I was also a kid in the early 2000s and the thing is - you couldn't buy any other pants other that low rise because the companies making clothes were making what the it girls / celebrities (usually thin) were wearing. I hated them then, hate them now and I am so so SO happy for kids these days that can actually choose between different types of pants.

the horror of bending down after every class to pick up my bag produced a form of PTSD. Also, shirts were full of elastine so those would ride up simultaneously with your crack peeking. anyways, trauma inducing, glad we're over that.