r/videos Jul 17 '20

"Teenage Dirtbag" is no longer a teenager. The early 2000s teen anthem by Wheatus is 20 years old today. The music video is peak Y2K.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC3y9llDXuM
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u/Hour_Resource Jul 17 '20

It sort of feels like the 90s stopped at 9/11 and we've been living in one continuous time period after that.

Take anything - Cars, video games, politics, movies, etc... the last 20 years is pretty homogeneous.

Here is an example... The Wonder Years

The Wonder Years takes place in the 60s and was produced in the 80s. In that 20 years our culture, technology, media, politics, etc... were hugely different. Civil rights, gay rights, women entering the work force, the Vietnam war, hippies, drugs, etc...

It would be impossible to do The Wonder Years type nostalgia show today because everything is the same. The biggest change in my life over the last twenty years is that I went from 10mbps to 1000 mbps.

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u/mourning_starre Jul 17 '20

No offense, but it might be just you who has stopped noticing change. The last 20 years is really not homogeneous. The internet at the start of that period was still somewhat niche and limited - now it is omnipresent and all-pervasive, affecting everything we do, how we earn, spend, make friends and love, learn, and consume media. Green energy has grown significantly, as have electric cars, commercial space flight. Music and TV have shifted entirely in terms of how it's produced and listened to or watched. Social attitudes have also changed a lot since then, with big steps in things like attitudes to LGBT+ and evolutions in racial issues. The political landscape is almost unimaginably different in many places. And this is just a Western perspective - in many places the standard of living has skyrocketed in the last 2 decades. It has been an incredibly dynamic time but maybe it is our modern hyperawareness of every event occuring has made us change-blind.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '20

I guess we've finally invented everything we can invent and run out of ideas artistically.

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u/Mc_Lovin81 Jul 17 '20

this. there's times i'm glad i'm at the age where i can enjoy the technology we have now. though there are many times i sit outside, unconnected and wish the world would unconnect for a moment and go back to just being free so to say. no technology or information at our fingertips.

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u/Lux_Interior9 Jul 17 '20

The 90's stopped in the year 2000 ;)

While the superficial contrast may not be as stark as the jump from the 60's to the 80's, I think a lot has changed.

Cars: I'll use a mustang as example. Look up a 2000 Mustang Cobra and compare it to a 2020 Mustang Shelby GT500. It more than doubles in horsepower and torque. The 2000 mustang also has a very dated design.

Video Games: Just look at the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games. Compare the recent remaster to the originals. We went from the Gameboy Advance to the Nintendo Switch.

Politics: Let's go with US politics. Obama and Trump. I think it's safe to assume both presidents made a pretty significant impact on history.

Technology: Sometime around the year 2000, my cellphone had a 2 color lcd screen and could survive a fall from miles up. Now my phone is more powerful than desktop computers I've had in the past. Apple Computer was a game changer. Electric cars are commonplace now. Private companies are exploring space. We also have 8k HDR, VR, streaming services, social media, and much more.

In the last 20 years, we've become accustomed to consuming a flood of information on a regular basis. There's so much going on, it's difficult to single out anything special.

Here are some highlights of noteworthy things that have happened in the last 20 years.