Early 2000s Children SPORT

E l e n a Chiujdia

Childhood in the early 2000s vs late 2000s is like day and night. Children were born with no particular interest in the internet, makeup, revealing clothes or social media. Their ‘free time’ would mean playing outdoors. Today’s generation of early teens choose to be stuck between four walls. Their interests: who has the latest smartphone or biggest following? But let’s be honest, they don’t know any of the people on their Instagram. Kids should take the fake lifestyle created by social media with a pinch of salt!

Phones

A phone for a kid in the early 2000s was a ‘brick phone’. Remember Nokia or those flip phones we had? Usually, it was a hand me down phone from an older sibling. A child would not even need a phone until the age 12. Telling your parents where you were and being back by curfew was enough. Coming back from school was not a luxury car ride. The bus, bike or walking back was the norm. Once parents saw a phone as necessary, it was just that: for necessities. Calling or messaging in an emergency. The signal was not the best and if phones did have internet, children would most likely not know how to use it. Today, a 3-year-old knowing how to use a smartphone is part of the ordinary. It is both disappointing and hilarious hearing children describe Nokia as ancient devices. Not having a touch screen? Not having unlimited access to social media? Their reality without a phone as an extension to their hand is unimaginable. Some children are genuinely spoiled. But society is becoming more dangerous for the typical naïve child. Twenty years ago, parents didn’t have to worry so much about abuse, gangs, smoking or drinking. So, a smartphone becomes a lifeline, a security device between child and parent. But the downsides remain. Children don’t want to go outside anymore. Boys would choose their play station or Xbox any day. Girls then become TikTok experts, seeing social media as their ideal ‘time off’.

Movies and music

There are two sides to generation Z children: 1995 to 2006 babies and the ones born after. 2002 teenagers are nostalgic about Mean Girls, Princess Diaries, Friends. Listening to NSYNC, Destiny’s Child, Rihanna. The 2000s Disney Channel was our main form of entertainment: Zac and Cody, Wizards of Waverly Place, Good Luck Charlie. What they are doing today seems to be simply recreating bad versions of our childhood classics. Times have changed; to watch movies, Netflix did not exist. DVDs and CDs were the go-to. Today is a whole different story. When you use words like CDs or DVD players, children have no idea what you’re talking about. They have the luxury of listening to music at the press of a button on Spotify. Their short attention span asks for content that’s fast, with no ad interruptions. To watch a movie in the early 2000s meant finding the television schedule, it meant recording a movie to watch it later. Now, there is no need for that. The majority of children appear to have access to Disney Plus, Netflix or Amazon Prime. Despite being more easily accessible, such streaming services led to a dependency on the online and binge-watching shows. The mind of an early teen becomes hypnotised almost robotically attached to screens.

Friendships

Having good friends since childhood is the best part of growing up. Now we stand and reminisce about what we had, and what unfortunately they never will: Nintendo 2DS, Mario Kart, Playdough, Heelys. Instead, a child today spends their time playing video games or watching YouTubers vlog their life. They are not living their own lives but taking a spectator seat, watching someone else’s. So, kids are stigmatised as anti-social, secluded, products of the internet phenomenon. Primary school used to be the place you made friends, yet the smartphone culture has placed a barrier between kids’ lives and reality. It is through the screen of a phone they communicate with others. Face to face conversations were replaced by texting. To become good friends, sleepovers were a must. Watching chick flicks, doing karaoke, and making loom band friendship bracelets after building a pillow fort. For 12-year-olds today, their concept of a sleepover consists of TikTok dances, ordering pizza, sending each other reels whilst in the same room and gossiping about boys. Those are surface level, superficial friendships. Being able to say you have been best friends with someone for more than 10 years is something you should take pride in, in this day and age.

Childhood has indeed changed. It is not a time of innocence and silliness anymore. Children used to learn how to swim or ride a bike when they were little. The most dramatic event used to be realising Santa Claus is not real. Today, all children need is a smartphone and having no WiFi is a life-ruining crisis. We knew how to be happy, but perhaps they don’t.