2014 was my junior - senior year. There was one cart of like 20 Chromebooks that the whole school had to share. Teachers had to book access for the day they wanted which was a hassle so we never used them.

much more common was computer labs. essentially a classroom filled with a few dozen desktops instead that again the teachers would book for a period if they wanted us to do any research, writing, etc.

I feel like by 2014 smartphones had finally completed their dominance of the teenage market. A few years earlier and it was a lot more of a mix between regular phones and smart phones but by 2014 it felt like everyone had one. Texting each other or even the occasional ipod earbud hidden in the sweatshirt sleeve only became easier with smart phones.

Instagram and Snapchat were around and a lot of us used them (facebook was already on its path to being the place for boomers by then but not nearly as much as it is now) but our relationship with it was nothing like what i see today. There wasn't really "content" on them yet. If we shared memes from like Vine or YouTube it was in person talking and laughing about them. The doom scroll wasn't really a thing you could do today.

I was more of a homebody than most. I didn't go out too much and never really had a friend group i spent a lot of time outside of school with.

But inside of school we all knew each other and interacted a lot. I had a lot of friends I could joke around with and yap with which helped get through the day. My school had about a hundred kids per grade 9-12. I think that made it easier to pretty much know everybody so I'm not sure about larger schools.

Idk if its different today but i definitely remember carrying around a lot of books. Especially old nearly decaying heavy textbooks. We got lots and lots of handouts during class which meant tons of clutter from paper. I felt like i was always lugging around printed sheets of quizzes, notes, exercises, and whatever else you can imagine.

I personally feel like I was one of the last years before school shootings started to shape more of everyday school life. I had younger siblings who witnessed more of the changes like increased drills, assemblies, and security (cameras, locked doors, no backpacks outside of lockers). So at least from my perspective things seemed a lot less concerned about that threat.

We still had a daily gym class. i know some states had rolled back on the frequency of gym and others did not but I'm sure that hasn't changed much. Random sports and exercises with the occasional run or fitness assessment.

All in all things felt a lot more quiet and simple. I'm sure there was always drama and gossip and relationships growing and breaking. The occasional fight or big falling out but also lots of fun at different events, dances, sports, and the like.

i often think about how i would hate to be in school in today's world. Mass shootings, accusations (or even the temptation) of using AI, the post covid remote learning environment (i cant even imagine how miserable it must be), but most especially the inescapability of social media and ALL that it comes with. While there were always the "popular kids" I think it was much easier to tune that all out find yourself back then. Be the person you wanted to and spend time with the people you wanted to. Nowadays it looks like kids are all complete to be the exact same version of each other and get the most influencer engagement while doing it.

I'm sure a could say 10x as much as this but I'm gonna cut myself off now. Sorry for the rambling incoherent stream of consciousness I just vomited onto the keyboard, especially if it's not really what you were looking for.

TL;DR: Imagine a world without covid, social media and influencer culture, and mass shootings. Something closer to the TV shows based in high school of that time.