It's 1999 and the world is on the brink of a new millennium. Fear runs riot with Y2K; an inherent and catastrophic failure that will occur in all electronic devices when the clocks turn back to 00:00 01/01/00. Planes will fall from the sky; all nuclear weapons will launch and detonate; and, perhaps worse of all, our TiVo boxes will delete the entire first season of The Sopranos.

Of course, none of this happened. Many did think the world was ending because of their hangover but come January 1st, 2000 everything was in relative order. Little did people know however that the true age of digital was about to herald in.

The digital revolution has changed the world and the way people interact with one another. Sharing golfing tips with a man from Kuala Lumpur while watching a how-to video on julienning a carrot is simple to do. No one would batter an eyelid at such an exploit (at least not without Snapchatting the whole episode first).

Social media facilitates this with ease. In 1999, unless you were willing to remortgage to pay that month's phone bill, this was not so clearcut.

With these changes to our way of life, our actual language has adapted with the development and inclusion of lots of new words. And they are coming at some rate! Below we have listed 16 words that are commonplace today, but were completely unheard of as short as 16 years ago.

Social media: (n.) Websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking

Social media somehow makes you question your own reality: If you haven't Instagrammed your dinner is it real? If you haven't changed your relationship status from 'Single' to "It's complicated' on Facebook has it actually happened?

Smartphone: (n.) A mobile phone that performs many of the functions of a computer, typically having a touchscreen interface, Internet access, and an operating system capable of running downloaded apps

Our phones are our lifelines in this complicated digital world, and what do we do to them? We drain their very life-force like e-Parasites.

e-Reader: (n.) A handheld device on which electronic versions of books, newspapers, magazines, etc. can be read

Apps: (n.) Computing: an application, especially as downloaded by a user to a mobile device

WiFi: (n.) A facility allowing computers, smartphones, or other devices to connect to the Internet or communicate with one another wirelessly within a particular area

While WiFi was in existence before 2000, it wasn't until late 1999 that the term was being used commercially.

Not seeing this symbol on your device is tantamount to a tornado carrying man-eating sharks coming right for you!

Bitcoin: (n.) A type of digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank

Digital footprint: (n.) The information about a particular person that exists on the internet as a result of their online activity

Selfie: (n.) A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and shared via social media

Also the sole reason of Kim Kardashian's existence.

#Hashtag: (n.) A word or phrase preceded by a hash sign (#), used on social media websites and applications, especially Twitter, to identify messages on a specific topic

#WhatDidWeDoBeforeHashtags

Vlog: (n.) A blog in which the postings are primarily in video form

Facebook: (v.) Spend time using the social networking website Facebook

Google: (v.) Search for information about (someone or something) on the Internet using the search engine Google

Also the reason we can never beat the Quizee Rascals at the pub quiz...cheats.

Tweet: (v.) Post a message, image, etc. on the social media service Twitter

emoji: (n.) A small digital image or icon used to express an idea or emotion in electronic communication

Believe it or not the 'Face with tears of joy' was voted as the 2015 Oxford Dictionaries' Word of the Year - the first time ever a picture has won an award for words!

YouTuber: (n.) A frequent user of the video-sharing website YouTube, especially someone who produces and appears in videos on the site

YouTube sensation PewDiePie.

Meme: (n.) An image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by Internet users, often with slight variations

With this influx of new words we wonder how long it will be until historians write of Ye Olde Facebook, or archeologists open laptop lids like treasure chests in the hope of finding an ancient Bitcoin fortune.

Which words would you have added to the list? Comment below.

16 common words that didn't exist 16 years ago