A 2000's Childhood | The World's Largest Tribute to Gen Z

Making this list was more than just a little difficult. Many times, during my deep dives using the Wayback Machine, I would find an image that evoked a subtle memory of something familiar. I would search and search and search, trying to solve this itch in the recesses of my mind, desperately trying to find what made this thing so familiar. And that's one of the things that made this search so difficult: When I had to just let it go. I would feel so disheartened, as I didn't want to give up on finding this unknown "thing" that I felt was so familiar to me. I felt like if I gave up on it now, I would never remember it again, having that piece of my childhood be lost to history forever. But, I had to realize just how many similarities and defining characteristics these things from my childhood had. Things that MADE my childhood what it is, and what differentiates it from other generations. The styles, the way things were. Just like in media today, things are constantly building upon and being influenced by one another. That's just how things grow. So naturally, of course I would occasionally run across something that felt familiar to me. It didn't mean the thing I found was part of my childhood, rather, I recognized the style that made it what it is. And honestly, the feeling of exhilaration that came with that rush of nostalgia was worth it, even if it meant getting led on by something I never actually knew.

QnA:

Q - Some things in here are pre-2000 and post-2010. What the dip, man?

A - To make things totally clear: This isn't a list of things that came out in the early 2000's. THIS is a list of things that were popular and/or relevant in the 2000's that I distinctively remember as holding enough significance to be classified as a childhood memory. I was born December of '99, so I feel qualified enough to be placing these things in the compilation under the pretense of "2000's childhood memory." Plus, things sometimes just happen to carry into other generations. They're not limited to the confines of a single generational era. And finally, I find it a little ridiculous to confine it to a 10 year period, when I personally believe your "childhood"," aka your developmental years, exceed that of a decade. It just made sense to me to format it this way.


Q - You were born right at the cusp of 2000, so you technically can't remember the first few years of the 2000's. So, why do you think you're qualified to make this list, then?

A - When talking about "2000's" kids, people usually are referring to GenZ (Born between 1995 - 20XX) Although I wasn't born right at the start of it, I still think I was able to grow up with and appreciate almost everything that someone born in 1995 would've had. Having older siblings helped in that regard. Plus, this allowed me to include things from the early 2000's that someone a little bit older wouldn't have taken part in, due to it being considered "too young for them."


Q - I don't recognize a bunch of this stuff, what's the deal with that?

A - While I did largely pull these from what I remembered from my own childhood, I also tried to capture the largest grouping possible. So naturally, people won't recognize everything, since not everyone shared the same childhood. That's just the unfortunate reality about things like these. The larger the size, the less relatable it becomes.


Q - Some things on here are from the same franchise, don't they classify as one thing instead of multiple?

A - I really thought about that a lot while making this list, and was very strict with determining whether or not to include certain things. If it's in this list, I determined it to be unique enough to classify as its own memory.


Q - Why are the images movin' so fast? There's not enough time to look at each one of them.

A - There are exactly 1,103 pictures. If each image was given 3 seconds of screen time, the video would need to be roughly 55 minutes long. So, of course, I went the shorter route.


Q - Why the choice of music?

A - They're songs I felt gave off a strong "Early 2000's birth of EDM" vibes. Even though some are technically from the 2010's, I still felt as though they were appropriate, as well as gave a good rhythm to the video.


Q - How long did this take you?

A - I've been slowly collecting this list for the past several years, but a majority of it was collected over the last 5-6 months. The editing process also took ages, due to restrictions in my editing program's processing power.


Q - How'd you find all this stuff? I haven't thought of these things since I was a mere fetus.

A - Lots and lots and lots of tedious work. Many late nights scowering the web. The Wayback Machine was very useful as well.


Q - This is the most jam packed nostalgia comp. I've ever seen!

A - That's not a question, but, yeah, I firmly believe that as of today, this is the most complete 2000's Nostalgia Compilation on the internet to date.


Q - Will you ever make a part 2?

A - ...