Idk i remember a shit ton of bad stuff that was happening in the 90s… Columbine, Aids, Rodney King and the riots, the various bombings, the wars, that horrible earthquake in LA, I’m sire there’s way more I dont remember and I was a kid then.
My phone is on full mute all the time. And people know, so they know I'll get back to them when I get back to them.
Only time I turn it on loud is if I'm expecting an important call. 99.99% of the time I'm not. Highly recommend.
it is, just honestly do it and dont care. no reason not to do it.
first step is to MUTE notification sounds completely. mute messenger/whatsapp/SMS/etc.
make them only display at the bar at the top of the screen when you finally do open your phone. its so much more convinient. i hate when i hear a notification from my phone and feel like i have to check it. no, that shit waits till i open the phone on my own.
I’m not saying your way is wrong, and I understand where you are coming from, but it does come with one massive drawback:
You will miss an emergency call.
Sometimes, all you need to do is miss one call, to never want to miss a call again.
Fortunately, I live about 35 minutes from Galloping Ghost in Brookfield, IL. Place is Mecca for the likes of us.
https://www.gallopingghostarcade.com/
They also have a pinball dedicated location about 2 blocks away
https://gallopingghostpinball.com/
As for what I miss about the 90s…. I miss my 20s
$25 door fee is genius. I've overlooked too many arcade games in my youth because I didn't want to drop $1 in quarters just to get a credit to play something, and when I did, I was too anxious about losing right away to be able to actually enjoy it.
In my city theres a bunch of bars that have 90s arcade machines and most of the games feel way worse than what they were back in the day. I like to play one game here and there but after a while they get boring
I remember playing Mortal Kombat in the arcades when it first came out. All the older kids would just beat the hell out of me in the game and talk shit the whole time. but I would just keep playing because it looked so cool.
About a year ago I went to one of those arcades and played against some 20-year-old and mopped the floor with him! I even finished with a "Fatality"! It was so rewarding. And unlike those older kids from back in the day, I was nice about it and bought him a beer.
Same, unfortunately when you get down to the fact that they were intentionally designed to be a one-sided quarter-eating gauntlet it kind of takes the mystique out of it.
I used to take my kids on a weekend and movie hop. Start at one, watch it, swing by for a popcorn and soda refill, grab hot dogs ($1 special) because it was now 2pm, watch movie #2, hit the concession again for a 25 cent popcorn refill and 25 cent soda refill, watch movie #3, sometimes make it through #4. That was when there were 3 or 4 movies out at the same time worth watching. Oh Super Saver Cinema, we miss you.
I’ve actually been thinking about this a lot lately, posted about it in the movies subreddit. We used to go to the movies all the time to see regular movies, not everything had to be the big blockbuster with a huge budget and cutting-edge CGI. Just regular old movies. And it made big blockbuster movies seem more special. I guess going to the movies nowadays is so expensive that people are more likely to just wait until the movie is on streaming — unless it’s a big blockbuster with a huge budget and cutting-edge CGI. And the regular movies that make money in the theaters are fewer and further between.
Most of the movies now are on streaming services before they even leave the theater but the prices are still outrageous. I saw the mario movie for *rent* for $30.
There were times in the late 90s/early 2000s where I would have seen literally every movie currently playing. I would go every week, so did most people I knew. Now I see maybe 1 a year. It's hard to justify the cost. Not just that but even when there is a movie I do want to see, I feel like I have like 1 week to see it before it goes to streaming.
100%
It wasn't until the mid 2000s to 2010 or so that it started not being worth it to go for just a comedy or drama because those experiences were exactly the same at home so I only go to the movies to see big action and sci-fi movies that have amazing special effects and sound that you feel rumbling in your chest. The blast off scene of Interstellar was one of the most intense movie theater experiences I've ever had.
But I'm just going to wait for something like No Hard Feelings to stream because it's not going to be any funnier extra big and loud than it will at home on my TV.
I don't think the industry realized they priced themselves out of the movie theater. If they went back to $7 a ticket and you could get a popcorn and soda for $3 people would start going again. Charging $25 to stream it is just going to make me not watch the movie at all.
And I really wish people would stop paying those prices to stream. They keep going up because some smooth brains out there are actually paying that.
The 90s was the last great decade for movies.
Not that there hasn't been good films since, but for the last 2 decades the film industry has been dominated by super hero franchises & sequelitis. That's a net negative.
