When you think back to the 2000s, what technology do you think about?
Well, no doubt it’s the Apple iPhone. But did you know that that device arrived at the end of the decade, and it wasn’t really until 2011 that smartphones even took off? Because of this, we have a strange view of history. We actually forget just how primitive things were in the post-2000 era compared to the AI and other super technologies we have today.
Flip Phones
During the 2000s, flip phones were the norm. People would physically fold open their devices to answer calls.
The reason for this design was simple: touchscreens were pretty basic back then, if not non-existent. So, you had one section of the phone for the screen and the other for the keypad.
Some of these phones from companies like Motorola were actually quite stylish, and people still like the designs today. But the fact of the matter was that these phones didn’t have apps like the modern versions. You were lucky if you could even access the internet with them.
Disposable Cameras
You also had disposable cameras in the 2000s era. Yes, phones also had cameras, but they weren’t very good.
Back then, disposable camera development was a massive industry. You’d take the film to a shop and get them to print out the photos for you for a fee. It was an interesting experience.
Tamagotchi
Do you remember the Japanese craze for Tamagotchis? The idea here was to put a pet inside a device that could fit on your keychain, and everyone had one.
Most Tamagotchis had you raising pet dragons or pet dogs. You had to feed them, take them for virtual walks, and pet them from time to time. It was a sort of precursor to Pokemon Go that arrived around 2016.
The Nokia 3310
The Nokia 3310 requires a section all to itself, simply because of the impact that it had in the early 2000s, especially in European countries. This phone was everywhere, with teenagers begging their parents to buy it for them so they could text their friends.
What made this phone so successful was partly the price, but also that it was compact and fairly attractive to look at. People could also change the covers on it, and it didn’t really matter that much if you dropped it since the outer shell was so hard and absorbed most of the impact.
CRT Monitors
They seem like a thing of the past, but people in the 2000s loved these, despite the ridiculous amount of desk space they required.
CRTs became popular because they were cheap and color-accurate, more so than the flat screens that were around at the time. Of course, though, screen manufacturers have made tremendous improvements since then, so most people aren’t using these anymore.
MiniDisc Players
Finally, the 2000s were the time of a strange interim technology called minidiscs, which sat between the CDs of the 1990s and the music files we use today. These were essentially just small Walkmans.
