what was it like being a teen in the early 2000’s?

[neroforte]

as a teen myself in 2021, i love early 2000’s emo/sceneish fashion, music etc. i’d love to know what it was actually being a teen in this time? (bonus if you were emo/punk/goth etc!)

No where asked for ID. I was 14 when the clock struck midnight on the millennium and me and my best friend were already getting into pubs and clubs without so much as a questioning on how old we were from anyone. Having boobs and being tall helped. In fact I was never IDed until challenge 25 came in, by which time I was in my early twenties and had legitimate ID.

I was emo and then scene as a teen in the early 2000s. it was all about myspace then. I loved spending all night on MSN to my friends and going on YouTube when it first started. We went to rock concerts, and wore crazy amounts of eyeliner. Lots of chunky hello kitty jewellery. Betsy Johnson was super popular. We all liked Audrey kitching and gloomy bear etc.

@BoringBettie

I was emo and then scene as a teen in the early 2000s. it was all about myspace then. I loved spending all night on MSN to my friends and going on YouTube when it first started. We went to rock concerts, and wore crazy amounts of eyeliner. Lots of chunky hello kitty jewellery. Betsy Johnson was super popular. We all liked Audrey kitching and gloomy bear etc.

I meant ‘mid’ 2000s

I loved the 2000s. Was 14 in 2000.

I think we were quite innocent vs today; our group were called "the pastels" as we wore jeans or a denim skirt and a pastel colour Ralph Lauren polo t-shirt (this was cool haha). With the collar up of course. Pale pink knee high ugg boots were the rage.

As reached 16-18, makeup was a great mix of glitter blush and colour eyeshadow. I adored the butterfly clips in my hair. Going out was always "jeans and a nice top" with a huge belt worn on the waist.

Going out underage was really easy, we used to buy IDs from the girls above up at school. It felt very safe; now in my 30s I find it more dangerous going out.

School was great, loved it, some of the best times of my life. I'm so glad social media didn't exist the way it does now. Every night post swim training was a good msn messenger session, especially setting your status to not online and waiting for your crush to sign in before changing back to available. Crazy long landline phone calls with friends, and being excited by new technology to add multiple people.

Checking movie session times in the paper.

Ohh those were the days 😍🤣

MySpace then Bebo! You could rearrange your top friends - and the order did matter 😅 and you could leave “love” but only one a day so you know you were special if you got it! MSN messenger was EVERYTHING - changing your name to some dramatic song lyrics, signing in and out when the boy you fancied was online so he’d get notified that you’d signed in 🤣 the hurt if he didn’t start a conversation- cue finding another song lyric for the name 🤣

The phone was a Nokia 3310 - and then we lived through the days of Blackberry ❤️ Blackberry messenger was the best! You’d be so selective over your texts because your phone credit had to last you the week until you got paid off your wee PT job - which everyone had! If your text was over a certain length you got charged for 2 texts (😅) so we al strtd txtn lk ths 🤣🤣 Everyone bluetoothed things to each other 🙈

Make up choice was excellent 🤣 Dream Matte Mousse (extra points if it was at least 2 shades too dark for your face and you didn’t blend it round the edges of your face/neck) was the choice of foundation. Barry M Dazzle Dust eyeshadow was the best! Wearing 2 colours on your eyelids was the norm - not in a nice blended way like now - literally half your eyelid pink and the other half blue 🤣

Hair was worn either poker straight - usually done with an iron and a trusted friend 😬🙈 or scraped back into a ponytail with LOTS of hairspray - very crispy 🙈 Sometimes you’d wear 2 wee long bits out at the front for fashion 😬 or pile mousse into curly hair for a lovely crispy style!

The trousers were low cut and the wider at the bottom the better! Also must touch the floor and mop up all the rain so that it soaked up to your knees. Should also be worn with Vans/DCs/Etnies the size of pillows that were massive 🤣 Or those cargo trousers with the strips hanging off them. They were great! All worn with a fitted top of some kind.

Music was great - gigs were cheap and it was so easy to get into pubs underage! We were also content to all get drink and hang out in whatever the local “place” was and not cause trouble.

And TV was incredible! Dawson’s Creek, One Tree Hill, The OC ...more teen angst than you could ever need!

I definitely had an emo phase! I remember being so jealous of people who went on holiday to the US because they could go to Hot Topic. I swear, I also used to go through about 2 black kohl eyeliners a month caking on the eye makeup. My favourite band was Brand New.

One of the strangest things was that mobile phones were becoming widespread and social media started booming. Adults used to worry a lot about chat room safety but weirdly didn't seem to know to worry about MSN messenger or MySpace... They totally should have been worried because they were as everything going on via social media now went on then- cyberbullying, grooming, hyper image-conscious craziness, extremism. Bebo was the big social network in the UK but we also used MySpace until Facebook came in.

It's crazy that when I started secondary school phones were bricks that you could just about play snake on, and when I left in 2009 we basically had smartphones (well, Blackberries). At least in my circle, we were all obsessed with The Sims. I remember skiving off school after the Sims 2 came out.

