I can see that most people still have that year in mind as fresh and nowhere near as dated or old.

It definately feels over ten years ago. Thinking of it being 16 makes me realize time really flew. It's not old enough to be retro and not new enough to be like the 10's.

For me I would say 1999 kind of feels just like yesterday and a long time ago at the same time. That year up until this day remains very lucid in my memory with so many memorable stuff happening for me that year. I was 8 years old that year and was big on listening to hip hop. I was also into NBA and cartoon network throughout that year. I would say that I remember that year like it was just yesterday but it feels like a long time ago in some cases mainly due to my perception of time reasons.

To me it does.

Back then I was in my first couple years of college, and plenty of things have occurred in my life since then, yet I remember it as if it's just a short time ago.

I started preschool that year!! :o  It definitely doesn't feel like yesterday for me!! I got my n64 that year!! 8)  I got into PBS kids,Nick Jr. Kids WB, Nickelodeon, and Zoog Disney also! I remember watching Disney and Warner brothers cartoons and movies!! Watching football and baseball with my grandparents! Watching NBA with my parents! Being tucked in and read a bed time story EVERY night! Got into wrestling while watching smackdown on UPN!! I even recall toy story 2 and Tarzan coming out and getting the black buzz lightyear and bullseye toys!! :)  So, I owe ALOT to this year!

I don't look at it like old like I would a picture from the 1950s or something, but it definitely feels 'a while ago' to me.

In 1999, reality television had not exploded yet.
Britney Spears was still very popular, I mean like Madonna during her Like A Virgin years.
Were people using wireless yet? I mean the majority of people?
Teen pop was hugely popular, the teen pop like One Direction now is nowhere near as popular.
Social Media wasn't huge yet.
Blockbuster video stores were waay more prominent.
Most teenagers did not have cell phones. I remember though, that by 2001 that teens started having cell phones more!
Album sales in the US of A were huge that year, possibly at its peak. An album could open with only 130,000 copies in the first week, and end up selling 10 million copies domestically.

It definately feels over ten years ago. Thinking of it being 16 makes me realize time really flew. It's not old enough to be retro and not new enough to be like the 10's.


I would say to give it another few more years.

Definitely feels like yesterday, yet I was 2 that year lol. For some reason I can remember my early childhood better than some later years. It just stuck in my mind as being more interesting.

I don't look at it like old like I would a picture from the 1950s or something, but it definitely feels 'a while ago' to me.

Were people using wireless yet? I mean the majority of people?
Wireless wan't even popular till '09. People were on cable internet, dial-up, or stealing internet(like me ;D).


Social Media wasn't huge yet.
Blockbuster video stores were waay more prominent.

I could've sworn AIM and co. were pretty popular. And Blockbuster/Rogers video was prominent for years before they closed.

People were using MySpace at the time.

Not in 1999 they weren't. It was probably more about AOL Instant Messenger.

To me it's very dated but still quite fresh in my memory.

Not in 1999 they weren't. It was probably more about AOL Instant Messenger.


Oh yeah I remember AOL Instant Messenger and the icon.
http://image.wareseeker.com/software/Communications/Chat-Instant-Messaging/scr_aol-instant-messenger-aim-2.1.jpg

People were using MySpace at the time.


MySpace wasn't even around until 2003, and its max popularity was in the mid-late 2000's.

Yeah social networking was pretty non-existent then. A lot of people had personal websites hosted through places like Tripod, Angelfire, or Lycos.

Yeah social networking was pretty non-existent then. A lot of people had personal websites hosted through places like Tripod, Angelfire, or Lycos.


Along with Geocities which I remember being very popular when I first was a regular online that year. Unfortunately, as time passes, slowly but surely I can see the signs of 1999 being less contemporary more and more. Also, HDTV was in its infancy, VHS was still more popular than DVD, digital cameras were new at the time and many still used regular film for photos (like I did), outside of Dreamcast later in the year (itself shows its age a bit now), video games were still self-contained and didn't rely on being online, there wasn't a social concern over being green/environmentally friendly, the "wealth gap" wasn't much of a concern, family values were much more nuclear (i.e. heterosexual/children after marriage), digital billboards were only found in Times Square/Vegas/parts of Tokyo and incandescent lighting was the rule, Wikipedia wasn't around and most people used the library/independent web sites/CD-Rom encyclopedias/paper for information, and there were only three toll-free area codes in 1999 in North America (800, 888, 877) compared to six today. It truly is showing more and more traces of that "simpler time" stigma that people always get as they get older and start pursuing into more of a settled down nature. While for awhile in the 2000s I saw 1995 as the "gateway year" in terms of what made us how we are, 1999 is a much better marking point for the genesis of early 21st century culture. Columbine helped shaped domestic violence and Y2K brought a case of technological paranoia that still haunts many to this day. Pharmaceutical ads started to become common during commercial breaks around that time (Allegra, Viagara, Lipitor, etc.) It also represents the generational shift of youth culture from X to Millenial.

However, it is getting tougher to picture 1999 when you look at the cars on the road. In 1999, in addition to cars throughout the '90s on the road, it was still common to see late '80s cars and even a few from earlier in that decade. Nowadays, most cars on the road are from 2002+, with a few 1996-2001, with cars from the first half of the '90s and back tough to find. Tube  TVs and computer monitors that were made that year are also functionally obsolete in 99% of all aspects. And of course, with the obvious passage of time, people themselves will look more and more different. 1999's babies are now teenagers, 1999's older teenagers will be pushing middle age soon, 1999's young Gen X adults are now middle-aged. The "1999 world" began to develop around 1995 and lasted until around 2006-07 when social media/HDTV exploded and social consciousness values much like today (LGBT, Global Warming) were pretty well established.

Yeah social networking was pretty non-existent then. A lot of people had personal websites hosted through places like Tripod, Angelfire, or Lycos.


I remember Tripod and Angelfire.

I was only 5 years old then, so no, it does not feel like yesterday. However, a lot of music that came out that year has a very classic sound to it, often times I find it hard to believe a song from thsthatt time is thst old now. I also remember how it felt like the edge of tomorrow, and everyone was trying to make things look futuristic, and to think almost nothing from that time is still relevant in 2015.

1999 was really the first year I cared an awful lot about pop culture, music, and trends.  I was aware of it during the core '90s but I wasn't as conscious of it as I was in 1999 and after if that makes any sense.

Here is a buzzfeed slide that shows some things that were commonplace in 1999 but are rare today.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariellecalderon/things-that-were-totally-normal-in-1999#.dprw0z8M0m

1999 was almost 20 years ago! That year is almost retro in my eyes.

Well guys; all the answers will vary by how old you are!!

1999 was almost 20 years ago! That year is almost retro in my eyes.


It won't be 20 years for another 4 more years.