Why I miss the 90s

[cheesesweat]

Growing up in the 90s was a blast for me. I think many older Millenials(over 30) feel the same. Living in America was actually "living". I remember that on the street that I grew up on, almost ALL of the neighborhood kids would come out and play. Now, playing back then was RADICALLY different than the kind of pathetic playing going on today. The neighborhood boys would gather pretty regularly to fight. My friend and I at the time were younger than everybody else, so we got our butts kicked usually. Maybe a couple times we won. This would be in multiple different people's front yards. Nobody cared about it.

I remember having boundless amounts of energy as every other kid seemed to had. We played all day, and it wasn't tame like riding a stupid seesaw. This kind of play included all kinds of mischief, trying to find old fireworks to explode, trying to get our hands on lighters and matches(total pyromaniacs). Fire was like pure joy back then. Spending hours and hours and hours burning crap with magnifying glasses. Attempting to make booby traps that would probably have been lethal if we were smart enough to succeed. Jumping off of all kinds of crap. Jumping off of trees, houses, sheds whatever. Testing our limits, constantly daring other kids to do the same. Skateboarding, rollerblading, which always consisted of trying to pull some crazy stunt and seeing if the other kids could do it. We used to skateboard for hours and hours and hours and hours, day after day after day after day. All the kids would come out to play, not always with us, but out with their peers. Oftentimes we'd have super soaker wars with all the kids. It was an absolute blast. The emotions and joy in so many of the different activities, I've probably never even had a smidgen of in the past 18 years.

The kids that were naturally indoors types would come out back then. Every couple weeks or so they'd come out and do something. Going to different houses in the neighborhood was also pretty standard. Go to so and so's house to play. So and so has a NES system at their house, so we'll play there today. So and so's dad doesn't give a crap what kind of mischief we get into, so we'll hang out over there. The street was the playground, and there was almost ALWAYS some kid on it.

The neighborhood adults were WAY more social back then. There would be neighborhood parties. All the neighbors would get together have a Bar B Que and drink beer. They'd be laughing and joking, having a great time. The kids would be RUNNING around everywhere constantly trying soak in the fun as much as possible.

I remember people socializing back then that would never ever EVER talk to each other intentionally now. The only time these people would talk is if they happened to meet in the supermarket, and it would probably be rushed as much as possible.

It's really hard to describe how awesome things were for so many kids at the time. I remember turning on the radio and enjoying almost every single DAMN song they played. I can play those 90s hits today, and STILL enjoy them. Movies back then were groundbreaking. Terminator 2, probably the best action movie of all time was created, Braveheart? You had Jim Carey's comedies that had people laughing their butts off at the time.

Life seemed so real. America seemed badass. The future looked good. There were bad days, but it was almost always followed by sheer bliss later on.

Compare the 90s with the monotony of today, and it's like night and day. The days drag on now. The future looks bleak, society is cold and indifferent, people are locked in their little bubbles, neighborhood communities are GONE, kids are locked in their homes most of the time because of all the predators out and about, the kids are also too lethargic and addicted to electronics to even want to go out.

I remember the teenagers at the time (Gen X). They would do super crazy stuff. They'd be on the back of truck with a skateboard flying down the street. They'd be doing all kinds of sick skateboard tricks on a half pipe or out in the street. They'd have garage bands practicing. They'd have souped up go carts or cars and would fly down the street. They were outside a lot. That same street is absolutely dead. The kids that are older teens now, do absolutely NOTHING like that. They instead will walk down the street on their phone, sending texts or playing games. They look weaker, tamed, bored, miserable. Somebody in the neighborhood would probably complain now anyway, but I don't think anybody needs to complain because no kid or older teen is going to do anything out there. They will go home and never come out, TV, Xbox, or phone most likely.

Take a look at 90s music hits on YouTube. If you browse the comments section you'll usually find an older Millenials reminiscing about how much better things were back then. They'll probably get 1k upvotes for that. Older generations probably don't look at the 90s with the same level of fondness that millenials do, but I'm assuming that's because previous decades were even better for them. I think the 90s was the last decade of real life in America, and boy did I enjoy it. Everything started going to crap FAST after 2000. 2019 is the pits.

