Life moves fast: 21 ways things are different now vs 2006

The Nintendo Wii dropped in November 2006 and was an instant favorite among gamers. The Roblox generation might just lose their minds to encounter the glory that was Wii bowling.

There was a solid decade or so when emo music was everywhere, with 2006 being one of the most notable for touring and releases. Today, emo music is still around, but its impact is less present in the mainstream, except at nostalgic festivals like When We Were Young and the three random weekends when Warped Tour happens.

Miley Cyrus, who? In 2006, she was simply known as Hannah Montana. Of course, Cyrus would go on to make the network a lot of money, which would eventually lead to a cascade of new programming and young stars, with Cyrus leading the pack, still all these years later, as a Grammy-winner who does things by her own rules.

The story of an outbreak that left Cillian Murphy in survival mode in 28 Days Later was the only tale in what would eventually be a beloved horror franchise. Not until the following year in 2007, would the world find out what happened 28 weeks after the fact, and in 2025 (and 2026), 28 years.

With social media and apps like Instagram that made images seem more important than they actually are, celebrities started to pay way more attention to what they wore when out and about. However, that wasn’t the case in 2006. Back then, they were really wearing anything to promote their projects.

The argument about reality TV is that it is the lowest form of entertainment on the small screen. However, there was a time when VH1 delivered the true golden era of reality dating shows, which still remain some of the best, must-watch TV of all time, and it started with a hip-hop hype man in 2006, when Flavor of Love kicked it all off. Today, the magic of those shows has been lost, replaced by overly produced dating shows like Love Island, Temptation Island, and a handful of others featuring sexy singles in swimwear.

The iPhone would revolutionize the mobile phone industry in 2007, which means that in 2006, we were still very much not too attached to being connected every single second of the day.

In 2006, Night at the Museum was the second biggest-grossing movie of the year. Some might think, " Why is that notable?” It’s because today, comedies, especially original concepts that don’t spawn from IP, are rare. Nowadays, movie studios love to buy ideas that already exist, like Super Mario or Minecraft, and then put as little effort as they can into the script because they know tickets will sell regardless of the movie being good or not. Bring back comedies in theaters!

American Idol was still a big deal in 2006. A ratings juggernaut, it was watched by many and talked about by even more. Today, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who could name the last few winners. However, the only show that came close to it back then, Dancing with the Stars, is still pretty popular.

Thanks to the internet, bad performances live on forever. That’s unfortunate for singers like Fergie, who has a couple of moments on the mic that are so notorious, they’ve made many wonder just how she came to be a part of The Black Eyed Peas, one of the best-selling musical acts of the 2000s (and all-time, for that matter). Nevertheless, she was a big deal in 2006 as everyone was under the spell of “London Bridge.”

Despite Facebook opening itself up to more than college kids in 2006 and Twitter launching, MySpace was still the end-all, be-all of cool when it came to social media. Now, many would give anything to have those very particular profiles back in their lives. However, the drama of picking one’s Top 8 — well, the world is better without that.

If there is one thing Showtime is going to do, it’s find a way to bring Michael C. Hall’s Dexter back time and time again. It debuted in 2006, but since then has returned to TV a couple of times to showcase various chapters in the serial killer with somewhat of a moral compass’ journey.

The Fast & Furious movies started out good. The first was actually a decent movie, as were the following sequels like 2006’s The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Of course, everyone knows that things took a turn somewhere down the line, as the Fast family now includes Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson breaking out of casts to take down helicopters, and ventures into space.

For some reason, it was considered chic and cool to rock a pair of jeans underneath dresses.

Guy Fieri had been in the restaurant business for a decade before landing on Food Network Star and eventually winning It in 2006. Anyone who has watched that channel since has noticed how it’s about 80% Guy Fieri shows and 20% everything else. He truly took the title he won and ran with it, ultimately becoming the face of Food Network.

There was once a time when every facet of Taylor Swift’s life wasn’t a headline. In 2006, her self-titled country album had just dropped, but the world at large wouldn’t really notice her until she crossed over into the mainstream with 2008’s Fearless, and well, the world has known everyone she’s dated since, whether they’ve wanted to or not.

It’d be another two years before Marvel movies dominated the box office with Iron Man kicking things off in May 2008.

Once upon a time, Donald Trump was just the host of a reality show that aired on NBC. Unfortunately, he left TV behind to focus on other aspirations.

Flat screens were starting to replace the big square box CRT television sets, but it was costing people an arm and a leg with the flat models costing upwards of $2,000. Today, a 42-inch TV would only set someone back a couple of hundred bucks, if that.

High School Musical had just debuted on the Disney Channel in January 2006, and every actor in it was just “so and so from that musical on Disney,” including Zac Efron. Now, the actor has transcended the House of Mouse to become one of the most recognizable actors in Hollywood, and has even been lauded in recent years for his work in The Iron Claw, for which he was robbed of an Oscar nomination.

Low-rise jeans still make millennials squirm, but for some reason, they wore them like it was their full-time job back in the day.