Millennials are roasting themselves and the internet can’t stop laughing

Every generation has its cringe-worthy moments. Whether it's Tide Pods, Sephora kids, or whatever “brain rot” TikTok trend is making the rounds, it’s just the natural cycle of growing up. But Millennials? We were the first ones to have it all documented online—for better or worse.

Reddit user u/sunkissedgirls, a teacher, recently posed a question to the r/Millennials community: “What is the millennial equivalent to Gen Z’s Tide Pods and Gen Alpha’s Sephora face?”

It shouldn't have needed saying, but just cause it's candy colored doesn't mean it's edible. Austin Kirk via Wikimedia Commons

The responses? Pure gold. Or rather, deeply mortifying relics of the past. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane.

Millennial fashion was a battlefield

Let’s be honest: fashion from the early 2000s was bold… and not always in a good way. Between velour tracksuits and questionable hair trends, we were doing the most.

"Velour tracksuits… chunky highlights."

— @SmugLibrarian

Then came Bumpits, side bangs that required daily neck strain to style, and ultra-thin, overly-plucked eyebrows. The makeup? Let’s just say orange drugstore foundation was a universal experience.

"We had the drug store foundation orange face."

— @andrya86

And let’s not forget the iconic photo pose—hand on hip, head tilted, teapot-style. As LongjumpingPath3069 bluntly put it: “Just stop already.”

We said a lot of dumb stuff (and loudly)

From catchphrases to slang, Millennials had some pretty loud and proud vocal phases. “Wazzzzzzzup,” “suck it,” “YOLO,” and “cool beans” were practically required vocabulary.

We were Valley Girls, frat bros, and internet babies all at once. And yes, many of us still struggle to stop saying “like” every other word.

"I still have issues using 'like' in inappropriate situations."

— @othermother_00

dude_icus brought back the trauma of shouting "YEEEAH" and "OKAAAAY" like we were doing something. Spoiler: we were not.

We had trends that were straight-up dangerous

Before TikTok challenges existed, we still found ways to risk our lives for attention. The cinnamon challenge, planking on unsafe surfaces, and even those sticky urban legends—like bracelets that “meant something”—were our moments of chaos.

"Those cheap thin rubber bracelets… then some talk show host said each color indicated a sex act."

— @WeddingFickle6513

Let’s also not forget the emo band era, where song titles were paragraphs and our bangs covered half our face. Planking became a phenomenon so fast that it might be the earliest internet challenge gone wrong.

We were all in on cringe culture

From Lisa Frank everything to collecting Beanie Babies like investments, we fully leaned into the weird. White eyeliner, popped collars, glitter eye shadow that physically hurt your eyeballs—nothing was off-limits.

We crushed hard on the Backstreet Boys and wore clothing with cartoon characters well past the appropriate age. It was chaotic, expressive, and yes, sometimes deeply embarrassing.

But maybe that's the point. As u/sunkissedgirls wrote, Millennials were the first generation to live their adolescence online. There was no hiding the cringe. And now, looking back, there’s a strange comfort in knowing we weren’t alone in our questionable choices.

So go ahead, dust off your old duck face selfies, crank up the emo playlist, and laugh at your former self. Every generation has its moments. Ours were just captured with a blurry Myspace filter—and honestly, that makes them kind of iconic.