“Millennials, What Is Something That Was ‘Normal’ In The 2000s But Feels Like A Luxury Now?” (75 Answers)

Free samples. And free gifts in magazines.

Knowing somebody's phone number by heart.

Fast food. Seriously overpriced now.

Food and rent being affordable. My first 2 bedroom was $750 and it felt like a lot. Packs of Mr. Noodles went on sale for 15 cents. I remember the first time I saw a $1.99 can of tuna in 2008. Housing. Definitely housing. My best friend's parents bought a 5 bedroom house for $120K in 2001. It's now up to $750K.

Culturally it was normal to just show up at your friend's house without calling. It was normal to call your friends without texting to see if they were around first. Now if someone calls without warning it's like, "Who's [deceased]?!"

Single income families.

Man you used to buy a two year old car with 60-80k on the clock for like, 4 grand.

Sports. I hate needing 10 different streaming services for a season of hockey, NFL and college football.

I’m not a millennial but spending every day of summer outside until it got cold/playing games like soccer or basketball with a big group of people that randomly got together because of close proximity only to become good friends.

Being able to buy a run down house in a bad area for £45k. Long gone!

Affordable third places to hang out.

reddunyun:

See also: affordable first spaces.

House parties - who owns a house that wants a house party like the ones we had back then!

Going to a concert or show and not staring at a sea of phones and tablets. You can still have that experience in some countries, but definitely not in the US.

Ticketmaster, in your omnipotent greed. I will pay 5x (!!!) the ticket price for a venue where phone/tablets are strictly banned from being in view and the rule is harshly enforced. I rather pay 1000-2000 bucks to see a concert properly, than 200 bucks to stare at screens the whole time.

Living in the moment... Not capturing it for social media clout.

Going to the bar. Drinks used to be so cheap and now it feels like you’re throwing a $20 everytime you order one.

Cell phones ruined parties for kids. There is little to no evidence of what we got up to in the 90s. If you brought a camera you only took a few pictures and nothing was posted online. Film was expensive to get developed.

Having children?

Niche websites run by passionate hobbyists of a given subject, and having a collection of bookmarks for a given subject, trading said links with peers like baseball cards.

Haircuts. My folks took me every 6-8 weeks until I was in my teens. I can only afford to get my kids one or two cuts a year total. I haven't paid to have my hair cut in 8 years, despite desperately wanting to, because I can't justify the expense.

Magazines were everywhere. There used to be stacks on every table in every waiting room and racks on the walls with them, huge racks with tons of choices prominently in every drug and grocery store. And they were way cheaper than they are now. A magazine was like 3 to 5 dollars. Maybe ten max for a special double issue.

Having an offline device to play music.

I tried to find a decent mp3 player recently, to get away from music streaming a bit, and there are so few decent options out there nowadays. If you want a good one, it’s £££s. Yet when I was a teen, getting one was so easy, even if you didn’t want to pay for an iPod.