If you haven't noticed already, 1984 is the same distance from 2002 as 2020. A lot has changed since then. Would you say 2002 is more culturally similar to 1984 or 2020?

I think 2002 is closer to 2020 and it's not even close. Unlike 2002, 1984 didn't have the Internet, and not to mention the fashion in 1984 was drastically different compared to 2002. IMO there were way more bigger changes between 1984-2002 than 2002-2020.

If you haven't noticed already, 1984 is the same distance from 2002 as 2020. A lot has changed since then. Would you say 2002 is more culturally similar to 1984 or 2020?

I think 2002 is closer to 2020 and it's not even close. Unlike 2002, 1984 didn't have the Internet, and not to mention the fashion in 1984 was drastically different compared to 2002. IMO there were way more bigger changes between 1984-2002 than 2002-2020.


2020. The internet and cell phones were around in 2002 just as they are around now. Pop culture and music of 2002 sound more closer to today than they did in 1984.

I would say 1984. 2002 has Internet, but the world where you were on the Internet 1 or 2 hours a month at most feels closer to pre-Internet times to me than the 24/7 Internet world we live in today. 2002 cellphones are nothing like 2020 cellphones, they don't even serve the same function. Imagine using your phone for calls in 2020, yikes.

2002 still the year you caught music videos on TV, listened to rock songs on the radio, home videos caught on tape, went to the mall to hang out with your friends, your friends not staring at their phone while you're talking to them, friends coming over to your house to play video games, went to the video store with your friends to rent a movie for Thursday movie night. I miss that world so much. It's never coming back.  :\'(

I would say 1984. 2002 has Internet, but the world where you were on the Internet 1 or 2 hours a month at most feels closer to pre-Internet times to me than the 24/7 Internet world we live in today. 2002 cellphones are nothing like 2020 cellphones, they don't even serve the same function. Imagine using your phone for calls in 2020, yikes.

2002 still the year you caught music videos on TV, listened to rock songs on the radio, home videos caught on tape, went to the mall to hang out with your friends, your friends not staring at their phone while you're talking to them, friends coming over to your house to play video games, went to the video store with your friends to rent a movie for Thursday movie night. I miss that world so much. It's never coming back.  :\'(

Nice to see a dissenting opinion. I broadly agree.

Nice to see a dissenting opinion. I broadly agree.


I tried living without a smartphone for about a week in late 2019. It was a real eye opener to the world we had lost.

I think it was most noticeable to me when I went to café at my office. I tried to find anyone I could talk with, but anyone I tried to strike up a conversation with was visibly annoyed that I was distracting them. I looked all around me, everyone all around me was on their laptops, on their phones, had their headphones plugged in, comfortably ignoring each other's existence and living inside their own virtual bubble. There was nothing like that in 2002; no Wi-Fi, no smartphones, no MP3 players (except for the super rich). All we had for fun was each other, and it WAS a lot of fun. That world is never coming back.

Like... This was a café! Cafés were invented in Paris so people from the neighbourhood  could come together and talk and have a caffeine filled debate about Enlightenment-era philosophy. I think it still served that function in 2000. But when did that stop? It all happened so suddenly.

Wasn't expecting for you to use a huge time gap between the two years, but 2002 is totally more closer to 2020 than it is 1984. Technology wise especially, with the Internet and Video Games being more similar to what we had in 2002.

Why does the internet always have one of the main points of bringing a year closer to another? Does the internet make 1995 closer to 2020 than 1990, because the internet is around in the former two unlike the latter?

I agree with Slowpoke that the internet use and itself has drastically changed in 18 years, and the internet of 2002 more closely resembles the DOS computers of 1984 than the internet of nowadays.

I always thought of 2002 being similar to 1986 and 2018.

Why does the internet always have one of the main points of bringing a year closer to another? Does the internet make 1995 closer to 2020 than 1990, because the internet is around in the former two unlike the latter?

I agree with Slowpoke that the internet use and itself has drastically changed in 18 years, and the internet of 2002 more closely resembles the DOS computers of 1984 than the internet of nowadays.


I think 2020. To me 1984 isn’t even close. The point is that we had internet, and to me, today is a more glitzy version of what we had back then. We had online news, shopping, banking, dating, forums, song downloading, videos, chat... We still have this forum, some others I frequent that I was on back then, I was on EBay back then. Yes the pages looked more stripped down but the point is the function was the same. I spent the same amount of time online back as I do now. I think maybe 1995 internet looked like glorified DOS but by 2002 it came a long way.

