$5 punk shows at The Button South near Miami / Ft. Lauderdale. Saw a lot of them-lesser-known bands, like Blink 182, Dropkick Murphys, and the like. Also larger music festivals, like OzzFest and such.
Which is still cheap. This thread is full of people who think cheap tickets are gone and done, but that's only if you're trying to see popular artists.
I was thinking about this yesterday. My son is going to be 8 in a couple of weeks and he doesn't ride his bike. When I was his age, my bike my was my freedom and I was on it all the time, riding with the neighborhood kids. Just a different attitude today.
My friend and I had this conversation the other day. I was born in the 70's. When i hit 5 years old i would leave the house in the morning and come back at night with nothing more from my parents other than, how was your day? Sometimes during the day i would be miles from home or sometimes in my neighborhood for the day. I thought maybe mine was a unique situation but no, I've talked to tons of people that remember doing that.
Same here. I used to go everywhere on my bike. Stop at different peoples houses.. be invited for lunch.. take off.. go swimming in the lake for a while.. my parents never even asked where I had been.. no one cared… but isn’t that what being gen x is all about!
A couple weeks ago I watched the Sandlot with my family, I have watched this movie many times. This time was different because I cried after. I felt a wave of sadness because of the realization that my kids will never experience that kind of childhood and innocence. Your comment made me think of that.
I also just watched Sandlot a few weeks back with my kids (it has been decades, and my spouse had never seen it) and I had a similar reaction: a deep sense of sadness and a few tears. Our kids have very restricted screen time and play a lot outside, but … it’s different now.
The number of incidences of bad things happening to small children has decreased massively.
But 24 hour news and the internet has made it seem like there’s been a huge increase because every story is over reported.
It’s fearful parents more than risk averse children.
That’s so sad. My 6 year old is definitely in a bike gang with a bunch of 3-10 year olds in our neighborhood. It seems harder in car culture areas though. Some folks go right from their house into a garage to a car and never have the chance to see a neighbor or say hello. And a lot of areas are less safe for kids on bikes because of drivers. I hope your kiddo can find their way onto 2 wheels soon!
>*Because we don’t know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well, yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number, really.*
>*How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that is so deeply a part of your being that you can’t even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four, five times more. Perhaps not even that.*
>*How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless.*
I tell my son how we used to drive to the US border to buy booze after the liquor stores closed in BC and it didn't really matter if you didn't have ID (except the driver of course) as they never really asked and if they refused entry you could drive to the next crossing and try again. Never took more than a couple tries.
And the AM/PM in Ferndale had Miller High Life for $7.99 for 24 cans.
Yeah it's really weird trying to explain it to the younger gen Z and gen alpha who just basically have grown up with their entire lives. It was a simpler time. You didn't feel as afraid, we are in the height of the everybody love everybody phase, wasn't as much division, politics was something that came up as a light-hearted debate not a serious discussion. Housing was affordable, college guaranteed you a job prospect. The world just worked differently. All of the strife and tribulation that developed afterwards almost seems alien when you can remember the good times.
I try to explain this to my 14 year old niece.. she doesn’t get it at all.
The housing thing is hitting hard. I remember living as a student and working full time as a waitress and being able to afford rent. Now I am in my early 50’s and can barely afford it! This is not how it’s meant to be….
Maybe this was just because I was a kid, but I felt like Democrats and Republicans were things that politicians were, not normal everyday citizens. Sure, you voted for this party or that, but it seemed like being a party member was something that only elected representatives were. Nowadays, you ARE either a liberal or a conservative and there are blatant social cues that signal which of the two sides you’re aligned with. Everything from the kind of music you listen to, to the kind of car you drive. Everything has to be political. Everything has to be partisan. You don’t vote for Democrats or Republicans, you ARE a Democrat or a Republican and it influences everything from where you live to what kind of job you do to who you associate with. I remember politics being something that politicians did. I don’t remember every aspect of daily life being so political before cable news and social media.
