The internet has come a long way, and the way we use it has definitely changed.
Millennials grew up in a digital world that was completely different from what Gen Z and Gen Alpha know today. From dial-up struggles to the golden age of Facebook pokes (not to mention needing an official uni email address just to get an account!), some of the things millennials used to do online would leave today’s teens genuinely confused.
1. Waiting for the internet to connect
Today’s teens have never had to hear the shriek of a dial-up modem just to check their messages. Back in the early 2000s, getting online meant disconnecting your landline and hoping no one picked up the phone mid-connection. Having Wi-Fi everywhere is normal now, but millennials had to plan their internet time. Watching a YouTube video? That took minutes to buffer. Downloading a song? You might have to wait an hour. The idea of instant access to everything would have been a dream.
2. Customising MySpace profiles with HTML
Before social media was sleek and standardised, MySpace let you fully customise your page, as long as you knew some basic HTML. Millennials spent hours tweaking fonts, embedding music, and making sure their Top 8 friends list didn’t cause drama. Today’s social media is all about scrolling and liking. The idea of having to code just to get a cool background or moving text would probably make today’s teens log out immediately.
3. Using MSN Messenger with deep status messages
Before instant messaging was available on every app, MSN Messenger ruled online communication. You had to log in manually (hoping your crush would notice), pick the perfect song lyric as your status, and use an over-the-top emoticon name. Teens today don’t know the struggle of signing in and out just to get someone’s attention or the heartbreak of seeing your friend suddenly appear “offline” (but were they actually just invisible?). WhatsApp and Snapchat are convenient, but they’ll never match the drama of MSN.
4. Downloading music from dodgy sources
Spotify and Apple Music have made listening to music effortless, but millennials had to work for their playlists. Finding songs meant navigating the risky world of Limewire, Napster, or FrostWire, where one wrong download could give your family PC a virus or a random remix instead of the song you actually wanted. There was also the pain of waiting hours for a single track to download, only to find out it had a DJ shouting over it. Teens today will never understand the art of carefully labelling MP3 files and burning CDs.
5. Adding people on Facebook based on a single conversation
In the early days of Facebook, you didn’t need to actually know someone to send them a friend request. Millennials added people they met once at a party, a random classmate they barely spoke to, or even mutual friends of friends. Now, social media is far more curated. Younger generations are more selective, often keeping their online circles smaller. The idea of adding someone just because you saw them at a gathering once? Pretty weird to them.
6. Texting full sentences without emojis or GIFs
Before smartphones, texting was limited by character counts and actual physical effort. There were no emojis, no stickers, and no GIFs to express feelings — just words, abbreviations, and maybe a well-placed 🙂 or :(. Teens today use emojis, memes, and voice notes to communicate quickly. Reading long, carefully typed-out messages with perfect punctuation would probably feel formal to them.
7. Using chain emails and chain texts
Millennials lived in fear of chain emails that warned, “If you don’t forward this to 10 people, something terrible will happen!” These messages spread like wildfire, and people actually believed them. Now, nobody’s falling for “bad luck” threats, but back then, you didn’t want to be the one who ignored a creepy chain letter and risked being “haunted.” Today’s teens would probably laugh at the idea of panicking over a badly written email.
8. Watching YouTube before it had ads
Yes, there was once a time when YouTube didn’t bombard you with two ads before every video. Millennials got to experience endless uninterrupted content—from viral videos to early YouTube stars—without having to pay for ad-free subscriptions. Nowadays, skipping through multiple ads is just part of the YouTube experience. The idea that videos used to play immediately would probably sound too good to be true.
9. Playing Facebook games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars
Before TikTok and Instagram took over, Facebook was the place to be. And for a while, that meant farming virtual crops, sending requests for help, and getting constant notifications about who needed more cows in FarmVille. These games were everywhere, and people took them seriously. Today’s teens might find it bizarre that people spent hours clicking around on a fake farm, but at the time, it was addictive.
10. Manually switching between songs on an iPod
Streaming has made music effortless, but millennials remember scrolling endlessly through an iPod Classic, picking songs one by one and carefully crafting the perfect playlist. Teens today have instant access to millions of songs and AI-generated playlists that know their taste better than they do. The idea of manually managing a music library would probably feel like unnecessary work.
11. Making actual phone calls
Believe it or not, millennials used to talk on the phone a lot. Calling your friends after school, waiting by the landline for a crush to call, or spending hours chatting on the phone was completely normal. Today’s teens avoid phone calls like the plague, preferring to send voice notes or text. The idea of sitting on the phone for hours just to chat? Not happening.
12. Signing up for sketchy fan forums
Before social media connected fans with their favourite celebrities, millennials had to rely on random, often questionable online forums to find others who shared their interests. From band fan pages to TV show discussion boards, these forums were the place to obsess over your favourite things. Now, fandoms exist in every corner of social media, making old-school forums feel completely outdated.
13. Waiting for someone to “log on” to talk to them
Before 24/7 messaging apps, you had to wait for someone to be online at the same time as you to chat. Whether it was MSN Messenger or AIM, seeing that little green dot meant it was go time for conversations. These days, messaging is constant. The idea of waiting hours just for someone to come online seems ridiculous to teens, but back then, it was completely normal.
14. Editing digital photos on Picnik or MySpace generators
Before Instagram filters and Photoshop apps, millennials relied on websites like Picnik to edit their photos. Adding over-the-top text, soft glows, and cringey effects was the way to make a picture stand out. Now, social media aesthetics are much sleeker, and nobody is adding neon heart frames to their selfies. Today’s teens would probably find old-school edits painfully outdated.
