I feel like in some ways they were.
I turned 10 at the beginning of the 2000s, and 19 at their end.
At the beginning of the 2000s, we were still in the VHS/analog era. Digital formats like DVD and the like were on the rise, but they hadn't yet overtaken these older formats, at least in my experience.

Rap was not dominant at the start of the 2000s. I remember radio being a mix of Boy Bands, Britney Spears and the like as well as Pop Punk, some Post Grunge, and some rap. Rap was significant and popular, but the scene did not have one major personality which dominated it truly, not yet. Nu Metal had a large following around 2000-2002 still, Limp Bizkit was absolutely massive in the summer of 2001. There was still a mainstream goth scene and artists like Marilyn Manson and other Industrial acts still had a following, but this was more among teenagers older than I - the 15/16/17 year olds of 2001.

Rap didn't fully start to take over as I remember it until around 2002-2004 - Eminem's The Eminem Show was massive in 2002, followed by 50 Cent and other releases in the next 2 years. The last BIG rock bands I remember still having massive mainstream popularity after 2002 were Evanescence, Linkin Park (which was HUGE among a lot of my peers), MCR, Velvet Revolver and of course Green Day, who came roaring back to relevance among my age group with American Idiot.

I would say by around 2007/2008 however rock was clearly losing steam and rap was clearly the dominant genre socially. Britney by 2008 was a punchline, and N'Sync and the like seemed like relics of a bygone, far off era. Eminem was in a bit of a funk, but other rap artists were going very, very strong.

Music was still listened to on CD players commonly until I would say 2003 or 2004.  I remember my sister - who was hip to the newest technology and music - making a mix CD of the most popular singles in the late summer of 2001.

By 2003, 2004 like that the first IPods were around and commonplace by 2005.

The Emo scene came along hard and fast and had its apex between I'd say 2003-2007. The fringe haircut, women wearing trip pants, and the like. Hot Topic was HUGE in this era.

Very few people used laptops as their main source of computing; the desktop PC was still common for your average middle class family. My home had two: One for my parents, one for myself; My sister had two - one for her and her husband, one for her kids. My other sister had an IBM laptop from the late 1990s, but she and her husband still used their desktop for most things. By the end of the 2000s, maybe starting around 2006 or 2007, laptops started to become and more common. I got my first laptop I believe in 2007 or 2008.

Cell phones were still not in wide usage at the start of the decade. My parents had primitive cell phones in the early 2000s but barely used them - they were glorified beepers. We didn't begin using our cell phones actively until June of 2004, when we signed up with T-Mobile. I believe I got my first prepaid phone then, followed by my first actual phone in 2005.

Popping the collar was big among guys in 2002-2004 from what I recall.

The general "vibe" of the times shifted quite a bit.

2000-2001 as I remember seemed to be just sort of a continuation of the late 1990s in atmosphere and in a lot of other ways. 9/11 of course changed everything.

The end of 2001 into 2003 were very dark, bleak and uncertain years. The Anthrax scare. Everyone I knew, even adults, seemed terrified they'd received a tainted letter. This only lasted months but seemed like forever at the time. Us younger people sought refuge in the fantasy worlds of Rowling and Tolkien that filled our screens - the box office successes of both franchises - when not even a decade before fantasy films were box office risks - attests to this.

2003-2006 I remember as being very contentious years, very political because of the invasion of Iraq, the ongoing War on Terror which seemed endless, the political atmosphere was tense - not as tense as nowadays, but tense. If you disagreed with the President you were suspect. I remember my circle around this time began engaging in drinking, smoking and drugs. I passed for older, so around this time I'd buy beer for my friends of the same age. We were all afraid there'd be another war in another country and we'd get drafted.

2007 was the recession era, and around the time of the domination of Netflix really began to be felt (had been ongoing since 2005-2006 arguably). Music was still rap dominated but starting very slowly to head toward EDM which would also dominate the 2010s.

By this time, 2006-2008, broadband internet was beginning to take the place of dial up and other such services, and using the internet for longer periods of time became more and more common. Meetspot and Myspace dominated the middle of the decade from 2003-2007, and then Facebook began its ascendancy toward the end of the decade.

In some ways I'd mark 2007 as the unofficial start of the 2010s as I remember it overall.

I'll think of more but the way I see it in short is that we started the 2000s in a "sunny" half analog world that was basically just sort of a continuation of the late 1990s. The middle 00s were in the USA dominated by the War in Iraq and this shift from that half analog world into fully embracing the digital realm, but it was a transition.

By 2009, much of the world as we know it now, socially, technologically, and otherwise was in place - of course, there'd still be a LOT more to come and build upon it. The Obama era began, and with it we quickly came to the world of Facebook, Twitter, steadily increasingly racial tension, streaming and smart phones. But that's another tale for another day.

Indeed. If you put someone from 2000 in a time machine and then placed them in 2009, they would have a heart attack by all of the advancements that occurred in a mere 9 years. I don't think you can say the same for any other decade (besides the '90 and '60s).

Netflix dominated in the 00s????

Netflix dominated in the 00s????

I think it became popular during The 00's.

I think it became popular during The 00's.


Really? First time I heard of it was like 2013.

Party, like it's 1999?

Indeed. If you put someone from 2000 in a time machine and then placed them in 2009, they would have a heart attack by all of the advancements that occurred in a mere 9 years. I don't think you can say the same for any other decade (besides the '90 and '60s).


As someone who remembers both worlds well, 2000 and 2009 seemed like 20 years apart rather than 9. In May 2000 we were still in the Clinton era. US economy is roaring. The Monica Lewinsky scandal had only finished a year and a half ago. The Twin Towers were still standing and the idea of an ongoing "War on Terror" would've been laughable. You had your CD player and your VHS tapes and maybe if your family was more upscale, you had a DVD player. But even then you were still buying VHS tapes.

Flashforward to May 2009 and the economy seems to be in the worst shape since the 1930s, we've had almost a good half decade of political division which is only getting worse and ongoing Middle Eastern wars, you have an IPod and a Netflix description and DVDs are huge, while HD DVD and Blu Ray are supposedly the next generation. VHS tapes are old fashioned technology, and smart phones are right around the corner.