Being a college student with a sister in middle school, I get to watch her go through that awkward middle school phase. But here's the thing, she never had an awkward middle school phase. She never had to go through the "hardships" my friends and i had to go through. Here are some things that I had to go through, that younger generations will never have to go through again.
1. Being on AIM or Yahoo Messenger at the time everyone else was.
Timing was critical if you wanted to talk to your friends. First, you had to argue with your mom, who also wanted to use the computer to play Mahjong, then you had to let your little brother play with your GameBoy so he wouldn't want to play his CD-Rom of Blues Clues. Finally, your mom would give up, telling you that your eyes would go bad staring at the computer screen all night, but you tuned that out right away because you finally had some peace and quiet to talk to your friends, crushes, and random classmates over Instant Messenger.
2. Obsessing over your away message or buddy profile was a real struggle.
If you were dating someone, everyone had to know their initials, your "anniversary," and the song lyric that reminded you of them. If you were single, angsty Avril Lavigne lyrics occupied your away message. Your buddy profile was usually a black background filled with rainbow text and hard to read fonts. You had to list your friends in order of importance, and give a short bio of inside jokes or see how long you could go on saying "bffaeaeaeaeaeae" (best friends forever and ever and ever and ever and ever).
3. Having to memorize all of your friends' house phone numbers.
Even if you had them written down, there was something exhilarating about dialing your best friend in 2 seconds flat. You also needed to memorize so you'd know who it was when the number popped up on your new Caller ID house phone.
4. Actually ringing the door bell when you went over to someone's house.
Kids these days just sit outside their friends doors, texting them to come open it. The laziness is real. You had to ring the door bell, ask their mom, or, heaven forbid, their cute older sibling if your friend could come out to play.
5. Getting stuck at that party for way too long because you told your mom to pick you up at a certain time.
Your mom wouldn't let you have a cell phone until high school, so you had to rely on her transportation at a previously decided times. There was no way of knowing how well a hangout, play date, middle school dance, or shopping trip at the mall would go, and you would either not want to be picked up, or waiting in agony for your mom to save you from playing spin the bottle.
6. Editing photos on Picnik.
You had to include every single inside joke with you and the person in the photo, and it was necessary to use as many different fonts, colors, and little symbols as possible. You spent a long period in mourning after Picnik decided to close their website.
7. Begging your parents to take you to Blockbuster or Hollywood Video to get a movie.
You had to get a copy of Mary Kate and Ashley's new movie, you promised Becky that you would watch it at your sleepover this weekend!
8. When you finally got a phone, freaking out when you accidentally touched the forbidden Internet button.
The feeling of accidentally pressing that button stopped your heart every time, and you would either take the battery out of your phone, or repeatedly press the red end button until your phone brought you back to your screensaver of the beach. Phew, I hope those two seconds of Internet didn't cost my parents too much money. It was an accident.
9. Having to watch TV when it aired.
Otherwise, you missed this week's episode of Drake & Josh or Boy Meets World, and there was nothing like the feeling of being left out as your friends recapped the worst and most hilarious singing during the auditions of American Idol at lunch the next day.
10. Abercrombie & Fitch, Aéropostale, Hollister Co., and American Eagle. Enough said.
You begged, pleaded, and did chores for weeks so your parents would buy you that graphic Tee from Aero. By the end of your middle school years, you had enough for a month of new outfits. Your mom would send you in alone because she couldn't take the darkness and instant headache that came along with Hollister. In the end, it was totally worth it.
11. The extravagant number of terrible photos you posted on MySpace.
Whether or not it was edited by Picnik or just straight up ugly, you posted hundreds of these photos. The days of taking hundreds of photos to get the right one (and only posting the right one) were just out of our reach.
12. Longing for unlimited texting.
Truly, I never thought I would live to see the day of unlimited texting. Begging your parents to upgrade the phone plan to having unlimited texts and calls was never an argument you could win. This persuasion always ended with your parents threatening to take away your phone for a week, immediately shutting you up. You just had to deal with only being able to text the five people your parents approved of, but sparingly.