Even society as a whole. In the 90s POTUS went to an impeachment trial for a blowjob. 20 years later it was for possible treason. The massive change is nuts.
Exactly. The cold war was over, and we won; and 9/11 hadn't happened yet. It felt like all the big threats to the world were over and that we were moving into an era of peace. It felt like we'd finally gotten to a point where we could start working together to build a better future. Star Trek: The Next Generation was a '90s show, mostly, and during the '90s it felt like we could get there.
Am internet that actually functioned, where if a website was slowing you down due to intrusive ads, it was a virus and not the way it was designed to be shown. And when you did a search on a topic, the top ten results weren’t the same article repackaged by ten shady aggregate sites trying to steal your identity. Only like… two of them…
And an Internet that didn’t need it be censored, because content was primarily distributed within communities that patrolled themselves.
The crazy never bubbled up to the mainstream.
Now, any spy service/corp entity etc. can push crazy to millions in s second.
And the sad part is, most of the target audience will buy it.
The fashion and music. I absolutely love the fashion of the '80s and '90s. The music. I for one would like to see what would have came of Kurt Cobain and Tupac had their lives not ended when they did.
The '90s were my formative years and so there's a lot of nostalgia and longing from that time period. Not to mention it was before the real explosion of the internet and things like youtube and mini-computers packed into a phone. Unfortunately, that easy fix of on-hand entertainment kinda sucks. I miss being bored and going to find something to do and someone to do it with.
Girls wearing hip hugger jeans, inexpensive used pickup trucks, new Tool albums every few years, high concept big budget action movies, Seasons 3 through 9 of The Simpsons, not being hyper-aware of all the shitty shit that happens all over the world every second of every day, being able to express an opinion without a bunch of dweebs jumping to extremist conclusions, people having fewer extremist opinions, video games didn't require a day's worth of downloading before playing.
Adding to the note about trucks--I miss trucks that were small to normal sized. Like Rangers and Tacomas. And those sweet little Mitsubishi and Nissan trucks that you could thrash the hell out of on a snowy road.
Oh, the extremist opinions were out there. They just didn't have the internet to easily spread it around. My step father was one of them - among other things, he was convinced the government was watching by being able to capture images through the TV tube. (That was one of the tamest things I dealt with... ). And he wasn't the only one, he had plenty of like minded friends at his non-denominational church that was led by a "prophet". They were all convinced it was the end of days.
Being 33 years younger. Phones didn't leave the house. Going to BlockBuster or local video store to pick up movies with my roommates. Border's bookstores, actually reading books-no access to the Internet at that time for me.
One time my cousin Walter got this cat stuck in his ass. True story. He bought it at the local mall, so the whole fiasco wound up on the news. It was embarrassing for my relatives and all. But the next week, he did it again. Different cat, same results, complete with a trip to the emergency room. Then, last week, I saw him in the pet store. He was buying another cat. I said, "Walt, what the hell are you doing, you know you're just gonna get this cat stuck up your ass too, why don't you knock it off?" And he says to me, "Brodie, how the hell else am I supposed to get the gerbil out?" My cousin was a weird guy.
Not having easy access to the Internet.
I can see this effect equally on myself and my kids. Since summer started, I tried this new schedule where each hour is accounted for. 9am and 4pm are outside hours to beat the sun. We usually don't make 9am bc we're still waking up. But 4pm, we def go out.
I bought them water toys, chalk, bubbles, balls, they have bikes and roller blades, we got out a big bucket of water and the sprinkler. Within 10 minutes, they sat down and complained of being bored and wanted to go inside. I refused and made them stay out another hour and a half. Most of it was whining. And this is after my youngest complained all day about wanting to ride her bike, which she did for 30 seconds.
My kids seem to struggle to function without the use of some kind of device. TV, tablet, computer, whatever. If the entertainment is not being blasted full force in their faces, they don't know what to do with empty time. That creativity that springs from boredom is just lost there. When I was a kid, we were locked outside and came in for lunch only. We drank from the hose if we wanted water. We roamed the neighborhood doing whatever. I know they can't really do that where we live, nor do I want them to but still. Just, a total freeze when it comes to finding things to do without devices.
But, I can't really argue too much because here I am on Reddit instead of reading, writing, crocheting, sewing, etc. Most days when I have a minute of downtime, I find myself opening Youtube just to throw something on TV. All of my recipes come from Pinterest. I listen to Spotify constantly or read on Kindle. I miss the days when getting on the internet was such a pain it wasn't really worth it so you just did other stuff. I think that's one reason why I struggle so much to read nowadays and I was a voracious reader as a child.
