16 Things I Really Miss From My 2000s Childhood

While I’m a proud 90s kid — and having older siblings really cemented that 90s-ness in me — my heart lies in the early 2000s. My 00s childhood was full of so many touchstones, from watching the towers fall on the tiny television in the corner of my kindergarten classroom to showing off the 253 MB flash drive that I’d borrowed from my father in fifth grade to my floppy disc-saddled classmates.

At the risk of sounding like your cantankerous grandma, kids today don’t know how good we used to have it — and I certainly didn’t appreciate the little charms of growing up in the noughties while I was knee-deep in it. Being a kid in the 2000s was wild, and these are some of the things I really miss from my childhood.

Talking to My Friends’ Parents When They Answered the Home Phone

You couldn't call your best friend in the 2000s without giving up at least five or ten minutes of your time to whichever of their family members answered the phone first. Looking back, it was such a lovely thing to feel connected to a whole family, and not just a kid your age.

It gave me a real sense of interconnectedness and community. It's something that cell phones really don't foster with kids today. 

Collecting Coupons From the Coupon Dispensers in Grocery Stores 

I didn't choose the collector life, it chose me and oh, did it find me early. Every time my family went to a grocery store, I would scour the aisles for one of the coupon dispensers to get my hands on some play money. I stood there and took coupons like I was passing "Go" and collecting 200 dollars. It was the height of my grocery shopping experience in elementary school, and I'm still disappointed that the marketing trend died a swift death. 

Printing Mapquest Directions to Go Somewhere New

In my preteen years, Mapquest really hit it off. Waiting for those brightly colored icons telling you to turn left or that you’d come up to a stop sign to shoot out of your printer was akin to Christmas morning. These printed pages meant adventure. Now, I just use my GPS to find a new license plate agency or specialist’s office.

Getting Real Toys in Your Cereal Box

I have many bones to pick with America’s grocery industry, and cereal corporations taking out the real toys in their cereal boxes is one of them. Excuse me Kellogg’s, where is my full-on Transformer toy or yo-yo with my box of Frosted Flakes?

Part of the reason we suffered through some seriously bad cereal picks as children was because of these wicked toys. Now, you’re supposed to be satisfied by some random illustration on the back of the box!

Related: 19 Things From the 2000s That Will Bring on the Nostalgia

Calling Movie Theaters to Find Upcoming Showtimes

When you wanted to see a movie in the 2000s, you either had to call the theater’s box office to listen to the automated voice roll through every movie and their upcoming showtimes or find them listed in your local newspaper.

A little step like calling the box office might seem tedious today, but that tactile action felt like hitting a checkpoint in a video game. After calling, you were one step closer to seeing something in theaters — a real treat for me as a rural kid.

Returning Blockbuster Movies Through the Metal Flap  

Blockbuster, the video rental store to end all video rental stores, had an outdoor return slot you could drive up to. My siblings and I used to fight over who got to return the movies the entire way to our local Blockbuster. Their return boxes had all the charm of those winding penny mazes you used to find in malls, and it was just as strangely hypnotic to us.

Watching the TV Guide Channel to See the Current Line-Up

Long before streaming killed cable, but after there were more than three channels, you’d have to flip to a channel (usually 001 or something similar) to see what was playing on different stations for the next few hours. Sometimes, you’d wait for 15 minutes just to catch what time the latest DCOM movie was airing that night.

While waiting for a specific channel to scroll by wasn’t exactly bliss, remembering how my siblings and I used to sit in that liminal space holds a special place in my heart.

Recording Songs on the Radio for Your Ring Tone

If there was one thing growing up in the 2000s taught me, it was how to be savvy. Want a new ringtone or alarm sound on your T-Mobile Sidekick? Wait for your favorite Top 100 song to play on the radio, crank it up, and start recording on your phone.

I’d like to bottle that feeling of catching the chorus for your go-to song of the moment on a clear phone recording for when I’m feeling down.

Buying Phone Charms to Stick in Your Headphone Jack

While we’re on the topic of cell phones, if there’s one thing that needs to be resurrected, it’s phone charms. Phone charms were absolutely pointless and utterly adorable. Phones today all look the same, but when I was kid, we dreamed of the gaudiest cases and most outrageous phone charms. It was incredible.

Buying Disposable Cameras Before Every Family Vacation

I don’t remember going on a family vacation without having that yellow Kodak or green Fuji disposable camera box packed snuggly against the bottom corner of my suitcase. These were staples in the 2000s, and thanks to them, I can still look back on so many of my childhood memories.

Related: 20+ Popular 2000s Toys That Kids Were Obsessed With

Getting Soft-Serve Ice Cream at Lunch 

Maybe my elementary school was built differently, but we had a soft-serve ice cream machine in the teacher's lounge. Bring a quarter with you to lunch on Friday and you could get your choice of a vanilla or chocolate and vanilla swirl soft serve in a cake cone to eat on your way back to class. It was rapturous and absolutely wouldn't fall within the nutrition guidelines for schools today. 

Flipping Through the Yellow Pages When You Were Bored

All kids get bored at some point, but one thing that called to us in the 2000s was flipping through the Yellow Pages. Whether it was stumbling across weird ads in the front or hunting down your teacher’s address, the Yellow Pages was a treasure trove that could temporarily subdue any kids’ boredom.

Making Snakes Out of the Chained Pens at the Bank

I have a question for Big Banking…why did you get rid of the chained pens at the counters? They were a highlight of my childhood experiences at the bank! My twin brother and I would try to twist the silliest snakes and whip them into double Dutch ropes while my mom was handling the serious stuff.

It still makes me laugh to this day that my childhood self felt that chained pens in a bank made complete sense because banks prided themselves on security, and nothing’s more secure than a pen on a chain.

Changing Your Microsoft Office Assistant

The harbinger of Microsoft’s downfall to me was when they got rid of Microsoft Office Assistant, aka our beloved Clippy. The anthropomorphic paperclip helped teach me and my friends how to navigate Microsoft Word when the most computer-literate people in our houses were 14-year-old teens.

I still remember the thrill of working on the classroom desktop in fifth grade (the first year we had one) and getting to change Clippy’s character. Personally, I liked the wizard the most. 

Watching Pipes 3D and Other Screensavers on Windows 2000

While we’re on early tech talk, I have to mention the many screensavers that came with Windows 98 & Windows 2000. I remember my friends and I being mesmerized by the different options. Pipes 3D sticks out in my mind so clearly, but a maze sits at the edges of my memories somewhere, too.

What can I say? Computers used to be fun — they weren’t all about function and minimalist design. They were dusty and loud and we played with them.

Playing Flash Games After School

I really mourned when Adobe stopped updating Flash and most of my childhood games became defunct. My brother and I spent what felt like hours on the days my mom was subbing in our school computer lab honing our keyboard skills on online games like Disney Channels’ 625 Sandwich Stacker and the Kim Possible dress-up game and the couch-bouncing Cat in the Hat on Yahooligans.

And now most of them are gone.

It just proves that nothing really lasts forever, even things on the internet.

It’s Fun to Look Back When You Can’t Go Back

Don’t get me wrong. I might wax poetic about certain parts of growing up in the 2000s, but I don’t want to be a kid again. I don’t long for the uncertainty of adolescence and the ups and downs that come with puberty. But I do miss some things, and I wish little me had held on tight to her memories of them. And while we can’t go back, it’s so much fun to look back!