'Things Millennials grew up with that would send Gen Z into a coma': Tiktoker reminds everyone why the pre-Internet world was outrageous

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Apr 22, 2023 8:00 PM EDT

Each generation has their own little quirks and idiosyncrasies that make them all unique and special in some way. For some generations, they were incredibly lucky and others are typically blasé. Some are forgotten and others are just insane. However, one thing is for certain… Every generation hates the millennials for one reason or another (the millennials even hate themselves, so it's all in good fun). Somehow, Gen Y slipped through the cracks and lived through one of the biggest, most jarring changes in our world since the invention of the wheel. 

Generations before still struggle with understanding the Internet and the generations after can't imagine a world without it. But the millennials are the weirdos that bridge the gap. 

One woman on TikTok, a millennial podcaster, recently released a series of "nostalgic" videos that are meant to remind Gen Z that a pre-tech world existed before they were ever born. But the video series mostly just reminds viewers why being a millennial was like being the awkward middle child of the global family. She starts by making a list of things she believes would send Gen Z-ers "into a coma" if they realized how hard and weird it was for the millennials before them to live without Internet. There are plenty of things millennials grew up with that might be mildly surprised by, but let's be honest, we're talking about the reactions of the most unbothered generation reacting to dial up... Needless to say, the audience was not in a coma, but we're still pretty amused by the nostalgic nature of each video.  

Then again, not all of us knew that when you texted ChaCha, a real person was on the other end texting you back. So hopefully nobody ever sent any incriminating or weird texts. 

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  • 01
    Forehead - Things millennials grew up with that would send Gen Z into a coma Not having GPS on their phones. So that meant when we needed directions to go somewhere, we actually had to get to a computer, go to Mapquest.com, print out the directions, and then hope our friend was able to dictate those directions to us in a safe way on our way to wherever we were going.
    via itsmejadeb
  • 02
    Forehead - Next is flip phones. Our phones literally bent in half, and then when we hung up, we went we just snapped the phone in half.
    via itsmejadeb
  • 03
    Face - But that also meant that our parents never knew where the hell we were. Also, our phones didn't have cameras and regardless, there was nowhere to post them until MySpace came out.
    via itsmejadeb
  • 04
    Forehead - Things millennials grew up with that would send Gen z into a coma: MYSPACE Reply to itsabbeyok's comment keep goingggggg Reply to itsabbeyok's comment keep goingggggg We ranked our friends publicly in order, a favorite to least favorite one through eight, and we had no apologies for it.
    via itsmejadeb
  • 05
    Face - Reply to itsabbeyok's comment keep goingg9999 And if you weren't acting right that week, you were off the list very publicly, execution style, in the middle of the whole Internet. Reply to itsabbeyok's comment keep goingggggg This was all so new to us at this point, too, and we didn't quite understand yet that the Internet was forever.
    via itsmejadeb
  • 06
    Forehead - I don't even know how to explain T9 to Gen Z. But basically our phones only had twelve buttons, so you do the math... We were very limited
    via itsmejadeb
  • 07
    Nose - TEXTING CHA CHA Reply to susanbriana's comment And texting cha cha Reply to susanbrian's comment And texting cha cha You're going to have to imagine a time where the Internet was not on your phones.
    via itsmejadeb
  • 08
    Forehead - Also, our text messages cost ten cents a text. So we couldn't really get into text wars with anyone.
    via itsmejadeb
  • 09
    Hair - Reply to susanna's comment And texting cha cha But then ChaCha came out and you could text this number 242242, and you could ask them literally anything. Reply to susanbriana's comment And texting cha cha It was actually people on the other end who would text you back with the answer
    via itsmejadeb
  • 10
    Forehead - We either had to call or we had to keep it up here until we got to our computer that night and hashed it all out on aim.
    via itsmejadeb
  • 11
    Forehead - BURNING CDS Reply to que bethegee's comment Please do one about burning CDs & Limewire cause streaming wasn't a thing Reply to que bethagea's comment Please do one about burning CDs & Limewire cause streaming wasn't a thing Burnt CDs were the love letters of our time. Before we were able to burn CDs, we could only go to the store and buy the full album
    via itsmejadeb
  • 12
    Forehead - Reply to quebethegee's comment Please do one about burning CDs & Limewire cause streaming wasn't a thing We would customize the CD with all of our favorite songs so we could have one with all the best hits. Reply to quebe the gee's comment Please do one about burning CDs & Limewire cause streaming wasn't a thing Then we started getting creative and we would do theme. You could do a full breakup theme.
    via itsmejadeb

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millennial memes coma millennials nostalgia analogue nostalgic 90s kids gen z tiktok
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