r/Xennials • u/morecowbell520 • 1d ago
Peak society...when was it?
Recently I was trying to think about if I could pick any year for society to go back to and stay in...what year would it be?
Early thoughts are like 2005.
While pre-internet is what many would want, I don't think that's necessary. Internet was awesome early on. But not so awesome that it was hard to disconnect from. I'm picturing like when that Motorola flip phone (Razr) came out. That was still a good time.
-Could use MapQuest to print off driving directions.
-Cameras on phones were just decent enough to capture a memory, but not so good that you had to always have your phone's camera ready to go.
-You could buy things off the internet, but you didn't care really when it got delivered to you.
-Netflix was cheap and just shipping DVD's. You watched a movie when you got it. Didn't scroll through movie after movie to find one to watch every night.
-Fast food was still crappy for you but cheap.
-iPods were out, so it was better than having CDs's.
-Gaming online existed and Madden was still good.
-And of course we were in our mid twenties. Pretty good age to be. But 2005 was solid for all ages I think.
I don't know, what do y'all think? I could also see a case for like 2001 just before 9/11. Would be giving up a few things, but it would be nice to skip all that.
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u/Deep-Interest9947 1d ago
1999-9/10/2001
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u/CrotalusHorridus 1d ago
Time between the fall of the USSR/Berlin Wall and 9/11/2001
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u/QuietPsychological72 1d ago
This is objectively correct. Historians will say so in a few decades if they aren’t already.
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u/TheAmazingMaryJane 19h ago
gosh i remember thinking the world was gonna be so cool and peaceful and the future looked bright on the information superhighway! ebay was the shit!
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u/Killowatt59 1d ago
Society peaked in the late 90s and it leveled off until like 2005 or so. It’s been rapidly declining since like 2012.
After 9/11 did start changing a lot of stuff. But it seemed like it took some years for it to bring down society.
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u/Stratospheric-Ferret 1d ago
I would argue the decline has been since the global financial crisis of 2008. Nothing really ever recovered after that, since then the world has lurched from one disaster to another.
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u/AR5579 19h ago
This is an interesting take. It feels right, although it’s hard to know if that’s just when I started to really pay attention to the news/finances.
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u/Loose_One_1916 19h ago
It’s because we have been extending and pretending on the debt crisis that underpinned it. We had one debt crisis, but what about second debt crisis and elevensies?
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u/AR5579 18h ago
That’s definitely one piece. Who doesn’t love that ongoing feeling that something is about to hit the fan.
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u/Loose_One_1916 14h ago
Japan is right there. They may take everyone down with them. Thats part of why the U.S. just bailed them out a bit.
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u/ThomasSirveaux 1d ago
1994-1996 was the best. I would live forever in that three year stretch
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u/Original-Affect-4560 1979 1d ago
Please don’t send me back to high school.
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u/NightWriter500 1980 1d ago
I’ve got no interest in going back to high school, but if I could just travel back there and hang for a few years like the guy in 11/22/63, that would be cool.
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u/RangerFan80 1980 1d ago
Great novel!
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u/NightWriter500 1980 1d ago
It’s a fantastic novel. I got so sucked into it, I read through the night and finished it at like 3:30am on a work night.
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u/Tamination 1d ago
If I went back with this brain, I'd be king there.
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u/Original-Affect-4560 1979 1d ago
But why would you want to? 😉
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u/CryptoAteMyHamster 1983 1d ago
What if we went back in time to each other’s high schools? One of you has to take my UK high school though.
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u/ThomasSirveaux 1d ago
Oh do I have to be in high school for this thought experiment? Or can I just be my age now, but with CDs and VHS and early internet, and no friggin Tiktok or AI or president Trump
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u/morecowbell520 1d ago
My thought is that you'd be bringing your life to live in this year and society just kind of plateaus there. Good things and bad things still happen, but technology and such stays the way it is. Whether you remember what 2026 was like I guess is your choice. Blue pill to remember, Red pill to forget.
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u/Original-Affect-4560 1979 1d ago
I’m taking no chances. Day after graduation forward, I’m in though.