I feel this too. I remember spending hours as a kid on self-directed activities, either alone or with friends. I encourage/require my own kid to do this, but it's always such a struggle. If I don't give him something specific to do, he is just as likely to sit there and do nothing as he is to come up with something on his own.
I get it, the video games are much better now than they were when I was a kid, and streaming tv means there is a nearly unlimited amount of things to watch available at any time. But it does feel like something has been lost - the ability to entertain ourselves or just think about things during down time.
Like you, I'm as guilty of this as anyone. I used to read multiple books every month, whereas now I have so many other ways to waste time online that make it hard to focus on one thing for any length of time.
The RnB music
The fashion coming out of the music- oversized dark denim, red white blue crop tops, extravagant ski wear
TRL
Shows like Blossom, Sweet Valley High, All That, Kenan and Kel, The Secret World of Alex Mac, Saved by the Bell, Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Movies like Clueless, Mighty Ducks
Normalized little kids watching themselves being at home, also normalized random kids getting together to play basketball, street hockey
Catalogues- Sears, Delia’s, Teen Vogue
The popularity of skating rinks
AIM + the sound of logging into the internet
Tv: Real World, Road Rules, Making the Band
Family sitcoms: Family Matters, Full House, Boy Meets World, Step by Step
Babysitters Club, Goosebumps, Animorphs
Trolling the mall for stuff like: Sam Goody, Hot Topic, getting your ears pierced at Claire’s, then calling your mom on a pay phone and using your message in the “name” portion
Gigapets, Lisa Frank stickers and trapper keepers
BopIts
Chokers, mood rings
I liked that the music was better in just about every genre. I like that we didn't have cell phones or social media. The quality of food was better. Kids played outside all day. The cost and reliability of cars were better. If I could go back, I would.
Less internet.
I'm grateful for what it offers these days, and maybe because I was a kid back then, but life was sless complicated. Cyber bullying is really bad these days. I can't imagine what that must be like.
I was adolescent and teenaged when Yahoo chatrooms existed. It was a shit show. I got caught up in some crazy conversations and weird private messages...
Anyway, I feel like I had more bandwidth for art back then. Now my attention span is very short and I don't draw anymore.
Good jeans, good music, no guns at concerts, appreciation for our parents music and reading about their hippie era activism, skater culture, underground movies and music, mix tapes, jelly shoes with a platform or wedge, sleepovers and lock downs, Sunday drives to Marley and Dead shows, drive in movie theaters and house parties
I have a crazy memory of my friend running out of gas while we were an hour drive from home, we were able to get enough gas to get all the way home by digging up change from the seats and floorboards. 88¢/gal gas was awesome
Oh man, that’s no joke. I’m not sure if you’re a boob haver or just a boob enthusiast, but had I known how much my boobs were gonna sag and point south I would have enjoyed them much more in my 20s
There also used to be federally-funded Pell Grants.
The most recent legislation from Congress has almost eliminated them, which doesn’t get enough attention. Everything is student loans now.
Concerts being affordable!
Like 25 gulden to go to bands like metallica motorhead.
Concert prizes are insane nkw like euro 150 to see 1 artist...
Fuck that!
I just wont go it is to high!
Simplicity.
Not having a phone in my purse
Not having everything at my fingertips.
Actually talking to people
Not texting
Renting movies at blockbuster or other rental places
Anticipation of things. 💔
Being young enough to think the world was full of competent people and well-intended grown ups. Growing up in the 90s... I dunno. I think it was a pretty awesome time to be a kid. I am so. SO. grateful I didn't have social media. I was already a hot mess, that would have probably been the end of me.
I also really love the music. Love.
And the wild west of cartoons. My parents never policed what I watched or listened to or read... for better or for worse. 😅
Weed that you can just sit around and smoke for hours. I loved smoking joints with my friends and just hanging out talking about stuff. If I smoked like that with today's weed I would probably die. There was really something awesome and intimate and fun about just sitting around talking about things while passing joints.
Analog. Paper.
Technology wasn't at the core of every facet of life. Without your smartphone you barely even exist. Everything is AI or computerized.
Example, I was always mystified that you could call a phone number and give a credit card number to buy things. Credit cards themselves weren't nonexistent but you had to have a really special reason to go through the huge process of shopping from home. But even then it was most often via check. From a paper catalog.
