Millennial commenters express a desire to rewind to that era of their lives; younger posters wish that they could have lived through it in the first place. Like “Home,” these other relics hark back to an unencumbered life outside of our performative digital panopticon. As a bit of internet-vernacular wisdom puts it, “I am cringe but I am free.”

Social media had not yet standardized our online experiences, and content wasn’t algorithmically manicured. The internet felt, somehow, more human, more real. A hodgepodge of self-expression, creativity, and human connection, punctuated by amusingly tacky GeoCities animations and early memes.