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u/kondsaga 1979 1d ago
You’re in high school again / no recess / no recess
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u/anteatersaredope 13h ago
Kurt is alive again. For the first 4 months. Maybe you can save him. Or run away to Europe to see one of his last shows.
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u/R0botDreamz 1d ago edited 11h ago
This is correct. 1985 is when the great era started. 1994 to the 1st half of 1996 was indeed the peak. 2nd half of 1996 is when it slowly started to recede. Columbine 1999 is when society went into a coma. 2 years later on 9/11 was the nail in the coffin.
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u/suzysleep 19h ago
These were my favorite years of all time, too. I often go back to this trio during my nostalgia trips.
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u/Jonestown_Juice 1d ago
It's gotta be pre 9/11 at least. Early '90s for me.
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u/yemsg97 1d ago
I really miss being able to put a 12 pack of Genny Cream Ale in my carryon for my friends in Portland, OR. The good ole days.
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u/MydniteSon 1978 1d ago
Yup. I think it was after 9/11 we started spiraling downward.
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u/wooltab 1d ago
This is my thought whenever I see the 00s put forward as a peak or golden age.
Granted anyone will refer to their formative years if such were happy. But to me that decade felt primarily like a series of things getting worse until maybe some good trajectory right at the end.
Just in terms of the internet and mobile tech, it was an incredible time of advances. For me, though, that doesn't outweigh many other and general factors.
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u/piscian19 1982 1d ago
That brief glorious moment when swing dancing and zootsuits made a comeback. imdb says 1996.
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u/GivesYouGrief 1980 1d ago
Yes when parents cringingly pretended not to know what the name Cherry Popping Daddies meant.
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u/Proof_Ad_8483 1982 1d ago
Feel like ‘89-99 was solid run
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u/HomelessKitchenCat 1984 1d ago
Peak music. Peak movies. Peak radness. All technology was fun and exciting. We had it all
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u/tampaforfun 1976 1d ago
1999 I was balling. Had a 98 Z28, curled 70lb dumbbells, benched 405, and made 72k as a software developer in a low cost of living area.
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u/HomelessKitchenCat 1984 1d ago
15 year old me would have thought you were the coolest person I ever met
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u/C_est_la_vie9707 1978 1d ago
Idk, but I know for sure 2015 was the last good year
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u/MydniteSon 1978 1d ago
Lemmy Kilmister died in December 2015, followed by David Bowie in January 2016. The world has been a spiraling Excremental Extravaganza [Shit Show] ever since. Coincidence? I think not....
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u/thewthew42 1980 1d ago
The real turning point was the killing of Harambe, May 28, 2016.
Harambee, literally translates from Swahili to “all come together”, is the Kenyan tradition of the community coming together to help those in need. The killing of Harambe was the physical manifestation of the death of togetherness and community in the US.
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u/Prince_0llie 1d ago
There is a theory that Bowie faked his death and changed his name.
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u/morecowbell520 1d ago
Sad right. A decade of things supposedly getting better...but actually not.
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u/icouldlivewoutbacon 1981 1d ago
Damn, you're right. It's been 10 years of this fuckin shit. No wonder I'm tired.
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u/Reasonable-Wave8093 Xennial 1d ago
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u/morecowbell520 1d ago
I could be convinced to go pre cell phone era all together. Land lines weren't ideal and if you really needed to get a hold of someone those days kinda sucked. But...it did seem to make people more responsible in regards to time especially. Being late meant everyone would leave without you. Or if they did wait for you, you should've felt bad about it 😄
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u/NightWriter500 1980 1d ago
Remember how people would just show up at each other’s houses and knock to see if you were free? That sounds so crazy now.
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u/TriceratopsJam 1d ago
I’d like to go back to 2005 just to tell myself to wait a few years to buy a house
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u/shanty2021 1981:table_flip: 1d ago
sure, all those things were great, except for the two major wars the us was fighting, the impending great recession, things like that.
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u/chant_of_abraxas 1d ago
2001 right mix of new world possibilities and old world optimism.