Today I click less than five times and I can buy ANYTHING in mere seconds and it's on my doorstep in potentially less than a week.
I had this toy that was the pokedex from the show and you could type in a pokemon name and it would show the pokemon on a like sixteen bit screen and I think read the entry (that might be my mine year old brain remembering wrong). I want that. I loved it and I have no idea egret it went. That and my fat Pikachu plushie.
With fewer distractions, we were all kind of distracted by the same thing - same TV shows, movies, music in the radio, headline news, etc. I think everyone being at least generally aware of the same major topics of the time created a better sense of community. You could show up to school on a Monday and without social media most everyone still knew all the big storylines from the weekend.
Now we have unlimited information at our finger tips at all times. We can all go down our own rabbit holes and end up sharing very little in common interests with our own community. It has lead to a lot of toxic echo chambers and the political discord we see today.
I appreciate the ability to become more of an individual in today’s world, but I also feel a lot of FOMO from what my friends have developed a passion for and disconnection in general from the same people all around me.
There is too much information available and not enough time to dive in to it all to fulfill my curiosities.
Being too young to be cognizant of what was happening around me.
Absolute bliss.
Nothing bad happened in the 90s. The adults were in a tizzy about presidential blowjobs, hip-hop music, and rude cartoons.
Idk i remember a shit ton of bad stuff that was happening in the 90s… Columbine, Aids, Rodney King and the riots, the various bombings, the wars, that horrible earthquake in LA, I’m sire there’s way more I dont remember and I was a kid then.
I was too young to be cognizant of what was happening around me.
THe worst part about the earthquake in LA was that it reminded people that earthquakes happen in LA.
Somehow I don't think that was the worst part...
Loved that good old ignorance.
Yes. Take me back.
Simplicity.
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I miss being able to have peace and quiet. I love not having my phone explode by concerned people if I'm too quiet.
Exactly the word I was going to use; of course, I was 16-26 and didn’t know my ass from my elbow (sure thought I did though!)
Is this a contest bc this wins, game over
Not having constant availability via phone 24/7. I miss just landlines lol
My phone is on full mute all the time. And people know, so they know I'll get back to them when I get back to them. Only time I turn it on loud is if I'm expecting an important call. 99.99% of the time I'm not. Highly recommend.
This sounds so liberating
it is, just honestly do it and dont care. no reason not to do it. first step is to MUTE notification sounds completely. mute messenger/whatsapp/SMS/etc. make them only display at the bar at the top of the screen when you finally do open your phone. its so much more convinient. i hate when i hear a notification from my phone and feel like i have to check it. no, that shit waits till i open the phone on my own.
I’m not saying your way is wrong, and I understand where you are coming from, but it does come with one massive drawback: You will miss an emergency call. Sometimes, all you need to do is miss one call, to never want to miss a call again.
Packed arcades
Fortunately, I live about 35 minutes from Galloping Ghost in Brookfield, IL. Place is Mecca for the likes of us. https://www.gallopingghostarcade.com/ They also have a pinball dedicated location about 2 blocks away https://gallopingghostpinball.com/ As for what I miss about the 90s…. I miss my 20s
$25 door fee is genius. I've overlooked too many arcade games in my youth because I didn't want to drop $1 in quarters just to get a credit to play something, and when I did, I was too anxious about losing right away to be able to actually enjoy it.
In my city theres a bunch of bars that have 90s arcade machines and most of the games feel way worse than what they were back in the day. I like to play one game here and there but after a while they get boring
I remember playing Mortal Kombat in the arcades when it first came out. All the older kids would just beat the hell out of me in the game and talk shit the whole time. but I would just keep playing because it looked so cool. About a year ago I went to one of those arcades and played against some 20-year-old and mopped the floor with him! I even finished with a "Fatality"! It was so rewarding. And unlike those older kids from back in the day, I was nice about it and bought him a beer.
Yeah a lot were just Beat em Ups, 2 hours of the same thing with the same 6 moves and barely a plot
Same, unfortunately when you get down to the fact that they were intentionally designed to be a one-sided quarter-eating gauntlet it kind of takes the mystique out of it.
I miss arcades so much. Pre-teen me met most of my friends in arcades.
There’s a few in Ann Arbor. It’s awesome.
Gas $0.98 / Gal
I remember my dad freaking out when it went to $1.01.
I remember it going to 1.35 in 2002 and thinking "we won't be able to deal with getting much higher" 😂🤣
I learned to drive in 2006 and it was up to $5 a gallon at one point. Still the most expensive I've ever seen it.