This is the perception of someone who didn't live through the 90's or is wearing some hardcore rose-tinted glasses. Just from the US side of things we had the beating of Rodney King and acquittal of guilty cops that led to nationwide riots, Ruby Ridge, Waco, OKC bombing, Atlanta Olympics, and a LOT of school shootings and workplace shootings. Believe me, we didn't gladly trust anyone. We couldn't even look at a white van without getting in trouble as kids.
came to say this. Both personally and professionally. With the new ability to work from anywhere, we are expected to be reachable at any time of day, from anywhere.
It’s not even “being connected” for me, it’s social media. The internet is great for free content and learning about stuff. But social media has turned in to a marketing gimmick that plays in to everyone delusions and creates public hatred towards people.
I feel like once companies and people really started to lean into making money from social media it really changed things.
People also say things to get views/ad revenue now and so nothing really feels as genuine. Before I remember really only seeing crazy articles in magazines at the grocery store, but now you open Reddit and you’re bombarded with them.
Did you have the Pizza Hut book club deal in elementary school? The details aren’t on point in my brain, but if I remember correctly you would get a little paper card from your teacher, you’d read a bunch of books, and when each book was completed you’d get a hole punch/stamp on the card. When you got to a certain number of books read (10? Maybe?) you got a free personal pan pizza and omg it was AMAZING!!!
We had the local movie rental spot at the convenience store up the road called "Farm Fresh". It had a certain smell. Then a stop for some pizza subs from Smitty's and back home to pop Men In Black 1 into the VHS. My whole family in the living room. Sisters and I on a blanket on the floor with a big bowl of popcorn. I wanna cry now. I miss those days.
MIB is peak movie rental nostalgia for me. I had already seen it in theaters but NEEDED to see it again. My dad took my brother and I to our local Family Video the day it was released. There was an entire wall of copies (with the holographic case) and they were all gone. We quickly drove to the Blockbuster across town and they miraculously had two or three copies. My brother and I sprinted across the store to grab one of them and my dad had to make an account so we could rent it. Grabbed a pizza on the way home, watched it twice in a row then probably 5 more times that weekend. If I close my eyes, I can still feel the fleeting essence of that pure childhood excitement.
I miss going into blockbuster, finding some random B movie in the horror section, then watching it while stuffing my face with popcorn that had way too much butter and salt and not worrying about the sodium content
Id add, media in general. Whether it was trying to find comic books, magazines, VHS copies of hard to find movies or shows taped from TV, you had to hunt to find things that interested you, or stumble upon something that resonated with you. The communities were a bit more insulated, which has some pluses and minuses, but it felt more special in a lot of ways.
I caught the tail-end of Geocities before the internet became super consolidated. It was such a beautifully tacky time: the poor web design, corny GIFs, and sincere passion behind every site.
In The Matrix, Agent Smith was talking about why they chose 1999 as the setting for the Matrix and he said something along the lines that it was the peak of human civilization.
At the time, I thought that was hilarious. 1999 is the peak? Bro, the new millennium is almost here!
Scary how prescient it actually was.
Sad. It makes me sad. Knowing that a lot of us once had optimism about tomorrow. Now it just feels like tomorrow is a constantly growing obstacle. Maybe I’ve just grown pessimistic, but the future has seemed very bleak and I’m just trying to enjoy the here and now rather than try to envision the horror that the next decade might hold in store.
The more i experience as an adult in the late 2010s and now the more i wish i could have seen things pre y2k. From the outside looking in the 80s and 90s are the pinnacle of happyness for so many. I understand it wasn't all happy and glamorous back then. However, the more years go by the harder it seems my older co workers yearn for those times.
I love how our kid pics from the 80s had us looking feral. Pigtails crooked, white sneakers dirty, shoelaces untied, clothes wrinkled, nobody smiling or posed.
And all of my school pics were hideous. We just didn’t practice taking that many pictures. Nowadays, these senior pics are jaw dropping. Kids straight up look like supermodels. And they never had any awkward pics. I’m kinda jealous…but kinda not. Our pics were *real* life.
Things are turning more and more dystopian every day and it’s scary.