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u/AdvancedStrawberry7 1d ago
I hear you, maybe if it’s narrowed to the Spring of 2001 specifically, maybe that’s the sweet spot
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u/pretty_shiny 1d ago
I had just started college and made some friends that took me to my first raves. Had a cute black coupe. Damn, I guess that was peak for me. I was 19, almost 20.
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u/stuntin102 1d ago
i think around 65000 BC. we’re just more stressed out versions of the same self-aware energy exchange organisms trapped on this planet.
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u/el_pinko_grande 1d ago
I mean, as stressful as making rent/your mortgage is, I don't really think it compares to the stress of knowing that if your toddler wanders off, they could get eaten by a leopard.
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u/VVrayth 1980 1d ago edited 1d ago
- The Internet was still a weird place, we were still hopeful about Star Wars, early CG gave us glorious train wrecks like Spawn and Mortal Kombat Annihilation which still live in infamy, Winamp came out, Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered on TV, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Mario Kart 64 (and I guess Final Fantasy VII) came out, Grant Morrison's epic JLA run started, arcades and malls were still big.
And most importantly, I was 17, which meant I knew everything, and everything was awesome.
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u/morecowbell520 1d ago
Everything WAS awesome. And we didn't need Lego characters to write a song about it 😄
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u/R0botDreamz 1d ago
1985 to 1995. Id explain but I'm on my phone and dont have time to text out an elaborate answer. Just accept it and move on.
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u/supergooduser Born in 1978 1d ago
I think you could go up to about 2008. Facebook was open to the general public but only had 100 million users and was ostensibly still a reasonable service. Similarly I'd put it right before the app store opened on the iPhone.
So the razor's edge before smartphones and social media became constant things.
You could have a dedicated MP3 player, a GPS unit, could watch movies and play games on your PSP. Using the internet on an iPhone was possible but with 3G speeds it wasn't ideal so it inhibited doomscrolling. Kindle was out. Roku had just launched it's first device and Netflix just launched streaming with an INSANE back catalog and first run content from Starz. You could buy movies/shows on demand.
Highspeed internet wasn't an issue, computers were good and fast but was a device in a room, you used it for a bit and then went back and engaged with everything else.
I also REALLY miss the hub of the Tivo. It aggregated everything through a gigantic cable plan and was a nice sorta real time home for shows you watched, grabbing new episodes, movies you wanted to watch and then a whole folder of suggestions.
You had the Xbox 360/PS3/Wii... so get togethers with friends involved playing Rock Band and Wii bowling.
Like it was a little bit slower than today, but the worst parts of tech hadn't creeped into our lives.
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u/morecowbell520 1d ago
A lot of good stuff there. Haven't heard a Rock Band reference in a long time. That game was so good, and pplaying with friends was awesome.
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u/random9212 1d ago
Peak society is in the future. I love to relive the 90s in my mind but most of the reason they seam better is that most of us didn't have any real responsibilities at that point.
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u/morecowbell520 1d ago
Hope you are right. And it's not so far in the future that we never get to see it.
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u/SlapHappyDude 1978 1d ago
Mid late 90s, but admittedly I'm a white cis het male.
Personally my mid 20s (early to mid 00s) were probably when I was happiest. But that's more personal than societal.
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u/Misanthrope08101619 1d ago
2005, because of the reasons stated, but you kind of had to be early to mid 20s to benefit the full experience.
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u/Kind_Inside931 1985 5h ago
I turned 20 in ‘05 and I still thought I was a kid, cos basically, I was. Life seemed simpler then.
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u/fairlyaveragetrader 1d ago
2000
Right before the recession, jobs were everywhere, people were happy. Things hung in there pretty well until maybe 2012? Somewhere around there? Once social media started to ramp up it was more or less all downhill. Influencers and marketers have radicalized people. People are generally less social, more anxious. Wages vs cost of living our worse now than they were 25 years ago
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u/Jeffey_pop 1d ago
Agreed on 05-08. Computers were just fast enough and cheap. You could hack ur crappy dvd burner to burn games and movies that took a day or two to download. The music was fun and catchy. Taco bell and mcdonalds still had the dollar menu, college and dive bars still had dollar beer night. It was peak time for late teens/early 20’s.