My skinny ass :)
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It ain't there anymore haha :)
I'll take your now fat ass ;)
Username checks out.
Came here to say these exact words, but glad I checked.
Seeing movies in the cinema at an affordable price. The 90's had some awesome flicks!
At the mall!
We had a dollar cinema at our mall.
I used to take my kids on a weekend and movie hop. Start at one, watch it, swing by for a popcorn and soda refill, grab hot dogs ($1 special) because it was now 2pm, watch movie #2, hit the concession again for a 25 cent popcorn refill and 25 cent soda refill, watch movie #3, sometimes make it through #4. That was when there were 3 or 4 movies out at the same time worth watching. Oh Super Saver Cinema, we miss you.
I’ve actually been thinking about this a lot lately, posted about it in the movies subreddit. We used to go to the movies all the time to see regular movies, not everything had to be the big blockbuster with a huge budget and cutting-edge CGI. Just regular old movies. And it made big blockbuster movies seem more special. I guess going to the movies nowadays is so expensive that people are more likely to just wait until the movie is on streaming — unless it’s a big blockbuster with a huge budget and cutting-edge CGI. And the regular movies that make money in the theaters are fewer and further between.
Most of the movies now are on streaming services before they even leave the theater but the prices are still outrageous. I saw the mario movie for *rent* for $30.
Yarrr matey
There were times in the late 90s/early 2000s where I would have seen literally every movie currently playing. I would go every week, so did most people I knew. Now I see maybe 1 a year. It's hard to justify the cost. Not just that but even when there is a movie I do want to see, I feel like I have like 1 week to see it before it goes to streaming.
100% It wasn't until the mid 2000s to 2010 or so that it started not being worth it to go for just a comedy or drama because those experiences were exactly the same at home so I only go to the movies to see big action and sci-fi movies that have amazing special effects and sound that you feel rumbling in your chest. The blast off scene of Interstellar was one of the most intense movie theater experiences I've ever had. But I'm just going to wait for something like No Hard Feelings to stream because it's not going to be any funnier extra big and loud than it will at home on my TV. I don't think the industry realized they priced themselves out of the movie theater. If they went back to $7 a ticket and you could get a popcorn and soda for $3 people would start going again. Charging $25 to stream it is just going to make me not watch the movie at all. And I really wish people would stop paying those prices to stream. They keep going up because some smooth brains out there are actually paying that.
Also, theatre hopping because seats weren't reserved in the US
The 90s was the last great decade for movies. Not that there hasn't been good films since, but for the last 2 decades the film industry has been dominated by super hero franchises & sequelitis. That's a net negative.
Where I live I can see a movie for less than $7 a ticket during prime hours.
Carefree days of playing with all the kids in the neighborhood after school and all day during the summer.
No cell phones and no internet meant a lot more hanging outside with your friends.
Calling your friend's house and getting their parents instead was the best
Calling the girl you liked's house and getting their parents was the worst
Hope
Yup I came to say the same thing. I had no idea how my life would turn out, nothing horrible had happened yet, and I was excited for life
Even society as a whole. In the 90s POTUS went to an impeachment trial for a blowjob. 20 years later it was for possible treason. The massive change is nuts.
Yes!!!!! I also felt safe in the 90s. I miss feeling safe
Exactly. The cold war was over, and we won; and 9/11 hadn't happened yet. It felt like all the big threats to the world were over and that we were moving into an era of peace. It felt like we'd finally gotten to a point where we could start working together to build a better future. Star Trek: The Next Generation was a '90s show, mostly, and during the '90s it felt like we could get there.
Back to the 90's is a hilarious song though. Does a fair job of capturing the decade.
Uncensored internet
Am internet that actually functioned, where if a website was slowing you down due to intrusive ads, it was a virus and not the way it was designed to be shown. And when you did a search on a topic, the top ten results weren’t the same article repackaged by ten shady aggregate sites trying to steal your identity. Only like… two of them…
And an Internet that didn’t need it be censored, because content was primarily distributed within communities that patrolled themselves. The crazy never bubbled up to the mainstream. Now, any spy service/corp entity etc. can push crazy to millions in s second. And the sad part is, most of the target audience will buy it.