1998... So many great things were right around the corner! Then, we got hit with 9/11, but we still seemed to have hope, it seemed like we'd rebuild and get through the war and things would be back on track. Then we got the great recession, but social media came around and we had a charismatic black president so it was kind of fun. And then social media really took over, and we started to realize that there wasn't some great future in store for us, it was all fucking random consumerism bullshit. Our pudding peddling TV dad heroes were rapists, and we elected a wholly unqualified fuckwit as a president as some sort of revenge against the system that tricked and fucked us. Then Covid and the consequences of climate change started burning our system down. Now here we are, nose diving into an era that would be Ronald Reagan's wet fucking dream.
My favorite part: the kids of the people who saved us from fascists, in turn used their wealth and influence, not to build on the generational wealth they had inherited, but instead to take us BACK into fascism as one last middle finger to the world that gave them so much.
Yeah, I wonder why that changed.
I used to love getting together with family. Now it's all comparing accomplishments and political arguments.
What the fuck happened?
Personally for me, I think it’s because I grew up and there’s too much to worry about. I wish I could just get one day to experience Christmas as a child.
Yep. When we were kids, our parents did all the worrying about life, not us. It's a lot more fun when other people have to do the whole "having to provide" thing. lol
Additionally, all the holidays have become so commercialized. The ads start in September- maybe sooner. The quantity is astonishing! If you don’t have the magical scenarios pictured, along with all the abundance, and the “perfect” family and friends, it can be depressing. Even as a positive person who believes in “grateful, thankful, blessed” - 3 months of this holiday saturation is draining. It’s already begun on the Hallmark channel and QVC started Christmas in July during June! I miss being a kid in the 60s, 70s when the Grinch and Charlie Brown came around once a year and we cherished it!
I remember my only worry during that time being what present I wanted or what ornament I wanted to make for arts and crafts at school 😂. Truly the best times
I think a lot of it is generational and societal.
A lot of it has to do with getting older, but I definitely think previous generations cared a lot more about that stuff and had the time and mental energy to deal with it.
In my family, growing up, no matter what the same ~15-20 people showed up to my grandparents for Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter every single year, and the same ~10 people showed up for 4th of July.
My "nuclear family", my cousins, aunts, uncles, great aunts and uncles.
Everyone showed up well-dressed (the old dudes usually wore suits or blazers, the ladies wore dresses, the younger men in their 20s and 30s wore sweaters and jeans or khakis).
The tables would always be set and lots and lots of home-cooked food
Now that the older generation has passed..... it's a total crapshoot lol. We'll sometimes see SOME people, and everyone is just wearing jeans and hoodies, store-bought food, sitting around on the couches, maybe watching TV, everyone is rushing or on their phones.
I'm only 26 so what do I know lol, but at least in my family, the last of those olden days ended about 8-10 years ago and nobody really wants to or has it in them to carry on the traditions. I'd guess it's similar for a lot of families, no matter what your financial class or ethnicity or which holidays you're celebrating.
Welcome to modern America!
Bud this is exactly how it was/is for me. I absolutely think it's a generational thing, the traditions are dying and the younger people aren't carrying it on. I try so hard to make it how it used to be but something changed.
Both sides of my family had huge gatherings on the holidays. Once the older generation passed no one continued the traditions, for about a decade a few of us would get together at a restaurant for the holidays, but now nothing. Nobody calls, no Christmas cards. Even family photos. The last holiday family photo we have is from where I was still a kid. Family doesn’t quite feel the same as it once did.
I miss that so much. Feeling like my family was a unit. We had our own traditions and it just felt amazing to be in that place in time where my memories of it look like you’re watching it on vhs. My family kind of drifted apart when I was no longer a child but there are still children in the family. I would love to have one more Christmas that felt like Christmas.
It's hard to explain, but it really was such a fun thing to do - then pick up something to eat on the way back home and have an evening with the family watching a movie and maybe playing a board game.
I think that loud DING when you pulled open the door to enter the Blockbuster store was a huge paychological addiction thing… like you’re announcing you’re there, and also starting the timer to decide on a movie for the night?
I often wish a had tons of money.