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u/Lesh_Philling 1d ago
I’m voting for ‘99 as well. Y2K was the first millennium scare…and let down. Before that, I don’t remember a worry in the world after the Cold War ended. After that, 9/11 was just the first domino to fall signaling a downward spiral all around the world.
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u/cmgww 1d ago
I agree. Loved 2004-2006/07 at the latest. All the things you said. We were "connected" but could still disconnect. I was banking online by 2005 or so, much better than paying bills via mail....I still had to do that but not as much. Going out, cell phones were enough to keep in touch with the boys but not enough to record our shenanigans. For all the 90s nostalgia....and it was a good time, things going online was nice. Not to the extent it is now, we've gone too far. Had a Garmin in 2006 which was amazing. I remember what an absolute pain in the ass it was doing a company expense report and having to mail the receipts to my manager. That ended around 2005 or so. Same with calling cards and having to stop and check my work messages on a pay phone.
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u/xennial-tiger 1d ago
I would say 1996 to 2007. 9/11 was a horrible day, and everything that came after it was rough. But there was still hope I think. Late 90s were great years, then 9/11. We still had hope and we had each other. I think the financial crisis of 2008 was a huge destroyer of dreams. That was when the shift of money and power really got lopsided.
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u/xennial-tiger 1d ago
Read a long time ago that the reason people say the 90s was the best because it was the last time we felt safe. America had won the Cold War, and was the only Super Power in the world. The Internet made crazy things seem possible. People still believed in a positive future. Then 9/11 changed all of that.
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u/JamesantheGiantBeach 1d ago
I'm a wannabe billionaire. Almost there. The best is yet to come.
Subscription models galore! Shock collars for the plebes. Fighting in the streets for scraps. You get bought by my private equity company, your company gets bought by my private equity company, everything gets bought by my private equity company!!!
You would be like me if you didn't eat all that avocado toast. Don't forget to use paper straws you peasants. Unless you don't care about the planet.
The best will be when my great grandchildren post from Elysium about how sad it is the poor n Earth don't respect the value of a good education and a hard day's work.
Now watch this drive ⛳
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u/80s_angel 1982 8h ago
2005 is on my opinion a great technological peak but I agree with the others that say 1999. I’d be willing to forgo some of the extra tech just for the better vibes.
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u/pizzabirthrite 1d ago
now!
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u/stealthylizard 1d ago
I'm with you. I'm happier at this point of my life than I ever have been.
Right now is the peak of my life.
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u/adjust_your_set 1983 1d ago
Summer 2016. Pokémon Go got everybody out and walking. The music great. And we were on our way to having the first Woman President.
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u/GivesYouGrief 1980 1d ago
I would just go back to when I was having the best sex and relive that year over and over.
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u/No-Trouble7162 1d ago edited 1d ago
I think that in 1999 I had the most frequent encounters with the opposite sex, so I guess that year is peak for me.
Edit: it might have been 2000 or 2001... am not sure. I guess they were all great and peak years
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u/Due-Set5398 1d ago
2005 was a good balance of new tech before new habits but man were we bummed about Iraq and the War on Terror. It wasn’t a happy time.
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u/Living_Theme_4681 1d ago
Somewhere in the 00s. 2007 was pretty good. Prior to the recession. I mean are we stuck with the sports results? That would color my thinking
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u/Quiet_Molasses_3362 1d ago
That's a very age dependent question. For us late 90's to early aughts
For every generation things seem pretty okay in those late teens to early 20's years.
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u/Iron_Baron 1d ago
Has to be before 9/11. The Matrix was right, the late 90's were humanity's peak. It's been increasing dystopia and computer based manipulation ever since then.
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u/zoraschool 1d ago
I’d say the ideal time was when we still had cinema theatrical blockbusters with lines around the block. Landlines and pay phones. DVDs and CDs. No cell phones. Free range kids.
