In middle school there was a huge emphasis on who had what cool thing that was part of the latest trend or fad.

It practically structured the social hierarchy in middle school. The kids who had the newest, best thing were automatically cool. Middle school was a time when people got a chance to be as judgmental as possible about every little thing.

Here are a few things that were super cool back when I was in middle school.

1. Case-it binders

If coolness came in binder form this would be it. These binders had pockets for anything and everything a middle schooler could possibly want to carry around from class to class.

2. Nike shorts

I know a bunch of people still wear nike shorts or norts today. (I wear them all the time.) Middle school was when they really became popular. I remember begging my mom to buy me Nike Tempo Running Shorts because they were the only "cool" shorts to wear in P.E.

3. Aéropostale

If you went to the mall and didn't shop at Aeropostale what were you doing with your life? The girls and guys tees and polos were a must have for any trendy middle schooler. I remember I wore a henley tee and jean skirt to my first middle school dance and I felt like the queen of fashion.

4. iPod Touch

A handful or middle schoolers back in my day had iPhones but for most of us the iPod touch was our go to device. Games like Tap Tap Revenge and Doodle Jump were the epitome of cool.

5. "5" Gum

Gum in general was cool but 5 Gum was the coolest of the cool. If you pulled out a pack of 5 Gum everyone was suddenly your new best friend. The wrappers could be used to decorate your planner if you peeled the metallic part off of the paper. If you were a true gum fan, your planner was covered.

6. "Twilight"

The Twilight craze was in full force the year I started 6th grade. The waiting list to reserve the book at the library was several months long. Everyone had to read the books. I was a strong supporter of team Edward and I may or may not have written "I heart Edward Cullen" on every worksheet I turned in that year.

7. Nike high-tops

Nike high tops were the coolest sneakers to own. It didn't matter if you played basketball. They came in so many different colors and you could even customize your own. I wore mine until they had holes in them and then still kept wearing them.

8. Motorola Razr

Before full keyboard phones or smart phones were a thing, the Motorola Razr was the phone that everyone was jealous of. It was the coolest of all of the flip phones and it was virtually indestructible. You could throw that thing at a brick wall and maybe get a scratch.

9. Ugg Boots

This is one of the few trends from my middle school days that has stuck around. I will admit with no shame that I still wear my uggs. In middle school if you didn't wear uggs than you weren't cool. It was as simple as that. Wearing "fuggs" (fake uggs) was even worse than not wearing uggs at all.

10. The Black Eyed Peas

"I'm so three thousand and eight, you're so two thousand and late" was the biggest burn we'd ever heard. Boom Boom Pow, Imma Be, and I Gotta Feeling were guaranteed to play at every school dance, birthday party, and bar/bat mitzvah.

11. Silly Bandz

Forget wearing hair ties on your wrist, we piled on as many Silly Bandz as we possibly could. Teachers got so annoyed because we'd spend class time trading silly bands instead of doing our worksheets. My personal favorite silly band was a purple one that when laid flat was a hedgehog.

12. Papermate mechanical pencils

When I was in middle school girls judged each other about everything including what pencils they used to write with. Regular old wood pencils were for people who didn't care about being cool. Mechanical pencils were the way to go but Paper Mate jumbo twist up eraser pencils were hands down the coolest.

13. PocketBacs

I'm pretty sure every single girl I knew in middle school had one of these on their backpack and lunch box. It wasn't just enough to have a pocketbac you had to have one in "cool" scent with one of the little plastic case thingies to hang it.

14. Adidas slip on sandals

I know a bunch of people still wear these but they were insanely popular during my middle school day. Tall nike socks paired with adidas slip ons was about as cool as it got for both girls and guys.

15. Hollister

Hollister was a must visit store at the mall. It didn't matter that the store was really dark and smelled strongly of perfume-- the clothes were cute af. If you wanted to be super cool, wearing hollister's overpowering perfume was the way to go, especially for a school dance.

16. Double-tongued converse

I know converse have been around since long before I was born but double-tongued converse are pretty specific to the middle school years. It was so cool to have a solid colored shoe with a crazy pattern on the second tongue. I had a purple pair with a sidewalk chalk patterned tongue that I wore until they had holes in them.

17. Justin Bieber

Middle school was the age of "Bieber fever". Remember back to the days when JB's hits were One Time, Baby, and One Less Lonely Girl. Everyone was obsessed with the baby-faced biebs.

Looking back I feel pretty freaking ridiculous for buying into the name brand focused materialism in order to be "cool". I spent so much time trying to buy or do the cool thing that I didn't stop to question if it was even something that appealed to me. The goal was to be popular, or at least not a total loser, and I bought into it so much that it dictated my life. I probably would have been much happier and spent a lot less money on fads if I had realized how unimportant they would be just a few years later.