Most of the time for logical reasons or bc then I could also donate lots of money to organizations I care about.
But sometimes it’s simply bc I want to own and operate a movie store. And if I was a millionaire, I could do so even if I never made any money from it.
Then a few people out there, like you and me, could enjoy browsing the aisles trying to find the perfect video for the wknd.
Sigh. To have obscene amounts of money. 😔
That's why I'm glad our local libraries branched out and have a wide variety of movies, series, and even video games. There use to be a $1 rental fee for a week, but that's gone away now. They also changef the time to two weeks. Despite streaming services we still browse. It's nice to browse and hold the box.
Except when the movie wasn't there. Nobody mentions it, but that part sucked ***bad***. You really wanted to watch/play something, and you had to wait for somebody else to get done with it first.
There was a general sense of optimism in society at large. We all genuinely believed we would graduate from school and work hard and be rewarded with a fulfilling life, free from financial worries.
IDK, maybe it was youthful ignorance, but it really did feel like the world was our oyster. Now, everyone is just SO. ANGRY.
Well, part of the reason I believed it was all the seemingly happy, financially secure adults explicitly telling me this is how the world worked for them and their parents, and they held jobs that now require side gigs and roommates in order to avoid employed homelessness. So there’s that.
I'm still mad about that. Did they know they were lying? Or did they genuinely believe that getting good grades and going to college would make a "good job" magically appear in our field? This is not the adulthood I signed up for.
They genuinely believed it because it was true for them. Pre-2008 homes were affordable, food was cheap, jobs would pay for your training instead of expecting you to hit the ground running on Day 1. People who entered adulthood in the late 70s thru the 90s had the easiest path of any generation in American history.
It was true for them, and they don't really understand why it's not true for the younger generation, and they tend to look down on younger generations for not something something BOOTSTRAPS something something WORK HARD AND SUCK IT UP and all that.
I rocked a Walkman for years. Our friend group would exchange tapes and try to outdo each other. A mixtape could even have been a romantic gesture if you did it right.
I just got a new vintage Sony sport Walkman for $15 on Craigslist. Then went down to the used music store and got Prince, Paula Abdul, and Soup Dragons for $1.50. Rocking my old Koss Porta Pros. Feels like 1999 again. No subscription fees or new gear upgrade FOFO.
"Youth is wasted on the young" and that's so true for myself and the dumbass that I was. At least I've been trying to be much more mindful in my 30s of all the things I should appreciate, even the simple things like going on a bike ride on a pretty day.
So many things we take for granted as kids and even adults.
Hopefully we all take a moment to be mindful of things we have now, that we might reflect back on in a few decades when someone asks "what do you miss about the 2020s?"
My parents, my family, my health, my kayak trips, sitting outside on a summer morning listening to the birds chirp as the sun rises.
What may seem small now, may be a cherished memory in the future.
Optimism because the national budget was actually balanced 2x! The 90’s were a time of growth and hope. Middle class was able to afford homes, insurance, etc.
We had some privacy, but you could still be tracked, data information was in its early stages. Biggest thing I see is infinitely more greed. Before social media *cough** **fb* & egotism of the Bush era.
Everything was kind of compartmentalized, yeah... you were watching TV, or you were using the computer, etc... on top of that, the computer had limited uses so you'd need it for 30 minutes or so and then walk away.
my old band had a website and we'd get SO excited when someone would sign the guestbook. I'd secretly feel competitive about our visitor count vs friend's webpages.
I'm learning programming, and more and more I feel like front end isn't for me. I know technology is always changing, and to program you have to always be learning, but damn Javascript feels like stuff duct taped onto other stuff, duct taped onto more stuff, etc. It's like this Howl's Moving Castle of code and it just sort of feels exhausting. At least with back end it seems like there's some sort of actual solid foundation of syntax.
The days when you weren’t obligated to think about anything school related until mid-August once school let out in June, followed with the joy of not having to wake up at 7:00 or earlier every weekday.