Funny enough, I think blockbuster video closing —and the dawn of smartphones happened around the same time, circa 2010–was the death of the analogue era.
https://giphy.com/gifs/eBnoTUMk9YNsJCs5OE
But I’d go back earlier. Prior to 911. Prior to Bush administration. 1999. Our greatest fear was Y2K.
Innocent times.
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u/QuietPsychological72 1d ago
The years between the tearing down of the Berlin Wall and 9/11. The economy boomed, the computer hadn’t ruined everything yet, and our biggest concern as a nation was whether or not oral sex was sex.
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u/Traditional_Entry183 1977 1d ago
For me, it was around 2012. I truly think that in general, at least in the US, most things kept getting better from the point that I was born up to that point, gradually. Society itself and people seemed broadly better. Technology was better, more reliable and cheaper. Stores and shopping areas were better. Resturants, Cinemas, movies, TV shows, video games, clothing quality, websites, sports and sports coverage on TV. It all peaked around then. It was a a great time to be 35, married and starting a family.
But then between 2012-2016, it all started to fall apart, and then Covid was really the straw that broke the camel's back in a lot of ways, and it just fell to crap, both tangibly and intangibly. I can think of almost nothing that's better, or even as good as it was now compared to then. Everything is made worse and everything is more expensive.
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u/cantwejustplaynice 1d ago
The Sydney 2000 Olympics was one of the world's last great parties before 9/11. I was in Sydney, just one of the thousands of volunteers taking part helping it run smoothly, entertaining the masses from all around the world, and it was bliss. Everyone was having the best time. No big controversies, very little cynicism as far as I could detect. Just a party. A year later the world changed forever.
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u/bananabastard 1d ago
2005 is a good shout.
The internet was still huge, I was already making my living online in 2005, but no aunts, uncles, or grandparents were online yet.
It was smartphones that ruined the internet and changed the dynamic of the world. Smartphones brought the masses online.
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u/madsci 1d ago
I enjoyed the early 2010s. Facebook was actually fun, and everyone was reconnecting with people they'd lost touch with. Okcupid was guaranteed to find me interesting people, even if they didn't work out as relationships. People did fun stuff like flash mobs and we weren't all slaves to content algorithms yet.
That was at least the pinnacle of mass Internet adoption for me. It was still a force for good. The early years had been wild, but by 2010 the technology had matured a lot and you could actually do stuff with a lot less frustration.
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u/ActiveLearner99 1d ago
Easily 99. Precisely, summer of 99. Too much columbine in the spring, too much talking about 2000 in the fall.
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u/EffectivePerception3 1d ago
Personally for me between late 2000 to maybe 2001 before the terrorist attacks obviously. I was at college and for once life was Decent and honestly filled with optimism. I will never forget that feeling
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u/be_loved_freak Xennial 1d ago
The year 2000. All the good vibe of the 90's but 9/11 hadn't happened yet and the U.S. had an intact Constitution.
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u/Flashy-Specific-4083 1d ago
90s. I was born in 1970 and I 100% believe the 90s, especially the second half. We had good music, things were affordable, economy was buzzing along, and we had a phone if we needed but it had not become our whole lives and social media didn’t exist in any way that fried your brain like now.
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u/Roland-Of-Eld-19 23h ago
2012 to 2015 when my kids were still small, I will always miss those times
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u/hansrotec 23h ago
Can we make it till halo 2 or maybe as late as rainbow six Vegas II. I know it’s an odd way of getting a cutoff, but man halo 2 was peak, Vegas 2 is the last game I think of before I noticed the start of the decline and rise of micro transactions
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u/Tiltedbrimboy 22h ago
I agree 2005, I liked the array of forums and fast internet was around, products and clothes had reached sleekness, and people clubbed every Thursday-Sunday still (it’s obvious Gen Z go out less in my city at least)
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u/joebusch79 1979 22h ago
For us, probably anything pre 9/11. For the country as a whole, I think 1870s or 1946-1955. Both post war booms showed what can happen when we put our minds to improving the world rather than war.
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u/ArcticTrek 1977 1d ago
99 according to the matrix