[gsjackson]

Your assumption in the third-to-last sentence is correct. I've been around since 1950, and every decade has gotten significantly worse, though the '80s were in some ways better than the '70s. I think of the '90s as the decade when everything did finally arrive at hell in a hand basket. I remember coming out to Tucson, where I now live, in '97 after not being there for eight years and thinking how thuggish the culture had gotten. Now, of course, the whole country is like a massive bomb site populated with post-apocalyptic humanoid mutants.

The retreat indoors from public encounters really picked up steam in the late '60s and early '70s, and had a lot to do I think with the spread of central air conditioning. Technology has always played a role in this development, going back to the arrival of the radio in the 1920s. I'm actually kind of surprised to learn that kids were still getting out and about some in the '90s.

[Contrarian Expatriate]

I think of the '90s as the decade when everything did finally arrive at hell in a hand basket.

My thoughts exactly. The 1970’s was the end of America as a healthy society. With the 1980’s came the androgyny of Boy George, Prince, and Michael Jackson. By the 90’s, the decline was already in full swing and I knew that that country was but a pit stop on my life journey.

And the downward spiral continues.......

[cheesesweat]

Your assumption in the third-to-last sentence is correct. I've been around since 1950, and every decade has gotten significantly worse, though the '80s were in some ways better than the '70s. I think of the '90s as the decade when everything did finally arrive at hell in a hand basket. I remember coming out to Tucson, where I now live, in '97 after not being there for eight years and thinking how thuggish the culture had gotten. Now, of course, the whole country is like a massive bomb site populated with post-apocalyptic humanoid mutants.

The retreat indoors from public encounters really picked up steam in the late '60s and early '70s, and had a lot to do I think with the spread of central air conditioning. Technology has always played a role in this development, going back to the arrival of the radio in the 1920s. I'm actually kind of surprised to learn that kids were still getting out and about some in the '90s.

I think technology had a huge part in ruining everything. I'm not anti-tech, but in many cases I think it's just absolutely ruined society. I miss the days before cell phones. Those devices, along with mass media, social media, Hollywood, the Internet and many other things corrupted society and made people extremely disconnected. I'm sure people of the 50s would be absolutely shocked if they saw Hollywood was producing things like Hostel and Project X, made available to everyone through technology.

If we were so better off with technology You wouldn't have tons of people on SSRIs, hating their life every single day even though they have the latest iPhone, tablet, PC, blazing fast internet, PS4 etc..

[cheesesweat]

I think of the '90s as the decade when everything did finally arrive at hell in a hand basket.

My thoughts exactly. The 1970’s was the end of America as a healthy society. With the 1980’s came the androgyny of Boy George, Prince, and Michael Jackson. By the 90’s, the decline was already in full swing and I knew that that country was but a pit stop on my life journey.

And the downward spiral continues.......

Sounds like perhaps the 50s and decades prior was when America was normal. I feel bad for the kids being born now. They will have no clue how much better things were back then. All they'll know is this modern, dystopic, soul crushing crap.

[fschmidt]

I think technology had a huge part in ruining everything.

No. Read about the decay of Rome. It was exactly the same as the decay of America.

[Cornfed]

I feel bad for the kids being born now. They will have no clue how much better things were back then. All they'll know is this modern, dystopic, soul crushing crap.

Maybe they are lucky in a way.

[flowerthief00]

Everyone when they start to get old complains about the younger generation and the younger generation's culture. Whatever generation you grew up in that you thought was so great, I bet your parents that it was crap. It will probably go on like this for eternity.

I would have to see some metrics to be convinced that a given generation actually was "the best" or "the worst".

[onethousandknives]

A big thing imo with the 90s, though I think I'm a tad younger than the OP, is that in the 90s the economy boomed hard in USA especially. My life in the 90s as a kid was pretty idyllic, I had two undivorced parents, lived in a rented but big and nice house, I went to private Christian school, and both my parents fairly consistently had jobs and made a combined total together of about $180K per year in 1990s dollars, which is equivalent to $300K today. Then in 2001 my parents divorced, all us kids lived only with my mother who got sick after, and our income went to about 40-50K per year and we all went to public school and life went to hell in a handbasket quick.