That’s why I became a flight attendant. I knew since elementary school that I was not built for 7-3 (or 9-5) & that I need control of my own schedule but still have great benefits & report to no one. I clear out my schedule every month & pick up trips as I go; taking as many or little days off as I want to.
I agree with this, but at the same time, social media has paradoxically made everyone look the same now. It's like the entire culture follows a small handful of trends at a time. Everyone looks and acts the same, but we're all listening to different music and watching different shows.
Before cell phones, you had to show up to the agreed time and place. There was greater obligation to stick w the schedule bc likely couldn't reach them to change or cancel plans. Now, it feels like last-minute cancelations and ghosting are standard.
Nah, social media is the problem, not smartphones. Life is better with real-time driving directions. No more printing out Mapquest directions only to be hopelessly lost because there was construction. No more having to pull out the phone book to look up a business's phone number so you can call and ask them what their hours are. No more having to find an ATM to check how much money is in my account. Yeah, a PC could do a lot of that, but now I can do it from anywhere.
Without question, not having phones, social media, 24/7 news cycle, etc. Those of us born in the 70s and 80s are the last generation that will have experienced it.
I overheard a middle school student talking about an upcoming school dance, and when asked if she's going to get on the dancefloor she said "god no, people film you and make fun of you if you dance". That broke my heart, all of the things young people are missing out on because they now have to worry about being recorded
I really do wonder if the Gen Zs will overcome the phone addiction. I'm a millennial and addicted to my phone and I hate it, but the people I know that consistently have their "Do Not Disturb" on and reply to my texts with "sorry this took me a couple of days, I was taking a break from my phone" are actually Gen Zs.
The simplicity. There really wasn't any smart phones. Internet was still fairly new. You had to be sociable. We would actually hang out with friends, go camping, ride bikes, sleep overs, whatever your little heart desired. Now it's nothing but looking for validation from people who will never know you or even care about you by farming for likes and shares. Social media has ruined humanity and I will die on that hill.
Finding cool stuff at garage sales, flea markets, pawn shops, antique stores, that was not automatically marked up to whatever the item recently sold for on eBay!
I also remember liking the fashion of that era. I had this pretty purple top with long bell sleeves, made me feel like Ella Enchanted. And I had purple suede boots, which I wore everywhere. I remember roll on glitter perfume, glitter tattoos, Limited Too sequins tops and crochet ponchos… Clothing that was just very colorful and very girly. Made me feel like a total girl 😇.
Lack of options for entertainment.
I never imagined I would say something like that but I feel we were more connected back then. We were mostly all watching the same things, conversing on the same subjects and we got bored so we visited friends and family just to hang out.
You could buy something and own it, rather than being forced onto a subscription.
Not needing to download a smartphone app for every little thing because a business is too stingy to do things like print menus.
Social media can fuck off as well.
From the 90s? US perspective, the feeling of hope and moving into a new collaborative global world. It wasn't all unicorns and rainbows, but it felt like we were getting closer to a global kumbaya situation. I really miss the optimism and "togetherness". We were progressing as a global society. 2000s was the reality check decade, and 2010s just built on that fear and division. I think that's why Obama had a great initial campaign, he was running on that 90s sentiment.
Group phone calls after school. “Be by your phone at 4:30.” Someone would have to hang up for someone needing the internet and have to hang up, dropping the caller they added. We’d have to do roll call lol
Also, AIM, Gameboy, passing notes (or notebooks ;) ), Lisa Frank was everywhere, Nickelodeon, cheesy but memorable Disney movies, etc,
90’s kids were the last generation to grow up during the transition into the internet.
Our patience was stronger then. For how long we waited for one image to load after Asking Jeeves.
Passing letters/notes between class with your crush in high school. Kids today will never know there was an [actual art](https://i.redd.it/fa9v8fy0caqa1.jpg) to folding your letters. There was nothing more satisfyingly than sitting down in class and reading a long letter from your crush.
Everything felt relaxed. Time was slow. I remember feeling ALIVE! Yes I was a kid, but things were cheaper to do and easier to afford a simple happy life. Now its about being or getting filthy rich to enjoy a leisurely life like that again…
Video games you just plugged in, threw a disc in, and played. Now it's a fifty step account user process with endless updates and other nonsense. I still play modern games but it's just annoying sometimes.
