High School in the Late ’90s Before Social Media Before social media, high school in the late ’90s was a mostly offline, face-to-face world. Social life happened in hallways, at lunch tables, during class breaks, and through landline phone calls or handwritten notes folded a hundred times before being passed. Friend groups were shaped by who you actually spent time with—not algorithms. Rumors, crushes, and trends traveled slowly by word of mouth instead of spreading instantly online. Pop culture