A dark side to the money thing was debt, credit, and bankruptcy was a lot easier in the 1990s. That's kind of what fueled a lot of the 90s boom. But I think more broadly you just had a lot less consolidation amongst industries back then. For example, the internet was an uncharted field, and it so happened that USA/the West got the head start on developing websites and businesses based on it. Google and Amazon hadn't taken over everything yet. But even besides that you had a lot more choice in stores, etc, you might have had Ames, Caldor, Target, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, etc, in one county/area, plus maybe 2-3 local ones. Now that same area may have only Wal-Mart as a department store. I think economically as well, while we had short sort of "sprint" wars like the Gulf War and Bosnia in the 90s, we had no long drawn out total wars like we had in the 2000s. So government budgets didn't need as much tax dollars, but actually got more done without the wars sucking all our money away. So bridges were painted, lines were right on the roads, pot holes were fixed, pipes didn't have brown water coming out when you turned on the tap, etc. Just having functional infrastructure I'm sure helps in the "not feeling soul crushing and depressing" thing.

Even though a lot of Boomers hated the 90s, even my Boomer father admits money flowed like water back then. With Boomers and the 90s, it's kind of my observation 99% of successful Boomers got successful based on some action they did in the 90s. Getting their masters degree and getting X job, starting whatever business, or just buying a house and managing to hold on to it and it now being worth millions, most of that was done in the 90s. Some as well lost everything after the 90s, as they lived in basically the easiest time of human history with unlimited credit and money to do anything they want, or even if you were on welfare you got more money than now, and about double the GDP growth as now, and then once the environment got tougher, they couldn't adjust and had no savings. It's a bit like Joseph and the Biblical story of 7 years of plenty and 7 years of famine. All I kind of wished out of my parents was that they during this time of plenty, just saved and thought of the future, but the Boomers were brainwashed out of most capacity for forward thinking into thinking only of immediate gratification and pleasure.

[cheesesweat]

A big thing imo with the 90s, though I think I'm a tad younger than the OP, is that in the 90s the economy boomed hard in USA especially. My life in the 90s as a kid was pretty idyllic, I had two undivorced parents, lived in a rented but big and nice house, I went to private Christian school, and both my parents fairly consistently had jobs and made a combined total together of about $180K per year in 1990s dollars, which is equivalent to $300K today. Then in 2001 my parents divorced, all us kids lived only with my mother who got sick after, and our income went to about 40-50K per year and we all went to public school and life went to hell in a handbasket quick.

A dark side to the money thing was debt, credit, and bankruptcy was a lot easier in the 1990s. That's kind of what fueled a lot of the 90s boom. But I think more broadly you just had a lot less consolidation amongst industries back then. For example, the internet was an uncharted field, and it so happened that USA/the West got the head start on developing websites and businesses based on it. Google and Amazon hadn't taken over everything yet. But even besides that you had a lot more choice in stores, etc, you might have had Ames, Caldor, Target, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, etc, in one county/area, plus maybe 2-3 local ones. Now that same area may have only Wal-Mart as a department store. I think economically as well, while we had short sort of "sprint" wars like the Gulf War and Bosnia in the 90s, we had no long drawn out total wars like we had in the 2000s. So government budgets didn't need as much tax dollars, but actually got more done without the wars sucking all our money away. So bridges were painted, lines were right on the roads, pot holes were fixed, pipes didn't have brown water coming out when you turned on the tap, etc. Just having functional infrastructure I'm sure helps in the "not feeling soul crushing and depressing" thing.

Even though a lot of Boomers hated the 90s, even my Boomer father admits money flowed like water back then. With Boomers and the 90s, it's kind of my observation 99% of successful Boomers got successful based on some action they did in the 90s. Getting their masters degree and getting X job, starting whatever business, or just buying a house and managing to hold on to it and it now being worth millions, most of that was done in the 90s. Some as well lost everything after the 90s, as they lived in basically the easiest time of human history with unlimited credit and money to do anything they want, or even if you were on welfare you got more money than now, and about double the GDP growth as now, and then once the environment got tougher, they couldn't adjust and had no savings. It's a bit like Joseph and the Biblical story of 7 years of plenty and 7 years of famine. All I kind of wished out of my parents was that they during this time of plenty, just saved and thought of the future, but the Boomers were brainwashed out of most capacity for forward thinking into thinking only of immediate gratification and pleasure.

