I Lived Like It Was 1999 for 30 Days – No Smartphone, No Streaming, Just Y2K Chaos

I was born in the late 90s, so my memories of the era are more fuzzy Polaroids than crystal-clear recollections. But as a millennial drowning in notifications, algorithms, and food delivery apps, I started wondering—what if I just… stepped out of the 2020s for a while?

So, I set myself a challenge: live exactly as people did in 1999 for an entire month. No smartphone. No Netflix. No Spotify. And absolutely no Googling anything.

Week 1: Cold Turkey from the Internet

Day one, I turned off my phone, put it in a drawer, and dug out an old Nokia I bought off eBay for £15. It had Snake. That was it.

Within hours, I realized how much of my life relied on instant answers. In 1999, if you didn’t know something, you had to either guess, ask a friend, or walk to the library. So when I wanted to make pancakes, I had to flip through an actual cookbook. I found myself squinting at flour-dusted pages instead of scrolling TikTok recipes.

Calling people felt… intimate. My friends would pick up with a slightly startled “Hello?” instead of a meme reply. I couldn’t text “Here” when I arrived—I had to knock on doors like some sort of medieval courier.

Week 2: Music, the Old-School Way

Streaming music was forbidden, so I dusted off my dad’s CD collection. It was Backstreet Boys, Oasis, and an absurd amount of Now That’s What I Call Music! compilations.

I forgot how satisfying it was to hold an album, read the liner notes, and memorize every lyric because you only had 12 songs to choose from. There was no skipping endlessly to find “the perfect vibe.” You just… listened.

Also, carrying a Discman around was a full arm workout. And God help you if you ran out of AA batteries.

Week 3: Navigating the World Without GPS

The true test came when I had to visit a friend in a new town. No Google Maps, no sat-nav. I printed directions from a clunky desktop computer at the library and prayed I wouldn’t miss an exit.

Of course, I missed three. I pulled over to ask for directions—a sentence I never thought I’d say in my life. A kind old man at a petrol station drew me a little map on the back of a receipt. It actually worked. And it weirdly felt… nice? Like a tiny act of human kindness in the wild.

Week 4: Entertainment Before Binge Culture

Without Netflix, I rediscovered the ritual of appointment TV. Every Thursday night, I watched Friends reruns on cable. If you missed it, too bad—you waited until next week.

Movies meant physical DVDs or VHS tapes. I even went to a secondhand shop and bought a rom-com for 50p. Rewinding the tape afterward felt like closing a chapter in a book.

The slower pace of entertainment made me realize how much we rush through everything now. Back then, the anticipation was part of the joy.

What I Learned

By the end of the 30 days, I felt calmer. My attention span improved. I had deeper conversations because I wasn’t half-listening while scrolling. I noticed more little details—birds singing, the smell of rain, the satisfaction of crossing something off a paper to-do list.

That said… I missed memes. I missed instant music. I missed the sheer convenience of Googling “is this rash deadly?” at 3 a.m.

Living like it was 1999 reminded me that the tech we have now is amazing—but only if we use it intentionally. In ’99, technology was exciting, but it wasn’t everything. People had space to just be.

Would I do it again? Probably not for a whole month. But maybe for a weekend, just to reset my brain. And if anyone wants to join me, I’ve got a spare Nokia.