Restrictions on things like underage drinking and smoking were much more lax. I could buy cigarettes at 16, but then the law changed to 18 when I was 17 but it didn't seem to matter. We had a regular pub we'd go to that didn't ID when we were 16/17.

Was 15/16 in 2004. Remember getting served in pubs with my mates and getting sent into off licenses to get us all booze as I looked the oldest! Ironically I get IDed a lot more now at nearly 33 than I ever did then.

Myspace and the ranking order you had your friends on your profile being life or death. Going straight on MSN messenger after school, cringey emo song lyrics in your MSN name. Having a Xanga blog where you'd just update about whatever silly teenage drama was going on in your life.

I don't think I really fitted any particular style sub-set but I did have the massive grebo jeans and tiny tops. With the fishnet top on over it. Hair mascara. Body glitter for clubbing.

I had a Nokia and remember buying a case for it that made the screen purple and the buttons heart-shaped. I thought it was the coolest thing ever! Everyone used text speak because typing out a text took bloody ages.

I agree about the internet being more like an alternative place for certain kinds of people back then, I don't think any of my school friends even used it much. I spent far too much of my teen years on Habbo Hotel.

Everyone straightening their hair to within an inch of its life, and it had to be with GHDs, anything else was considered shit. I remember sometimes one of us would bring in straighteners to school/college and we'd just sit in the common room straightening each others' hair while listening to indie bands on portable CD players.

I was 16 in 2000 and into punk and grunge. It was all vans and baggy trousers and tiny slogan tops and drinking whatever was on special - I can remember WKD being £2. Going to Rock City in Nottingham and moshing then getting the night bus home. So many gigs and festivals. Tarot cards and weed and a mix of black nail polish and hello kitty. Lots of campaigning for Green Peace and PETA

I was a teen in the early 90s so I'm going to grumble, say people being in their teens in the 00s are clearly still teenagers as the 90s was yesterday what the fuck are you all on about lol

I was 13 in 2000 and yes to the massive trousers. I remember if it was wet they'd soak up all the water and you'd be wet up to your knees.

I remember then finding RnB and it was so highly sexualised, to a point that it isnt today. Makes me cringe.

My mum was a teen mum and in her late teens/early twenties in the early 2000's. For her it was long dreads, floaty hippy/grunge clothing, Nirvana, R&B and soul, smoking a lot of weed and going to lots of festivals. My little sister is her carbon copy 20 years later so I'm not sure much has changed in the more hippy-esque culture to be honest!

I loved the 2000s. I left sixth form in 2006.

Phones were Nokia 3310s followed by Flip Phones.
Music was Keane/Franz Ferdinand/Jet/Muse
A bottle of becks was 90p in my local dingy night club
I started going to gigs from age 14 and it all felt perfectly safe (the bouncer would stick a red wristband on you so you couldn't get served)

And boys didn't have access to internet porn! Most of the boys I knew at that age were lovely and would walk you home at 1am then walk themselves home. (this was more uni age)

Yes there was definitely a kind of hippy subtext to it all which I loved. I am much more mainstream these days

I liked the covers for the Nokia phones you could pop on and off. I wish phones had that now, I know you can get click on covers but they make your phone bulky!

Remember magazines full of tiny pixel graphics you could buy for some extortionate price to replace the network logo on your phone (this took up most of the home screen so was equivalent to a lock screen image)? I used to cut them out and stick them on my desk if I liked them

Also I was too tight to pay for a ringtone but spent ages on the Nokia composer trying to recreate whatever tune was in that week. Classic rock with recognisable riffs mainly.

I used to go into actual record shops and buy CDs by bands I liked without actuality having listened to them beforehand. Or I might know one or two songs from them being played on Kerrang TV channel. I didn't have sky so it was always so exciting to go to a friend's house who has music channels and listen to music you didn't already own/had downloaded.

Kerrang radio actually launched when I was about 16 as well and that was amazing. I was such a big fan I listened to it all the time.

For out and about I had a CD Walkman. It fitted nicely in one of my giant pockets but if you ran for a bus it would bang against your knees and skip.

Boys very much did have access to Internet porn by the time I was that age. Probably mid 00s was when it became accessible. It was grim. Also remember when picture phones and video phones came in and boys would show you disgusting shock stuff on them for some reason. I remember being shown a video of some bloke sticking bits of a fibre optic lamp down his urethra and then an entire dildo! why?!

@countdowntonap

Being a size 0 was everything!

Yes it was. I’m so glad that’s no longer a thing. I was convinced I was fat back then, but was only a size 10/12!

Ooh, I'm getting flashbacks of massive baggy trousers with more pockets than you could shake a stick at, with some weird function less tassels 😂 I was 17 in 2000,and it was honestly the best! Travelling to local gigs on a coach with big groups of friends, heavy metal karaoke, and no phones to capture any of the mistakes we made. Glorious!

I was 15 in year 2000 and have such fond memories of the 00s!

