When college started...

When college started (only 4 years ago):

With thanks to CNN, here's some of the headlines that were popular in 2004:
May 18, 2004 - Gas prices peek above $2.00 a gallon and this story sounds like it could be written this year: http://money.cnn.com/2004/05/18/pf/autos/gas_prices/index.htm

Facebook was just starting to hit the scene...and at that time, it was only open to big universities (not high schoolers, not many colleges, and certainly not the general public)

Myspace - again, just starting to take off

Blogs (like this one) also were not as popular as they are now

We were debating gay marriage in California (and still are)

The 2004 election was a referendum on Iraq (and this one still is)

There's probably more...