Even though the older folks don't care much for the 90s, and I get that, I'm still convinced it was MUCH better than it is today. I have a pretty vivid memory of things back in the 90s and made plenty of observations, even though I was a kid. Things were, without a doubt, better. Financially, people in general were doing much better; social life was clearly better. I don't think women were nearly as bad. I could still see that there were tons of degenerates at the time and things were on their way down. But it still wasn't in the toilet bowl yet. Now, we've been living in society that's been flushed down the toilet a decade ago.

[fschmidt]

Yes the 1890s were good.

[HappyGuy]

I think technology had a huge part in ruining everything.

No. Read about the decay of Rome. It was exactly the same as the decay of America.

The speed of the decay was increased by cable and satellite tv and broadband internet which raised porn addiction.

I have a pretty vivid memory of things back in the 90s and made plenty of observations, even though I was a kid. Things were, without a doubt, better. Financially, people in general were doing much better; social life was clearly better. I don't think women were nearly as bad. I could still see that there were tons of degenerates at the time and things were on their way down. But it still wasn't in the toilet bowl yet. Now, we've been living in society that's been flushed down the toilet a decade ago.

In the 90s on weekends people would hold barbecues at the park with friends and neighbors there were so many parties there weren't enough bbq pits to go around. Everybody had plastic coolers they'd haul around, you'd see dozens sometimes hundreds of people as you drove by a park. Grown men would throw around footballs or set up beach volleyball nets, when was the last time you saw something like that? Back then only an unfortunate few like college students had to work on Saturday and miss out now most people work on the weekends either they have to or they need the money for expensive gadgets. If they are free on weekends it doesn't matter everyone has too many online hobbies and addictions to attend to. Compared to the 90s very few of us live in the moment anymore and value the people around us instead of the people online. Drive by a park at 3pm on a Saturday and it's completely deserted except for few immigrants who probably wonder why America has so many parks that go unused.

[dancilley]

Lately, I have been experimenting with avoiding the internet, for many days or weeks at a time.

When you avoid the stimulation of the internet, TV, etc. what happens is, your mind first goes through a period of 1-3 days of significant withdrawal symptoms. You will be irritable, moody, angry, and constantly be thinking about picking up your phone and watching YouTube, or porn, etc.

But as each day passes, if you totally continue to avoid computers, phones, TV, etc. you will start to notice that you are thinking about those things much less, and then you will totally lose the cravings.

Earlier this year, I avoided the internet for 6 weeks. Totally. I did not watch TV, listen to music, etc. What I did was, I exercised every day. I started to build muscle and run farther and faster.

I noticed that when I was running, I was smiling. I was literally smiling the entire time I was running.

I ran to this state park, and noticed that the feeling of the grass, the air, etc. had a "refreshing" feeling to it. It was pleasurable. I was thinking, "This could be like a hobby, to come here every day, and just be here and breathe the clean air and take in the surroundings."

When I got home, I was very physically exhausted from the exercise. I poured myself a large glass of ice water with more than enough ice, and sat down. I just drank the ice water and sat. I noticed I was pretty content just sitting there and drinking ice water. No urge to access the internet or turn on the TV. I liked how that felt.

I believe the internet, TV, etc. overstimulate the brain, just how drugs do, and this is one reason people are not appreciating each other, hate each other, etc.

Also, I was coming up with ideas to invite people to have a park party/barbecue/picnic, and dancing or some type of game afterward.

So, the lack of stimulation of internet, etc. will cause you to appreciate "simple" things more. And you will be motivated to go out and exercise, because it makes you feel good.

You will also be motivated to sing or dance or talk or write. Everything will seem more fun.

This explains why the 90's were better! No internet. No personal phone. No cable TV. No air conditioning. A lot of exercise. No Starbucks/coffee. No sex either. The lack of stimulation motivated people to go out and connect with the outside world, with people in person.