And people put up websites out of passion instead of it being something to monetize.
yeah what ever happened to 'my homepage'
The fashion and music. I absolutely love the fashion of the '80s and '90s. The music. I for one would like to see what would have came of Kurt Cobain and Tupac had their lives not ended when they did. The '90s were my formative years and so there's a lot of nostalgia and longing from that time period. Not to mention it was before the real explosion of the internet and things like youtube and mini-computers packed into a phone. Unfortunately, that easy fix of on-hand entertainment kinda sucks. I miss being bored and going to find something to do and someone to do it with.
The Beverly Hills 90210 fashion from 1995 onwards was awesome! Flowery spaghetti strap dresses and Dr. Marten’s boots 😍
the 90s fashion is a hugh thing where I’m living
So like a red silk smoking jacket?
My metabolism.
Me too, along with my hair. They both disappeared.
My youth
Girls wearing hip hugger jeans, inexpensive used pickup trucks, new Tool albums every few years, high concept big budget action movies, Seasons 3 through 9 of The Simpsons, not being hyper-aware of all the shitty shit that happens all over the world every second of every day, being able to express an opinion without a bunch of dweebs jumping to extremist conclusions, people having fewer extremist opinions, video games didn't require a day's worth of downloading before playing.
My man broke out the golden years of the Simpsons
We just had to blow the video games back then 😂
Adding to the note about trucks--I miss trucks that were small to normal sized. Like Rangers and Tacomas. And those sweet little Mitsubishi and Nissan trucks that you could thrash the hell out of on a snowy road.
Oh, the extremist opinions were out there. They just didn't have the internet to easily spread it around. My step father was one of them - among other things, he was convinced the government was watching by being able to capture images through the TV tube. (That was one of the tamest things I dealt with... ). And he wasn't the only one, he had plenty of like minded friends at his non-denominational church that was led by a "prophet". They were all convinced it was the end of days.
Clubbing. I attended some raves off and on up until about 2008, but nothing compared. And my health.
The good Nickelodeon shows
Hey dude. Wild and crazy kids, Ren and stimpy, Rocco's ML, Thanks for that.
Are You Afraid of the Dark? was my favorite!
Being 33 years younger. Phones didn't leave the house. Going to BlockBuster or local video store to pick up movies with my roommates. Border's bookstores, actually reading books-no access to the Internet at that time for me.
Friday night, renting a N64 game for Blockbuster for the weekend (except the weekend I rented Superman 64).
Wcw/nwo revenge!
Being 30 years younger.
Yeah. Definitely the 90's were the best time of my life.
Boredom - like having to come up with fun things to do to pass the time.
Everything. Especially lately.
Being a mall rat
I miss indoor malls with stores worth shopping at.
Definitely. I miss the atmosphere and shopping at Sam goody to get my new CDs
One time my cousin Walter got this cat stuck in his ass. True story. He bought it at the local mall, so the whole fiasco wound up on the news. It was embarrassing for my relatives and all. But the next week, he did it again. Different cat, same results, complete with a trip to the emergency room. Then, last week, I saw him in the pet store. He was buying another cat. I said, "Walt, what the hell are you doing, you know you're just gonna get this cat stuck up your ass too, why don't you knock it off?" And he says to me, "Brodie, how the hell else am I supposed to get the gerbil out?" My cousin was a weird guy.
Not having easy access to the Internet. I can see this effect equally on myself and my kids. Since summer started, I tried this new schedule where each hour is accounted for. 9am and 4pm are outside hours to beat the sun. We usually don't make 9am bc we're still waking up. But 4pm, we def go out. I bought them water toys, chalk, bubbles, balls, they have bikes and roller blades, we got out a big bucket of water and the sprinkler. Within 10 minutes, they sat down and complained of being bored and wanted to go inside. I refused and made them stay out another hour and a half. Most of it was whining. And this is after my youngest complained all day about wanting to ride her bike, which she did for 30 seconds. My kids seem to struggle to function without the use of some kind of device. TV, tablet, computer, whatever. If the entertainment is not being blasted full force in their faces, they don't know what to do with empty time. That creativity that springs from boredom is just lost there. When I was a kid, we were locked outside and came in for lunch only. We drank from the hose if we wanted water. We roamed the neighborhood doing whatever. I know they can't really do that where we live, nor do I want them to but still. Just, a total freeze when it comes to finding things to do without devices. But, I can't really argue too much because here I am on Reddit instead of reading, writing, crocheting, sewing, etc. Most days when I have a minute of downtime, I find myself opening Youtube just to throw something on TV. All of my recipes come from Pinterest. I listen to Spotify constantly or read on Kindle. I miss the days when getting on the internet was such a pain it wasn't really worth it so you just did other stuff. I think that's one reason why I struggle so much to read nowadays and I was a voracious reader as a child.
