50 Lifestyle Changes Over the Past Decade

[methodwriter85]

Here was this interesting retrospective I found about this decade that had no name. (And don't tell me anybody called it the 'aughts. I tried calling it the 'aughts several times and got brutally rebuffed.) Instead of going for the big stuff, it talks about the ways our lives have changed since that clock struck midnight on January 1, 2000. It's a fun little read.

 

50 Life Changers Over the Past Decade

 

Mark, I thought this would be especially pertinent for you, as you plan on moving the Cramptons, Schluters, and Hayes into the 2000's for the Chronicles of an Academic Predator series. Good primer on what those CAP people will be encountering as they enter a decade that we're getting ready to leave.

 

On a personal level, I remember getting my first cell phone in 2000- it was a 1998 Nokia hand-me-down from my sisters. It was a red brick cell phone, crude, and pretty much only capable of making phones calls, having a contact menu, and a few games. It's amazing just how ubiquitous the cell phone became over this past decade- I remember that the camera cell phones became "hot" during my junior year of high in 2003-2004. I remember the first time I saw a fully-functional, internet-capable Blackberry in 2005, and how novel it seemed. And of course, 2007 when the IPhones came out and they were the coolest gadget to have. Then there were the IPods- I'd heard of them in 2002-ish, but it wasn't until 2004 that they really became used widely at my high school, and CD players just got wiped out. I've held out against them, because I like using cd's...there's something about the physical act of holding a cd and placing it in the player that you can really "feel" as opposed to just an MP3 file. One piece of technology that was short-lived was the PDA- remember those? I knew a girl who had one in '02, but it seems like with the advent of Blackberry, PDA's were quickly rendered obsolete.

 

As for the 'net, my family started off in 1999 using an 56k dial up connection through AOL. It's amazing how AOL has pretty much fizzled out this decade as Comcast and Verizon have become the dominant internet providers. And the net itself- wow. I remember when it was something that just for geeky people- but that all changed with Livejournal and later Myspace and Facebook. I remember when you had to know HTML code to have a webpage for yourself- now all you need is to just join up with Facebook and you have your own webpage. I remember there used to be a plethora of little personal websites all over Geocities, most of which don't exist anymore. Not to mention a lot of bigger websites that crashed with the dot-com bubble burst in 2000-2001. There is one website that has remained resillient- Mightybigtv, which was around circa 1999/2000, changed its name to Television Without Pity in 2003, linked up with Bravo Channel, and is now bigger than it ever was. It's crazy to think I've been a member of that site through all of its changes. And then there's Youtube- yeah, a lot of the changes suck, but...it's still a pretty great site for people to communicate through their videos. I can't imagine my college experience without Youtube or Facebook.

 

I remember when I was 14, and cell phones were just starting to become common with middle-school kids. Just a couple years later, cell phones were common with elementary school kids- one of my nieces got her first cell phone around the age of 9! An interesting example of the generation gap occured when I was interviewing for a busboy job in 2003. The owner, who was maybe about two or so years older than Adam, thought it was incredible that high school kids had cell phones now. Probably because when he himself was in high school, which I guestimated to have been somewhere in the mid-90's, high school kids were more likely to have pagers instead of cell phones, and cell phones were more of a thing for college kids. It's amazing how technology like that is now being used by very little kids- my other niece is only 3 years old, and she's already figured out how to put in a DVD into the player, and is whining about wanting her own cell phone.

 

It's incredible how fast this world is changing. What sort of changes in your own personal lives have accompanied this decade?

 

 

[TetRefine]

WIKIPEDIA: A boon to lazy students everywhere, the open-source encyclopedia used the masses to police its entries and keep them (mostly) (sometimes) accurate.

 

I love Wikipedia! Its so easy, and as they said (mostly) accurate.

[Y_B]

 

It's incredible how fast this world is changing. What sort of changes in your own personal lives have accompanied this decade?

 

 

A lot.

 

But I'm much more excited about what the next decade has to bring.

I gotz me things to see and people to do...err, I mean things to do and people to see.

[glomph]

According to Time magazine, it is "The Decade from Hell."

 

I've also heard it called "the Naughties."

[Kev de Cauchery]

Then there were the IPods- I'd heard of them in 2002-ish, but it wasn't until 2004 that they really became used widely at my high school, and CD players just got wiped out. I've held out against them, because I like using cd's...there's something about the physical act of holding a cd and placing it in the player that you can really "feel" as opposed to just an MP3 file.

 

I got my frist, only and currnt iPod this year, but I'm still dedicted to using CD's. Even if I have the MP3 files, I'd still go and buy the CD's.

 

Remember MD player? I got a birthday present from my ex-girlfriend (Yes, I'm gay. And I'm sorry.), which was a MD and recorded all my friends' birthday wishes to me. My MD broke down and I'd never had the chance to listen to it again.

And yes, I'm all for MD's rejuvenation.

 

As for cell phone, I'm still using my third cell phone. Used one through junior high and one through high school. Very economical.

 

As for other aspects, I really didn't realize they happened this decade. I jsut took them for granted that they exist.

 

Edit added:

BTW, I hate Crocs. 'Michelle Obama, get some style! And maybe Thakoon's wonderful dresses prolly wouldn't help!'

Edited January 1, 2010 by KevinCaucher

[Toast]

Cell phone. Didn't have one until my brother forced the issue by giving me one for my birthday, including the service. I still don't understand half of what it does. But I carry it everywhere.

 

I have a lot of CD's. Don't go there. Not getting rid of them.

 

Internet. I bought my first lap top a year ago. Still trying to learn. GA is the first website I have ever joined. But happy to be here.

 

Tech has really changed. But have people really changed.