Nostalgia · New Zealand
Peak 2000s Kiwi: 20 things every New Zealander who grew up online remembers
Bebo, the Nokia 3310, Snake, burning CDs, dial-up, and racing home to sign in. A nostalgic list for New Zealanders who grew up in the 2000s.
Chatroom · 29 October 2026 · 1 min read
The 2000s were a strange, wonderful time to be online in New Zealand. Here's what we remember. Add yours in the Class of 2004 room.
- Racing home from school to sign in before anyone else got the computer.
- Dial-up. The noise. The waiting. The phone call that cut you off.
- Bebo. Skins, "luv", and your whole friendship group's drama in public.
- The Nokia 3310. Indestructible, and the Snake high score was everything.
- Txt language. "c u l8r", because every text cost money.
- Prepaid top-ups from the dairy.
- Burning CDs for road trips, with the tracklist written in Vivid.
- An iPod shuffle clipped to your school jumper.
- LAN parties in someone's garage with a dozen CRT monitors.
- Saturday morning telly and the long wait between episodes.
- Personal messages that were definitely about someone.
- The family computer in the lounge, where everyone could see the screen.
- Encarta for every school project.
- Ringtones you paid actual money for.
- Flip phones, and the satisfying snap of hanging up.
- Digital cameras with 64MB cards and a hundred blurry photos from the school ball.
- Fizzy drinks and hot chips after netball or footy.
- The PS2 vs Xbox argument, which nobody won.
- Appearing offline to avoid that one person.
- Nudging someone until they replied.
Relive it
Chatroom brings back the bit we miss most: chatting the old-school way. A contact list, nudges, emoticons, sign-in sounds and a Throwback category of rooms: Class of 2004, Noughties music, Old phones and dial-up, Saturday morning telly and Emo corner.
It's free, runs in your browser, and new members get three months of Premium free. Sign up.