In 1984 there was none of that. Unless you were with the government or perhaps if you were a rich kid with a computer who could send text over a modem, but I don’t know if that was just in the movies. All you had was physical interaction, dedicated devices, physical media. A flat panel TV or webcam was a pipe dream. Even the little brick or flip cell phones of 2002 enabled the average person to call from almost anywhere, which is more like today than the giant phones of 1984 that were really only available for the rich.

I think 2020. To me 1984 isn’t even close. The point is that we had internet, and to me, today is a more glitzy version of what we had back then. We had online news, shopping, banking, dating, forums, song downloading, videos, chat... We still have this forum, some others I frequent that I was on back then, I was on EBay back then. Yes the pages looked more stripped down but the point is the function was the same. I spent the same amount of time online back as I do now. I think maybe 1995 internet looked like glorified DOS but by 2002 it came a long way.

In 1984 there was none of that. Unless you were with the government or perhaps if you were a rich kid with a computer who could send text over a modem, but I don’t know if that was just in the movies. All you had was physical interaction, dedicated devices, physical media. A flat panel TV or webcam was a pipe dream. Even the little brick or flip cell phones of 2002 enabled the average person to call from almost anywhere, which is more like today than the giant phones of 1984 that were really only available for the rich.


True, but we've obviously have come an even longer way since 2002 in relation to the internet. 2002 was still firmly within the Web 1.0 era, when most internet providers still used 56k dial up and web pages were still static. There was no social media, besides obscure sites like Friendster and IM Chatrooms. However, it is the mere fact that AOL was still a major behemoth, which alone says it all.

In all honestly, I am bit surprised by the poll results, because I honestly think that the early 2000s, in general, are more akin to the world of the Mid-Late 1980s than they are to the Late 2010s/Early 2020s. Both sets of years have rather large gaps, that cannot be mistaken, but I would imagine that if one were to build a time machine (Delorean style 8)) and would to warp a kid from 2002 back in time to 1984, while there would be some adjustments, for sure, all in all the kid would generally be able to have a conceptual understanding of knowing how to live life in those times. Whereas, you cannot say the same for your average kid of today if they were to be transported back in time to 2002.


-A world in which, when the internet wasn't the necessity in our lives like it is today, not to mention how excruciatingly slow it was, be it that.

-A world in which, there were no smartphones, tablet computers, and various other advanced electronics, the closest perhaps being a Gameboy.

-A world in which, there were no streaming services, meaning a world when kids still had to wait for their certain programs to come onto TV, be it via Cable or even Saturday Morning Cartoons (as millions of Americans still didn't have cable and only relied on 'rabbit ears'), not to mention that 'brick & mortar' video rental stores like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video still reigned supreme ("Be Kind, Rewind", try subjectgating a modern kid with having to rewind a VHS tape...... they won't last ;D).

-While video game graphics in 2002 do have more in common with video game graphics of today, gaming culture as a whole was dramatically different and definitely more akin to 1984, emblematic of how there was still little to no online multiplayer for video game consoles, so the 'old school' way of going to friends houses to play local split screen video games was still the norm.

-Finally, you cannot forget to mention how much of the 'childhood experience' was still being set on being outdoors, which, in a weird way, is a major indictment on the current year in which playgrounds, at least where I live, have been closed off due to the pandemic, but even right before the pandemic hit, you'd notice that many playgrounds have been relatively empty for years, in comparison to merely even a decade ago.


When you start to put the comparison of these three years into those terms, you begin to realize how much things have really changed within the last 15-20 years.

Maybe it just varies by country but online shipping was virtually nonexistent here in 2002. It existed in a limited fashion on a limited number of websites but it was exceedingly uncommon for anyone to do their shopping online 18 years ago. Just as an example - in 2010, online sales in the UK represented 3% of all sales. By 2015, it had risen to 36%. Even at the start of the 2010s, online shopping wasn’t very common.

Online banking was unusual too -  my mum was using a bankbook to display transactions at the time. I even had my own bankbook for my kids account.

Couldn’t comment on online dating but I can’t imagine most people actually used any online dating service 18 years ago.

