Lucky for us, we experienced childhood mostly technology-free. We just missed the era where suddenly every 5-year-old has an iPad. We had magazines instead. Little do kids nowadays know the joys of word searches and personality quizzes that graced the pages of these magazines. Whether you were subscribed to every one of these, or just browsed them to kill time in your school library -- we grew up in a time of magazines' golden age.
Highlights
One of the first magazines we ever experienced. You can't forget those hidden pictures that could consume an entire afternoon trying to find the last object. It had fun crafts (to do with parents permission, of course), games, and recipes that made summer afternoons or a long road trip fly by.
Zoobooks
For some reason, kids growing up in the 2000s really liked animals. There was Ranger Rick, Nat Geo Kids, and last but not least, Zoobooks. These magazines sparked every kid's dream to be a zookeeper. We all remember the Zoobooks commercials with all the "amazing deals" that we just had to have. My mom never caved. Did yours?
Nickelodeon
This magazine had just the right mix of sports, games, activities, so it was perfect for a rainy day. Another magazine with an amazing deal that you just had to have but probably only got to browse during a trip to the library. Featuring your favorite Nick cartoon stars on the cover, it included a slime-related activity and without a doubt contained a recipe for your own slime.
American Girl
American Girl is the only magazine I was actually ever subscribed to and didn't have to beg my mom to buy me at the check out line in Target. It featured a "real girl" and gave me aspirations of someday being on the cover. Its good, clean ideas for health, beauty, and fun are what made this the perfect magazine for girls entering their puberty years. I can't forget to mention the ever-so-uncomfortable "The Care and Keeping of YOU" book that we were all #blessed with on the cusp of our tween years.
Tiger Beat
Suddenly you are a flirty, thriving !4-year-old, and no one can bring you down! With promising headlines such as "Justin Bieber Is Single, This Is Your Chance!", the headache ensuing neon magazine gave hope to young teens everywhere. This super classy mag was sure to catch your eye as it went with the "fit as many things on the page as we can" method. A Tiger Beat quiz once told me if I went to the pool on a Saturday, I would meet my soulmate there. Spoiler alert: I did not meet said soulmate at the pool.
Seventeen
You finally got your braces off -- you cannot be seen reading a tween magazine. Seventeen was just enough to make you feel like an adult without inappropriate headlines (see below). It inspired the inner fashionista that has been waiting to break out of those Abercrombie hoodies and into a store that sold a cheaper version of whatever the girl on the cover was wearing.
Cosmopolitan
The first issue you ever read was probably your friend's older sister's copy. Then you snuck it into your bag for a long flight and then your mom saw it and looked at you and said, "I cannot believe you are reading that." Oh that just happened to me? Cool. Between the half-naked girls and "SEX" written about a thousand times all over the cover, you probably still get a little sheepish pulling it out when you're sitting between two men at the airport. Still just me? Even better. But it is still the end-all, be-all of magazines for women. The go-to magazine for dating, health, and fashion advice, or as Elle Woods so accurately calls it, "The Bible."
Seriously, guys, I just googled Cosmo covers, and every single one has sex written so big. Ugh, this is adulthood.
Regardless of what we are reading, it is still nice to sit down with a magazine every once in a while, whether it be on a plane or by the pool; it's a change of pace to read actual words on actual paper. We are so used to small amounts of text and quick pictures that I have a hard time even getting through a whole article without skipping to parts with just pictures. Magazines are a great form of media that brings us back to simpler times when we would run to our mailboxes in excitement for a fresh new magazine, instead of being quick to grab our iPhones and google the current status of "Jelena."
