13 Things You'll Only Remember If You Grew Up On MSN Messenger

iMessage, Snapchat, and Facebook Messenger who?! Take us back to 1999 when MSN Messenger first launched!

In the days when you had to use your 100 texts a month wisely, MSN was the place to be straight after school and on the weekends to chat with all your mates. That's if your Mum wasn't on the phone of course.

Let's plug in the dial-up and take a trip down memory lane about the platform that truly defined a generation...

1. Rushing home from school to talk to your friends you'd already spent all day with

You spent six hours a day with your friends at school, but would immediately jump online when you got home to fulfill your "meet online at 4" promise.

2. Anxiously waiting for the log-in screen to load so you could check your messages

Sometimes it would feel like a lifetime...

3. Making a Hotmail account with "baby", "angel", "sxc", or "biatch" in the name

What if somebody had already taken your name? Add a "69" of course.

4. Having nudging battles

Long before the Facebook 'Poke', there was the MSN Messenger 'Nudge' - the ultimate tool when you were left on read.

5. Appearing offline to end convos or avoid talking to people you didn't want to talk to

The number one rule of the ghosting handbook.

6. Emoticons being the OG Emojis 

And you could customize the shortcuts, how ideal?! <3

7. Writing "BRB" and "GTG" every 10mins

"BRB" or "be right back" meant one of three things – you needed to pee, your mum needed to call Aunty Karen, or you were bored with the conversation. And "GTG" or "got to go" usually meant that dinner was ready.

8. Picking out the perfect song in your display name to reflect your mood

The perfect way to show off your genius music taste.

9. Logging in and out to get someone's attention

We've all been there...

10. Using song lyrics or symbols as your MSN screen name

Teenage angst at it's finest. 

11. Spamming your friends with "winks" only to have them block you shortly after

If emoticons weren't enough, you could throw down full-page animated "winks" that took over the whole conversation with smashing guitars and silly faces. 

12. Playing minesweeper flags for hours at a time

BRB, just gotta win this game of minesweeper flags.

13. Having to go offline so your Mum could use the phone

The joys of pre-broadband days - GTG!