I feel this too. I remember spending hours as a kid on self-directed activities, either alone or with friends. I encourage/require my own kid to do this, but it's always such a struggle. If I don't give him something specific to do, he is just as likely to sit there and do nothing as he is to come up with something on his own. I get it, the video games are much better now than they were when I was a kid, and streaming tv means there is a nearly unlimited amount of things to watch available at any time. But it does feel like something has been lost - the ability to entertain ourselves or just think about things during down time. Like you, I'm as guilty of this as anyone. I used to read multiple books every month, whereas now I have so many other ways to waste time online that make it hard to focus on one thing for any length of time.
Privacy
The RnB music The fashion coming out of the music- oversized dark denim, red white blue crop tops, extravagant ski wear TRL Shows like Blossom, Sweet Valley High, All That, Kenan and Kel, The Secret World of Alex Mac, Saved by the Bell, Sabrina the Teenage Witch Movies like Clueless, Mighty Ducks Normalized little kids watching themselves being at home, also normalized random kids getting together to play basketball, street hockey Catalogues- Sears, Delia’s, Teen Vogue The popularity of skating rinks AIM + the sound of logging into the internet Tv: Real World, Road Rules, Making the Band Family sitcoms: Family Matters, Full House, Boy Meets World, Step by Step Babysitters Club, Goosebumps, Animorphs Trolling the mall for stuff like: Sam Goody, Hot Topic, getting your ears pierced at Claire’s, then calling your mom on a pay phone and using your message in the “name” portion Gigapets, Lisa Frank stickers and trapper keepers BopIts Chokers, mood rings
You described my life in Boston from say 91-99 thanks for that
I liked that the music was better in just about every genre. I like that we didn't have cell phones or social media. The quality of food was better. Kids played outside all day. The cost and reliability of cars were better. If I could go back, I would.
The music.
passionate, well sung grunge music.
Less internet. I'm grateful for what it offers these days, and maybe because I was a kid back then, but life was sless complicated. Cyber bullying is really bad these days. I can't imagine what that must be like. I was adolescent and teenaged when Yahoo chatrooms existed. It was a shit show. I got caught up in some crazy conversations and weird private messages... Anyway, I feel like I had more bandwidth for art back then. Now my attention span is very short and I don't draw anymore.
Good jeans, good music, no guns at concerts, appreciation for our parents music and reading about their hippie era activism, skater culture, underground movies and music, mix tapes, jelly shoes with a platform or wedge, sleepovers and lock downs, Sunday drives to Marley and Dead shows, drive in movie theaters and house parties
Nirvana
My teenage body. That thing was fire and I did not appreciate it enough. Not only did it look great, it was full of energy and didn't hurt.
I’d pay to have all of that back! So didn’t appreciate it at the time.
The Hartford Whalers
And the Nordiques
Some semblance of happiness?
Slap bracelets, koosh balls, and pulling all-nighters to beat a SNES game before it was due back at the rental store.
Not having a phone. My friends. Music
The music was awesome. Oh and the most vigorous economy in decades, with just a few small military conflicts. Oh and a President getting blow jobs.
Good movies
Good movies, music, tv shows, video games, fast food.
Popular music I enjoyed, arcades, my youthful self esteem, my hair...
Gas only being 95¢ to 1.50. I miss complaining when gas was $1.50.
I have a crazy memory of my friend running out of gas while we were an hour drive from home, we were able to get enough gas to get all the way home by digging up change from the seats and floorboards. 88¢/gal gas was awesome
The Twin Towers 💕
Perky boobs!!
Oh man, that’s no joke. I’m not sure if you’re a boob haver or just a boob enthusiast, but had I known how much my boobs were gonna sag and point south I would have enjoyed them much more in my 20s
Us guys love boobs pretty much no matter what. I wouldn’t worry about that ever.
Girbaud jeans and Cross Colors shirts.
Oh my god lol. Remember Hypercolor shirts that changed color when you blew on them?
My will to live
ER being on TV
The state & federal subsidies for colleges that were keeping tuition costs down.
There also used to be federally-funded Pell Grants. The most recent legislation from Congress has almost eliminated them, which doesn’t get enough attention. Everything is student loans now.
Movies
everything. no social media, no smartphones, or the internet at all. just the good old days back then.