In 2002 if your mom didn’t want to pay for cable TV you were stuck with 6 local channels (TV was pretty much all analog with a crt screen. (There was a few shows in HD back then but they were few and far between and not many could afford it. And they weren’t even flatscreens, they were those giant heavy silver plastic sets with the screen on top with a gray space with speakers below the screen.) You didn’t even have digital subchannels (ex: 3.2 3.3 3.4)Yet. And especially during a weekend afternoon, all there was on was either Golf, Infomercials, Sewing With Nancy, Or some second rate movie from 1993. So if I didn’t like those choices all there was is a few VHS Tapes or DVDs I’ve already seen a million times. There was no YouTube, Netflix streaming service, D+, Pluto Tv, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, no nothing! Everything worth watching was on cable back then. You could forget about internet content back then because if you wanted to watch a video online it was a big pain in the butt, Most videos online back then took FOREVER to load and you had to wait for Windows Media Player, QuickTime, and especially RealPlayer to buffer just to watch a clip with compressed video and audio less than 2 minutes Long!  I cannot speak for 1984, but tech has largely improved since 2002.

Maybe it just varies by country but online shipping was virtually nonexistent here in 2002. It existed in a limited fashion on a limited number of websites but it was exceedingly uncommon for anyone to do their shopping online 18 years ago. Just as an example - in 2010, online sales in the UK represented 3% of all sales. By 2015, it had risen to 36%. Even at the start of the 2010s, online shopping wasn’t very common.

Online banking was unusual too -  my mum was using a bankbook to display transactions at the time. I even had my own bankbook for my kids account.

Couldn’t comment on online dating but I can’t imagine most people actually used any online dating service 18 years ago.


I did it all starting in the 90s. Dating, shopping, banking... With websites so primitive everything ran decent even on dialup. Most everything has become so bloated these days to accomplish the same thing.

The local channels thing is the same today as it was in 2002, unless you’re fortunate enough to have broadband internet with no data caps. A good percentage of people here still don’t have that and it’s become even more apparent with lockdown. In 2002 I got my extra channels from a 10 ft dish in my yard. I still do because I don’t have broadband available.

Maybe it just varies by country but online shipping was virtually nonexistent here in 2002. It existed in a limited fashion on a limited number of websites but it was exceedingly uncommon for anyone to do their shopping online 18 years ago. Just as an example - in 2010, online sales in the UK represented 3% of all sales. By 2015, it had risen to 36%. Even at the start of the 2010s, online shopping wasn’t very common.

Online banking was unusual too -  my mum was using a bankbook to display transactions at the time. I even had my own bankbook for my kids account.

Couldn’t comment on online dating but I can’t imagine most people actually used any online dating service 18 years ago.



Was online dating still popular in 2002?

Was online dating still popular in 2002?


Heck it was popular in 1997. I met a lot of people from online in the late 90s. In 2000 I met my kid’s mom but by 2003 I was on the market again.

I actually preferred it back then because dating sites had their individual character and were real. These days most of them seem to be owned by Match and the other ones are full of fake profiles, bots, and spammers.

Maybe it just varies by country but online shipping was virtually nonexistent here in 2002. It existed in a limited fashion on a limited number of websites but it was exceedingly uncommon for anyone to do their shopping online 18 years ago. Just as an example - in 2010, online sales in the UK represented 3% of all sales. By 2015, it had risen to 36%. Even at the start of the 2010s, online shopping wasn’t very common.

Online banking was unusual too -  my mum was using a bankbook to display transactions at the time. I even had my own bankbook for my kids account.

Couldn’t comment on online dating but I can’t imagine most people actually used any online dating service 18 years ago.


Ebay, Amazon and Department stores were all very popular by 1998-1999. My mom used to shop online a lot in 2000-2002. She bought my ps2 online in 2000. And toys r us was soaring in online sales in 1998. By 2002 online shopping was common maybe you weren’t aware of it but it was definitely common. From what I remember people used catalogs more tho which is something I don’t see people have mailed to their homes anymore. Online dating services were big in the late 90’s specifically 1996-1997 is when they started becoming more known. More like chatrooms at the time tho.

I did it all starting in the 90s. Dating, shopping, banking... With websites so primitive everything ran decent even on dialup. Most everything has become so bloated these days to accomplish the same thing.

The local channels thing is the same today as it was in 2002, unless you’re fortunate enough to have broadband internet with no data caps. A good percentage of people here still don’t have that and it’s become even more apparent with lockdown. In 2002 I got my extra channels from a 10 ft dish in my yard. I still do because I don’t have broadband available.


I was gonna say the same my mom was a frequent online shopper by 1998-1999. Amazon and Ebay being one of her favorites.

Decadeology. This thread is locked.

(Sorry folks. Not my rules.)


Cat