I was a teenager in the early 2000s. We had the Internet, however, it was still more separate from real life. Sitting down to use the computer was a specific activity. When the computer was off, we were done with the Internet until next time. If you spent a bunch of nights at your computer, many kids would think of you as a “loser” with “no life”. (Although, if someone was willing to download music and make CDs for $10-$20, they were cool.)
We used more email, forums, and blogging sites. MySpace was the first social media website that was “mainstream” popular. I graduated from high school in 2006 and many of us had MySpace. Facebook was not nearly as popular. A few of my classmates, though, still had no interest in the Internet. They hadn’t even made email accounts.
We went to malls and shopping centers. Sometimes we were at the mall just to “hang out”. Saw movies at the theater. Went to video stores and walking around for almost an hour, looking a different movies and talking about them, before deciding what to rent. I enjoyed going to the library for books or movies/shows. We walked around our neighborhoods and talked about whatever, maybe walked to a local park.
In 2002-2005, many of us teens still didn’t have cell phones. You still had to call their house and talk to their parents first. People were still harder to reach outside of school or work. Many job applications were still paper, not done online.
One of my first jobs was at a grocery store in the mid-2000s. I remember there being more cashiers and more baggers - usually one bagger per cashier.