? What other popular millennial things do you think the younger generations probably think are totally “cringe” now? Tell me in the comments, or use the anonymous form below. Your response may be featured in an upcoming BuzzFeed article!