Bad bits - literally no body positivity, being skinny and the pressure to be skinny was immense. Ultra low jeans that showed off your jutting hip bones and small vest tops or those tiny tops that were shaped like butterflies and tied at the back with basically bits of string (so tiny boobs needed too unless you were famous and had rock solid, round fake boobs that were fashionable then too).
Smoking still allowed in pubs and clubs, I didn't smoke so I always had to wash my hair after a night out or you stank.
There were pressures, but different to today. There was photoshopping and so unrealistic ideals, but not to the extent there is today. However, it really was the era of the paparazzi and celebrities.

Loved the fashion - colourful, shiny, body glitter, chunky highlights, frosted make up, too much fake tan and terrible hair extensions . This were a life changing invention - ironed our hair before those.
Seemed to be easier to use a fake ID back then. I was out clubbing at 16 and definitely didnt look old enough.

Loved emo music when it came out. Went to see lots of big pop punk bands. Just felt very free.
Could easily get a Saturday job, even at 15. Everyone I knew working in either a shop, bakery, cafe etc and it would be unusual not to have a job at a young age unlike today. I think it gave more independence at a younger age.

@waitingforwinter are you me? Haha you’ve described my experience to a T

Good Charlotte! Im off to find my cd

I was a teen in the mid 2000s and looking back I really liked the balance of social media then. We had the convenience of phones and texting but going on the web was mainly done by logging into a computer, so you’d spend a bit of time on MySpace then leave it alone. There wasn’t the 24/7 constant presence of social media but we still got to enjoy it.

Same with cameras and filming, i remember you’d take a digital camera in your bag on a night out or to a party! I’d feel anxious as a teen trying to let my hair down nowadays as everything seems to be filmed or photographed and put online!

I was 14 in 2000 and although I made the best of it I thought the 00s was really naff and cultureless - I was much more into 90s music plus lots of classic rock stuff like Led Zep.

Politically we were under a Labour government which was an amazing thing for me and my family, there was a real sense of being lifted out of poverty and due to various schemes and whatnot I was encouraged to go to university (I wouldn't have known what 'university' was at the turn of the millennium). People love to knock that administration (and rightly so in terms of foreign policy) but I can only assume they didn't have parents who benefitted from national minimum wage, working tax credits etc

My space and Msm existed as early social media but I wasn’t on them all day/evening and it wasn’t as all encompassing as it seems to be now.

Dial up internet to do your home work on….between parents using the phone.

Mobiles were fairly new. I am glad I did my teenage years before mobile phones had cameras. If you did something stupid while drunk at the park it stayed in memory only not recorded!

Like someone else said it was all about being skinny….and having skinny eyebrows.

I dunno….generally I don’t think it’s much different to now. Just trends that come and go and different technology.

Oh I loved it.

I was 15 in 2004, and it felt peak emo. From 15-18 I was at pop punk gigs every fortnight, the scene was such that you could watch bands that are bigger now as support acts or in tiny venues (hellogoodbye, plain white t’s, all American rejects).

We spent most of the time hanging out at the park, or Urbis for those near Manchester (it was essentially a part of the city centre where there would be 50+ alt/emo/scene kids hanging out every weekend). You could go and meet the scene MySpace celebrities.. the predecessors of today’s influencers. Kids you met online would hang out there so you could safely meet up.

Social media was in its infancy with MSN and MySpace, and camera phones were pants so I always carried a digital camera.

As a now adult professional, I long for those days!

@TheSlayer

Early 2000s you wore flared jeans, lowcut with a showing pink thong. It would then rain and the bottoms would get soaked and travel up your leg. This was typically teamed with a spaghetti strap top, most often in black or pink(think Girls' Aloud Sound of the Underground video)

If you dyed your hair a weird colour, like I did, it was red or purple. None of this blue hair malarkey. Most people had stripey chunky highlights and layers though.
We plucked our eyebrows thin and wore very shiny lipgloss. No one was good at makeup and we went out as full blown Monet's see clueless

Everyone owned the same belt (made up.of little circles) around 2004-5. UGG boots were relatively fashionable and again we're another disappointment in the rain. As was your hair in pre ghd early straightener days

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We passively aggressively changed our msn names to song lyrics and changed our status' to 'appear offline' and back again to get attention from boys we liked.
Boys were mostly terrible (that hasn't changed)

In the early 00s we stayed in to watch our favourite episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sex and the City and Friends. We video recorded Ally McBeal before upgrading to illegally downloading Desperate Housewives and Lost(Getting more disappointed as the series's went on)
James Blunt was our Ed Sheeran and everyone had that Snow Patrol album.

We had flip phones and anyone with a blackberry was envied and mocked.

We knew everything and older generations were sad and out of touch. We applied this knowledge to all aspects of our lives: from voting Liberal Democrat to dying our hair gingery blonde with Sun in.

You were obviously from a different scene to me 😂 we all had pink / blue / green highlights in our hair, and everyone I hung around with wore a studded belt not the circle one!

Band tees (sometimes over a white shirt) with wide legged or ripped jeans and vans (when they were proper chunky skater shoes) or converse for me!

Ah yes ‘sun in’ 😀