Music for sure. The late 90s early 2000‘s were the last times that I really enjoyed a lot of newer music. These days it’s very hard for me to find some thing I enjoy from any genre..
I find as a Spotify user that the more effort I make into creating playlists or liking songs, the better my Discover Weekly curated playlist is. I lean on that when I need to hear new music for my taste! YouTube can be alright too but I haven’t fed it enough for the algorithm
I miss the how the world looked. In my childhood in the early 2000s, I remember everything looked much more vibrant and colourful. Now the world seems to look grey and dull.
Early internet was just neat. More expression and first time seeing cool and weird stuff before it was commercialized. Message boards. ICQ. Web Ring. Geocities.
Common sense and respect from strangers. Society is so damn stupid and judgemental these days, especially in our younger generations. Technology is actually destroying a humans basic functions...
Live music ticket prices. I saw Beastie Boys and Rage against the Machine for like $20 in 1993
$5 punk shows at The Button South near Miami / Ft. Lauderdale. Saw a lot of them-lesser-known bands, like Blink 182, Dropkick Murphys, and the like. Also larger music festivals, like OzzFest and such.
My kid still goes to punk rock shows but they’re $10 now
Which is still cheap. This thread is full of people who think cheap tickets are gone and done, but that's only if you're trying to see popular artists.
Being disconnected.
I was thinking about this yesterday. My son is going to be 8 in a couple of weeks and he doesn't ride his bike. When I was his age, my bike my was my freedom and I was on it all the time, riding with the neighborhood kids. Just a different attitude today.
My friend and I had this conversation the other day. I was born in the 70's. When i hit 5 years old i would leave the house in the morning and come back at night with nothing more from my parents other than, how was your day? Sometimes during the day i would be miles from home or sometimes in my neighborhood for the day. I thought maybe mine was a unique situation but no, I've talked to tons of people that remember doing that.
Same here. I used to go everywhere on my bike. Stop at different peoples houses.. be invited for lunch.. take off.. go swimming in the lake for a while.. my parents never even asked where I had been.. no one cared… but isn’t that what being gen x is all about!
At 7, I was sent to the convenience store about a quarter mile away. Given $1 to get my father cigarettes, and got to keep the change to buy candy!
A couple weeks ago I watched the Sandlot with my family, I have watched this movie many times. This time was different because I cried after. I felt a wave of sadness because of the realization that my kids will never experience that kind of childhood and innocence. Your comment made me think of that.
I also just watched Sandlot a few weeks back with my kids (it has been decades, and my spouse had never seen it) and I had a similar reaction: a deep sense of sadness and a few tears. Our kids have very restricted screen time and play a lot outside, but … it’s different now.
Yes. We’ve overprotected our children in the real world and under protected them in the virtual world.
The number of incidences of bad things happening to small children has decreased massively. But 24 hour news and the internet has made it seem like there’s been a huge increase because every story is over reported. It’s fearful parents more than risk averse children.
That’s so sad. My 6 year old is definitely in a bike gang with a bunch of 3-10 year olds in our neighborhood. It seems harder in car culture areas though. Some folks go right from their house into a garage to a car and never have the chance to see a neighbor or say hello. And a lot of areas are less safe for kids on bikes because of drivers. I hope your kiddo can find their way onto 2 wheels soon!
My son is about to be 16 and he rides a bike when I put it with mine on the car rack and say “let’s go ride the rail trail”. It’s incomprehensible…
I haven't ridden a bike in decades. Everything you do regularly, some day will be the last time you ever do it and you won't even notice.
>*Because we don’t know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well, yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number, really.* >*How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that is so deeply a part of your being that you can’t even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four, five times more. Perhaps not even that.* >*How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless.*
That’s a beautifully dark passage. Whats it from?
