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Original poster

To ask what the strangest thing you did online as a teenager was?

314 replies

Username73638 · 20/02/2025 20:31

I’ll go first… when I was about 12 or 13 (mid-00s) I signed up to a UK mum/baby forum - I can’t remember what it was called but it was a bit like Mumsnet but way, way smaller, everyone knew everyone - and created a whole fake life and made a load of ‘friends’ on there who were presumably women in their 20s-40s. This was when the internet was a very different place and everyone had their kids’ names and DOBs on ‘tickers’ I think they were called in their signatures. There was minimal anonymity. I had a fake husband and a couple of fake kids with names and back stories and then ‘got pregnant’ and tracked a whole pregnancy and birth. All of my online ‘friends’ were really excited to hear the birth announcement and helped me pick the baby’s name. I made up a fake birth story. There was actually an in-person meet up with all the kids that I was invited along to but obviously I couldn’t go, I pretended that one of my kids was sick.

I still remember some of the names of the women and their kids and think about how old the kids would be now (in their 20s!)

Anyway after 1-2 years, can’t remember exactly how long, a group of them realised I was fake and ‘confronted’ me online. I didn’t confess but deleted my account and never went back.

I had a difficult home life and I think I wanted to imagine the happy family I might have when I grew up. It was a bit of an obsession though and I spent so many hours on there, basically every afternoon and evening after school. I’ve never done anything similar since, my catfishing days were over after that!

Did anyone else do anything similar online as a teenager, pretending to be anyone else or something?

OP posts:
KindLemur · 21/02/2025 18:24

ive unlocked another memory. Habbo hotel. My brother used to play it and taught me how to play it, I’m sure it got shut down or something recently ?

KindLemur · 21/02/2025 18:23

Ah, I see the thread has been high jacked.

back to the point of the thread

I also learned html quite well and how to resize images etc to make graphics/ postcard things for tumblr, wish I’d kept it up but it seemed like a silly hobby looking back it really wasn’t!

VickyEadieofThigh · 21/02/2025 17:36

Pottedpalm · 21/02/2025 17:04

I was about to type the very same thing 😂

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Did you ever - if you and friends had no money - dial up repeatedly to hear the 2 or 3 seconds of music before the pips went, to try and recognise the record?

And youngsters today reckon they've got it tough!

Pottedpalm · 21/02/2025 17:04

VickyEadieofThigh · 20/02/2025 20:40

I turned 13 in 1971. The most radical thing we did involving 'technology' was to go to a phone box, put 2p in and listened to that day's 'Dial a disc' choice. None of us had a phone at home so we had to go to call boxes.

This - and you'll laugh - was a record out of the top 30 that you could listen to down the phone.

Wild, eh?!

I was about to type the very same thing 😂

beesnests · 21/02/2025 16:59

BulldogMumma · 21/02/2025 14:14

Haha we did this too! 😂

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I had a ceefax penpal too. I seem to recall penpals were also a thing in girls' magazines? I wonder how many were actually men.

Wintershealing · 21/02/2025 16:16

KindLemur · 21/02/2025 15:28

Why are people acting like growing up without internet/phone/running water/whatever is such a flex, all it means is your a different generation than the one this thread is aimed at, if someone asked ‘what was your fave type of phone box’ or something and a load of people started posting ‘hahaha phone boxes what are they we didn’t have them!’ It would be weird.

Yes exactly, it's like you're over 45. Well done 👏🏆

KindLemur · 21/02/2025 15:28

Why are people acting like growing up without internet/phone/running water/whatever is such a flex, all it means is your a different generation than the one this thread is aimed at, if someone asked ‘what was your fave type of phone box’ or something and a load of people started posting ‘hahaha phone boxes what are they we didn’t have them!’ It would be weird.

Meggie2008 · 21/02/2025 14:55

Oh I absolutely loved Neopets! The games were great.
Spent a lot of time on MSN, learned a really handy shortcut to clear chats when the parents appeared as the computer was originally in the living room.
I spent most of my teenage years on vampirefreaks, which I know got a lot of stick for being suss, but I met and still speak to a group of really genuine, amazing women. Even after all these years, we now have a WhatsApp group so we can keep in touch with events in each others lives.

BulldogMumma · 21/02/2025 14:14

VivienneDelacroix · 20/02/2025 22:12

Internet? My friend and I used to write to the penpals page on Ceefax! Does that count?

Haha we did this too! 😂

Spudthespanner · 21/02/2025 13:59

Wintershealing · 21/02/2025 10:46

Why do people comment on a thread asking for your memories of the Internet as a teen, "there was no Internet when I was a teen" or "when I was a teen we did xyz (something totally unrelated to the Internet)"?

It's like someone starting a thread asking, for example, people's memories of the 70s and people replying with "I wasn't born in the 70s" or "I wasn't born but in 2005 I did xyz".

It's really bizarre!

Absolutely this

fashionqueen0123 · 21/02/2025 13:42

beesnests · 21/02/2025 13:31

I loved LiveJournal! It was how I kept up with all my online friends. It's still going but it's owned by Russians now.

Another thing I remember is playing Neopets. I can still remember the name of my favourite game - Hubrid's Hero Heist.

Oh and logging into my brother's MSN account pretending to be him, chatting to his very shady BNP friends.

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We used to play neopets in 6th form! Learning html 🤣

fashionqueen0123 · 21/02/2025 13:41

twitchwitch · 21/02/2025 00:41

@fashionqueen0123 I used to listen to Jeremy Kyle too, think he called himself Jezza though! Think it was called the 'Late night love affair?'

