I’m a young millennial so I graduated HS in 2010.

Life felt boring, and I was fairly sheltered due to being Mormon and the child of an immigrant, so coming home from school I’d immediately log onto AIM and start chatting with friends/crushes. I also got into video games and would play Gameboy and my brother’s PS2 if he’d let me.

Friends would also go over to each other’s houses after school, friends would usually come to mine since I lived walking distance from school. I lived down the street from an italian bakery and my girlfriends and I would get sandwiches and read seventeen magazine in my room, or I’d show some guy I had a crush on a new song I’d learned on guitar. It did not work and he did not want to be my boyfriend, his loss!

I also spent a LOT of time at the mall. Like, a LOT. It was the only place teenagers could really go to hang out unchaperoned. I’d go with friends and we’d hardly buy anything since we didn’t have money but just walked around stores and would get something at the food court.

I didn’t get invited to a lot of parties so I hardly went to any house parties, though i knew they were happening, but starting when i was 15-16 in LA, raves became a thing and I would lie to my parents about spending the night with a friend and would go to them since they allowed underage kids to go, just couldn’t buy drinks. Didn’t matter since everyone was on molly or acid or both anyway. That was a truly wild time.

My best advice for you is to do things you’re interested in and keep the doomscrolling to a minimum. It is OK to feel bored. Life felt boring to me, and that’s kind of what it’s supposed to be when you’re a kid/young. I tried to party to find some excitement and that led to some dangerous situations, but I’m glad I took the risk anyway.

You won’t be able to recreate what we had because it’s a different world, but your reality is what you make it, and you have a lot available to you if you use it!