“The Sheltering Sky" by Paul Bowles
“At some point in your childhood, you and your friends went outside to play together for the last time and nobody knew it”
This, and ~~pre~~ post 911 social tension. Yeah, it's still there after all these years. EDIT: Oof, still most people knew what I meant. :)
Wish I knew what that was like
I miss being able to walk family all the way to their gate at the airport to say goodbye.
I tell my son how we used to drive to the US border to buy booze after the liquor stores closed in BC and it didn't really matter if you didn't have ID (except the driver of course) as they never really asked and if they refused entry you could drive to the next crossing and try again. Never took more than a couple tries. And the AM/PM in Ferndale had Miller High Life for $7.99 for 24 cans.
Unexpected Ferndale. 🌁 M E T A L L I C A 🌁
Yeah it's really weird trying to explain it to the younger gen Z and gen alpha who just basically have grown up with their entire lives. It was a simpler time. You didn't feel as afraid, we are in the height of the everybody love everybody phase, wasn't as much division, politics was something that came up as a light-hearted debate not a serious discussion. Housing was affordable, college guaranteed you a job prospect. The world just worked differently. All of the strife and tribulation that developed afterwards almost seems alien when you can remember the good times.
I try to explain this to my 14 year old niece.. she doesn’t get it at all. The housing thing is hitting hard. I remember living as a student and working full time as a waitress and being able to afford rent. Now I am in my early 50’s and can barely afford it! This is not how it’s meant to be….
There was a time you could actually be a full time waitstaff and make a living doing it as an adult. Like, you could actually pay bills and stuff
I know a lot of people who did.. the cost of rent now is so high , no one can do it..
Maybe this was just because I was a kid, but I felt like Democrats and Republicans were things that politicians were, not normal everyday citizens. Sure, you voted for this party or that, but it seemed like being a party member was something that only elected representatives were. Nowadays, you ARE either a liberal or a conservative and there are blatant social cues that signal which of the two sides you’re aligned with. Everything from the kind of music you listen to, to the kind of car you drive. Everything has to be political. Everything has to be partisan. You don’t vote for Democrats or Republicans, you ARE a Democrat or a Republican and it influences everything from where you live to what kind of job you do to who you associate with. I remember politics being something that politicians did. I don’t remember every aspect of daily life being so political before cable news and social media.
oh yeah, you could be a conservative democrat or lib republican in the 90's.
Feel like this is happening again with life after the COVID lockdowns. Socially it feels so different
I feel like pre 911 everyone gladly trusted each other unless proven otherwise. Now, we DIStrust everyone until proven otherwise.
This is the perception of someone who didn't live through the 90's or is wearing some hardcore rose-tinted glasses. Just from the US side of things we had the beating of Rodney King and acquittal of guilty cops that led to nationwide riots, Ruby Ridge, Waco, OKC bombing, Atlanta Olympics, and a LOT of school shootings and workplace shootings. Believe me, we didn't gladly trust anyone. We couldn't even look at a white van without getting in trouble as kids.
came to say this. Both personally and professionally. With the new ability to work from anywhere, we are expected to be reachable at any time of day, from anywhere.
It’s not even “being connected” for me, it’s social media. The internet is great for free content and learning about stuff. But social media has turned in to a marketing gimmick that plays in to everyone delusions and creates public hatred towards people.
I feel like once companies and people really started to lean into making money from social media it really changed things. People also say things to get views/ad revenue now and so nothing really feels as genuine. Before I remember really only seeing crazy articles in magazines at the grocery store, but now you open Reddit and you’re bombarded with them.
Yet more connected.
Ah yes. The good old days when "where are you at?" was almost never a question asked over the phone.
And nobody freaking out if they couldn’t get a hold of you within ten minutes
Blockbuster and Pizza Hut on a Friday night.
Actually going *in* a Pizza Hut, too. It was like going into a Michelin starred restaurant as far as I’m concerned.
The translucent red plastic cups
Pepsi tastes better out of those…that’s just a fact.
Science, basically
I miss when Pizza Hut tasted good. Stuffed crust pizza was heaven. Now… what the fuck happened
Would eat there at least once a week if only for the lunch buffet. Was always fresh and good. I miss how pizza hut used to be.
