What’s something that Millennials lived through which other generations have forgotten? – 19 Gen Y experiences lost to time

Dominic Carter. Updated April 21st, 2025

As far as generations go, Millennials have had a rough ride. Older people think they’re workshy brats who blow all their money on avocado lattes, and younger people line up to mock their cheugy side partings.

But the Millennial story is more complicated than that. Coming of age during a huge technological transition means that Millennials have been through a lot of things that other generations forget they’ve actually experienced.

Reddit user Defiant-Day-8377 asked fellow Millennials to share these experiences, and even got the ball rolling by sharing their own:

‘I remember writing out essays by hand. Everyone seems to think that we always had laptops, but I remember the rules: only black or blue ink, if you made a mistake you had to write it over again. Sometimes you would run out of room on the line and have to cram in some word that you forgot!’

If you’re a Millennial too, these top replies will have you pining for, gulp, 30 years ago…

‘I miss going to the computer lab and knowing more about the computers than the teacher and admin. I remember setting the auto correct on Word to change “and” into “chickens” and nobody could figure out how to change it back, so they just said you can’t use that computer for Word anymore.’
-RichardBottom

‘Whoever took you to the airport could go through security and watch you board the plane.’
-Neckrolls4life

‘Microsoft Encarta.’
-TimmyOTule

‘We had to teach ourselves how to navigate the internet. Then we had to teach our parents and/or grandparents. Now we are trying to teach our kids.

I really don’t know how to impart 30 years of experience in spotting internet scams. Like, i can’t tell you why, but i know if you click on that something bad is going to happen…’
-DAM5150

‘I’ve seen a lot of people say things like “you probably don’t know what this is” with respect to things like landline phones, VHS tapes, cassette tapes, etc.

Not only were all those things core millennial technologies that we all grew up with, I have memories of growing up with technology even older than that. My grandparents’ houses still had rotary phones, typewriters and gramophones.’
-badgersprite

‘Millennials (I am one) are funny in that we were raised at the crossing between the old era and the new one, when the internet and computers took hold. We’ve been part of both generational sides.

Old style flip phones and land lines, portable CD players for music, VHS tapes and Blockbuster Video. There was probably only one computer in the house and you shared it with the family. You were allowed to roam outside wherever you wanted without your parents thinking you’d be kidnapped. The existence of Furbies.’
-Rubysage3

‘My gen z friend didn’t believe we used to have to pay a few cents per text message.’
-workfastdiehard

‘Researching with books.

I still remember diving into the stacks and archives to review books that have been out of print for decades to review an extremely niche topic, then having to wait weeks or months for an inter library loan for a different book that may or may not be relevant to my topic to cross reference and check for biases.’
-nekosaigai

‘Being home alone after school. We weren’t called latchkey kids because it was just normal. Everyone I knew got left at home alone after school.’
-First-Expression2823

10.

‘Spending hours on the perfect city in SimCity2000 and then it gets destroyed by disaster.’
-iamcode101

11.

‘Learning to drive without a gps, using a paper map in the car’
-blue-opuntia

12.

‘Having a childhood without the internet. I remember when we knew one person who got dial-up in my small town and it was such a novelty.’
-AutumnFalls89

13.

‘Tons of places didn’t accept card and were cash only, and more people carried loose cash on them. Now the reverse seems to be true where many places are card only, and less people seem to carry cash on them.

Just a weird thought.

There is so much I miss, though. Everything seemed more simple. I miss Blockbuster.’
-InhLaba

14.

‘To type “LOL” on our phones, it took 9 key presses.’
-AppleBottmBeans

15.

‘Joining the job market at the same time people lost their retirements and were forced to continue working.’
-FirstToTheKey69

16.

‘Literally, all of society saying we need to go to college. I talk to so many people who are only 10 years older than me who try to say no one told people they had to go.’
-nertynot

17.

‘Disney had a hold on us. They re-released all of the classics in the early 1990’s and these movies became an integral part of our childhood. The Little Mermaid, Robin Hood, Snow White, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Mary Poppins, etc.

Disney soon took advantage of how popular they were and wrote an original story, The Lion King, and it was MASSIVE. Every dang kid on the block, in the city, in the WORLD – had a Simba and Nala obsession. It had a banger of a soundtrack too. Go sing any song from that movie and a millennial will chime in with all the words still memorized.

We didn’t have internet, streaming, YouTube. Just movies to watch and re-watch. It’s a huge contrast to my Gen Alpha kids who don’t have any attachment to Disney movies.’
-WarmMorningSun

18.

‘I remember when everything still had ashtrays. Smoking may have been banned in public spaces, but it took a while for public spaces to adjust their furniture and all sorts of other stuff to not include ashtrays and other smoking accessories. eventually they all just became little trash bins that were never cleaned out. Like an open faced kinder egg with wrappers or gum instead of a toy.’
-CivilCJ

19.

‘The optimism. At least for Americans, the 90s were pretty awesome. You had a sense that the problems of the past were gone and something bright and new was on the horizon. The Cold War was over, we were rebuilding the ozone layer, wars were quick and done, our president was cool, space exploration was popular again, the internet/computers were new and exciting. We were promised bright days and we believed them because the 90s were bright themselves. Having a sense of wonder and optimism in the future is not something later generations can relate to at all. In fact, it died for us in 2000 if not 2001. I hope we can return to that but each decade since then has been one dumpster fire after another so I’m not holding my breath.’
-caligaris_cabinet

Source Reddit Image Screenshot