Ooh yes! I think I must have listened to both then! I think jezza was on a local Berkshire station? I’m sure he’s from round here

IDontDrinkTea · 21/02/2025 13:40

Coming back to add that I remember being #ToplessTuesday being a thing on tumblr that lots of my friends would participate in… despite being high school age. Looking back, tumblr must have been a dream for people with bad intentions

beesnests · 21/02/2025 13:31

miniaturepixieonacid · 21/02/2025 01:01

Pro Ana websites - so weird. Thin commandments, 'Thinspiration', 'What did you eat today' threads, 'guess how much I weigh' threads with young people in their underwear, 'Accountability' threads to be as eating disordered as possible. Self harm picture threads. Endless tips and tricks threads. The most horrendous environment for mentally ill teenagers but also a great community. I went on several meet ups. Not healthy ones but they were fun!

The worst of them them was called PASS - Pro Ana Suicide Society! But I was on several.

Also - Live Journal. Wtf was that - keeping your private diary online for strangers (and worse - friends!) to read. Eek, I want to die just thinking about it.

Talking to people in the next room to me on msn messenger.

I loved LiveJournal! It was how I kept up with all my online friends. It's still going but it's owned by Russians now.

Another thing I remember is playing Neopets. I can still remember the name of my favourite game - Hubrid's Hero Heist.

Oh and logging into my brother's MSN account pretending to be him, chatting to his very shady BNP friends.

MargaretThursday · 21/02/2025 13:27

The only on-line thing I did when still a teen was hang the washing up.

WellsAndThistles · 21/02/2025 12:54

Wendolino · 20/02/2025 20:44

No Internet in my day, but my friends and I used to phone random numbers and pretend we wanted to speak to a name we made up. Don't ask me why, but it seemed hilarious at age 12/13!

We used to phone teachers and conduct random surveys. Winter Olympics 1998(?) was pure gold as we phoned them in the middle of night after coming out the pub (we were 17/18 ish) and pretended we were in a different time zone 🤣. Boat race was another good one 'Do you prefer watching 'cock' or 'cockless' Mrs Scott"!

Good times.....

Wintershealing · 21/02/2025 10:48

We didn't have the Internet at my house as a teen but my friends did and one used to go on the very early chat rooms and invite guys round for sex 😱 She was about 15/16! Her mum was an alcoholic and had no idea what she was up to!

Wintershealing · 21/02/2025 10:46

Why do people comment on a thread asking for your memories of the Internet as a teen, "there was no Internet when I was a teen" or "when I was a teen we did xyz (something totally unrelated to the Internet)"?

It's like someone starting a thread asking, for example, people's memories of the 70s and people replying with "I wasn't born in the 70s" or "I wasn't born but in 2005 I did xyz".

It's really bizarre!

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 21/02/2025 10:15

Blimey. I was listening to John Peel's late night music show and recording albums off that (I still have my Stranglers 'Black and White' on tape somewhere...) and I thought that was pretty racy (I was supposed to be asleep/revising for my A levels).

Wendolino · 21/02/2025 10:11

Rachie1973 · 21/02/2025 01:54

We used to ring the operator on 100 and ask to speak to Busby. I cringe now.

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That's hilarious! I had an umbrella with him on it 😂

Misslola1999 · 21/02/2025 09:51

This thread has unlocked some memories!!
In 1999 I was 16 and at college and used to be constantly on chat rooms (Trouble i think?) and while most of it was chatting about Tupac vs Biggie (😂😂) I do remember chatting to one person for a few months and arranging to meet him in a nightclub in our town. (That notoriously let in underage kids!) Told him what I'd be wearing and everything.
Remember going to said nightclub with my friends and although I didn't meet him, I remember a middle aged man at the bar staring at me all night until we legged it out of there!!
I do think my saving grace was the fact I was in a big group of both boys and girls.
Stayed off chat rooms after that!!

peppercornrent · 21/02/2025 09:30

Moonlight222 · 21/02/2025 08:35

Can you remember the baby website I was on with tickers and then there was a whole other group DDDL or something like that.

I was in chat rooms and spoke to the guy who thought I was older and stupidly agreed to meet up and he had my phone number. When I got to the town centre he messaged his location as I walking from the station and I was very cautious and saw a dwarf on the bench, same description and he looked agitated and had a duffle type bag with him, I was 15 and absolutely petrified and wondered what the hell I was thinking. My friend worked in millets so I ran and hid in a tent and turned my phone off. I stopped pissing about online after that because I thought I was going to murdered and some of kill kit was in the bag.

You were on Babyworld, then DDDL was a facebook group with people from Babyworld. All sorts of batshittery going on with a group sock puppet becoming a moderator on BW if I remember correctly.

ETA and trolls, and a move to a new website and back to unmask the trolls. It all seemed very relevant and revolutionary back in the day.

Packingcube · 21/02/2025 09:15

Does anybody remember hot or not?
How awful was that website 😆

salemcooper · 21/02/2025 09:12

We had internet early in my house. Me and brother were allowed unreasonable free unsupervised use of search engines. Once when I was about 7 my parents sat me and my brother down for a serious chat after they'd found in search history that we'd spent a good hour searching for "boobies"...

Hufflemuff · 21/02/2025 08:57

Username73638 · 21/02/2025 08:46

I know, honestly 🙄 And explaining concepts to me like phone boxes and the talking clock and dial up and the yellow pages. I was born at the start of the 90s, I do remember life before the internet. I’ve made calls from phone boxes. And I do understand the concept that people older than me didn’t have the internet as teenagers seeing as it was basically brand new when I was a teenager 🙈

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IKR, start your own thread about prehistoric artefacts like phone boxes.

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