There used to be a time when song lyrics, “truth is” posts and inside jokes controlled social media. Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber ruled the world and our feelings. It was necessary for everyone to know what we were doing and it was even more important that they knew they could text us to make plans later. Yes, I’m talking about the awkward, embarrassing and sometimes ratchet time we call 2006-2009. If you scroll back through your Facebook page to 2008 or anytime around then, I guarantee you’ll find some type of embarrassing post or picture that you wish could be deleted from cyberspace. Her Campus Mizzou made a list… And we even included some of our own posts from way back when.
1. “You be the prince and I’ll be the princess, it’s a love story, baby just say yes.” Or rather, any cheesy song lyrics you thought were meaningful at the time.
“Who didn’t constantly think about the Jonas Brothers when they were 13?” — Hannah Sandfeld, staff writer
— Chloe Castleberry, staff writer
2. Any type of “deep” quote you thought symbolized your very stressful life at 14 years old, which you now realize is such a joke.
— Nicole Donnellan, features editor
3. “funnn nightt. SONIC. Text me :].” Or any other plans you made with friends that you felt everyone needed to know so they knew you didn’t stay home on a Friday. Also, a lot of us are guilty of adding extra letters to words when we we’re in a good mood. How annoying were we?
4. Beautifully edited Picnik photos. To make it look super cool.
“Throwback to when it was cool to Picnik your photos, lie about your age on the internet, and express your feelings in the most emo way possible. #TBT” — Katie McCorgary, staff writer
“Somebody call 9-11! Shawty fire burning on the dance floor.” — Natalie Smith, staff writer
5. Pictures of your soccer, basketball, volleyball, etc. game. Heads up, no one cares if you lost to your biggest rival and the people that do care were there. They were your teammates or parents.
6. “Truth is…” You know you did it and you know you liked other peoples’ statuses just so they would compliment you. Also, writing “truth is” posts got hard sometimes, especially when someone you’ve barely talked to likes it. What are you supposed to say, “Truth is we’ve never talked. Why did you like this?”
7. Facebook chain notes. Everyone was tagged in a note on Facebook either telling you to write 50 random facts about yourself or to check how many movies you had seen so you could know how cool (or lame) you were. Fifty facts included but were not limited to, your early teenage aspirations (I want to change the world), what your young self believed in (karma), what was most important to you (family and friends, DUH) and who your celeb crush was (OMG, Taylor Lautner.)
“Yes, I was super into ‘Twilight’ at this point in my life. Yikes. Also, braces galore.” — Sarah Kloepple, campus correspondent
8. Mirror selfies. Unfortunately, these still exist, but they are not as bad as they used to be. I mean, no one is sticking their tongue out or making peace signs 24/7 anymore, so good work Gen X, good work.
— Deena Kahn, staff writer
“My friend Josie and I used to be the stereotypical “scene/emo” kids. What with our love for screamo bands that I never understood, hair that had so many layers that it looked like an upscale mullet, tacky black band tees, skinny jeans with the belt off to the side for some reason, and a crazy amount of accessories like the notorious silly-bandz. We were cute, right?” — Paula Tredway, staff writer
“When putting random strips of unnatural colors in your hair was ‘cool'” — Mary Caitlyn Rodriguez, campus cutie/celeb editor
9. Subtweets. Although plenty of people still write passive aggressive tweets toward people they’re angry at, tweeters have gotten smarter and have made their tweets less obvious.
“I have no clue what meaningless drama this could have been about. My best guess is whether or not a boy ‘liked’ or ‘like-liked’ one of my friends back.” — Lauren Petterson, staff writer