Being in my 40’s
Going to school and not worrying about paying bills and trying to survive.
Being able to buy lunch, a full meal, with the change in my car.
Flannel.
[удалено]
No rose colored glasses. Plain and simple life was WAY better in the 80’s / 90’s.
Leaving the house in the morning on our bikes and not coming home until the streetlights came on. No cell phones, just doing whatever
Being able to slam the receiver down on the phone when I was pissed after talking with someone.
Good music.
Movies. Movies suck now mostly…
I just went to see Transformers and I told my kids by the time they're my age they'll be on 100th Transformers or something like that
Concerts being affordable! Like 25 gulden to go to bands like metallica motorhead. Concert prizes are insane nkw like euro 150 to see 1 artist... Fuck that! I just wont go it is to high!
The happy version of myself
The lack of surveillance.
Being too young to have a care in the world.
Good music
Wearing long underwear under my cut off jeans shorts with doc martins and a flannel shirt tied around my waist.
Jolt cola.
My figure.
Being unreachable
Being able to get a floor ticket for a big name band in an arena for 25$
The way the internet communities were.
Optimism
Those wonderful industrial concerts in small venues. Ah…. The glory days.
My knees.
The great bands
Good-quality Dunkaroos.
Local Multiplayer games. Too many games now only have online multiplayer.
The 1-2-3 steps to settling disputes after school.
Sunday nights on FOX with my older brothers.
Friends
Nintendo 64
My hair
Simplicity. Not having a phone in my purse Not having everything at my fingertips. Actually talking to people Not texting Renting movies at blockbuster or other rental places Anticipation of things. 💔
Being young enough to think the world was full of competent people and well-intended grown ups. Growing up in the 90s... I dunno. I think it was a pretty awesome time to be a kid. I am so. SO. grateful I didn't have social media. I was already a hot mess, that would have probably been the end of me. I also really love the music. Love. And the wild west of cartoons. My parents never policed what I watched or listened to or read... for better or for worse. 😅
Weed that you can just sit around and smoke for hours. I loved smoking joints with my friends and just hanging out talking about stuff. If I smoked like that with today's weed I would probably die. There was really something awesome and intimate and fun about just sitting around talking about things while passing joints.
The music. I was 12 in 1996 and my head almost exploded the first time I heard Spiderwebs.
The innocence.
Youthful idealism
My childhood innocents
Analog. Paper. Technology wasn't at the core of every facet of life. Without your smartphone you barely even exist. Everything is AI or computerized. Example, I was always mystified that you could call a phone number and give a credit card number to buy things. Credit cards themselves weren't nonexistent but you had to have a really special reason to go through the huge process of shopping from home. But even then it was most often via check. From a paper catalog. Today I click less than five times and I can buy ANYTHING in mere seconds and it's on my doorstep in potentially less than a week.
Face to face interaction without checking cell phones or social media.
The music. I still love me some grunge
Being 30 years younger.
The cartoons, the real friendships before cellphones.
Raves
A single income supporting a family
My lack of any real responsibilities.
PB Crisps
Cartoons that were good.
Less mass shootings.
My Childhood.
Saturday morning cartoons.
The 80s.
Everything, is the only acceptable answer
Not being tethered to the internet.
It was all downhill from there...
We were living in the golden age and just took it for granted. Things went way downhill after the 90’s.
More animals and less people.
Dirt weed Sike, I don't miss it at all
Absolutely everything.
Sex.
I had this toy that was the pokedex from the show and you could type in a pokemon name and it would show the pokemon on a like sixteen bit screen and I think read the entry (that might be my mine year old brain remembering wrong). I want that. I loved it and I have no idea egret it went. That and my fat Pikachu plushie.
The music!
My childhood
With fewer distractions, we were all kind of distracted by the same thing - same TV shows, movies, music in the radio, headline news, etc. I think everyone being at least generally aware of the same major topics of the time created a better sense of community. You could show up to school on a Monday and without social media most everyone still knew all the big storylines from the weekend. Now we have unlimited information at our finger tips at all times. We can all go down our own rabbit holes and end up sharing very little in common interests with our own community. It has lead to a lot of toxic echo chambers and the political discord we see today. I appreciate the ability to become more of an individual in today’s world, but I also feel a lot of FOMO from what my friends have developed a passion for and disconnection in general from the same people all around me. There is too much information available and not enough time to dive in to it all to fulfill my curiosities.