It’s a great contrast between then and today, and how much consumers have lost over the years. Especially when it comes to third spaces.
Did you have the Pizza Hut book club deal in elementary school? The details aren’t on point in my brain, but if I remember correctly you would get a little paper card from your teacher, you’d read a bunch of books, and when each book was completed you’d get a hole punch/stamp on the card. When you got to a certain number of books read (10? Maybe?) you got a free personal pan pizza and omg it was AMAZING!!!
Book It! Yep, and it’s still around just not as cool as it used to be. My daughter actually has a free personal pan pizza we need to redeem.
We had the local movie rental spot at the convenience store up the road called "Farm Fresh". It had a certain smell. Then a stop for some pizza subs from Smitty's and back home to pop Men In Black 1 into the VHS. My whole family in the living room. Sisters and I on a blanket on the floor with a big bowl of popcorn. I wanna cry now. I miss those days.
MIB is peak movie rental nostalgia for me. I had already seen it in theaters but NEEDED to see it again. My dad took my brother and I to our local Family Video the day it was released. There was an entire wall of copies (with the holographic case) and they were all gone. We quickly drove to the Blockbuster across town and they miraculously had two or three copies. My brother and I sprinted across the store to grab one of them and my dad had to make an account so we could rent it. Grabbed a pizza on the way home, watched it twice in a row then probably 5 more times that weekend. If I close my eyes, I can still feel the fleeting essence of that pure childhood excitement.
I miss going into blockbuster, finding some random B movie in the horror section, then watching it while stuffing my face with popcorn that had way too much butter and salt and not worrying about the sodium content
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Remember Neopets?
Neopets, club penguin and Haba hotel 🔥
Habbo* you absolutel bobba
Id add, media in general. Whether it was trying to find comic books, magazines, VHS copies of hard to find movies or shows taped from TV, you had to hunt to find things that interested you, or stumble upon something that resonated with you. The communities were a bit more insulated, which has some pluses and minuses, but it felt more special in a lot of ways.
I caught the tail-end of Geocities before the internet became super consolidated. It was such a beautifully tacky time: the poor web design, corny GIFs, and sincere passion behind every site.
Stumbleupon was S-tier for discovering random fun websites.
Feeling optimism about the future.
In The Matrix, Agent Smith was talking about why they chose 1999 as the setting for the Matrix and he said something along the lines that it was the peak of human civilization. At the time, I thought that was hilarious. 1999 is the peak? Bro, the new millennium is almost here! Scary how prescient it actually was.
The minute he said it, I went, *eh, yeah*. And felt like shit about it. He knew.
That... Makes me... I don't know how that makes me feel.
Sad. It makes me sad. Knowing that a lot of us once had optimism about tomorrow. Now it just feels like tomorrow is a constantly growing obstacle. Maybe I’ve just grown pessimistic, but the future has seemed very bleak and I’m just trying to enjoy the here and now rather than try to envision the horror that the next decade might hold in store.
The more i experience as an adult in the late 2010s and now the more i wish i could have seen things pre y2k. From the outside looking in the 80s and 90s are the pinnacle of happyness for so many. I understand it wasn't all happy and glamorous back then. However, the more years go by the harder it seems my older co workers yearn for those times.
I love how our kid pics from the 80s had us looking feral. Pigtails crooked, white sneakers dirty, shoelaces untied, clothes wrinkled, nobody smiling or posed. And all of my school pics were hideous. We just didn’t practice taking that many pictures. Nowadays, these senior pics are jaw dropping. Kids straight up look like supermodels. And they never had any awkward pics. I’m kinda jealous…but kinda not. Our pics were *real* life. Things are turning more and more dystopian every day and it’s scary.
I was going to post the same. I just remember the positivity about the future.
1998... So many great things were right around the corner! Then, we got hit with 9/11, but we still seemed to have hope, it seemed like we'd rebuild and get through the war and things would be back on track. Then we got the great recession, but social media came around and we had a charismatic black president so it was kind of fun. And then social media really took over, and we started to realize that there wasn't some great future in store for us, it was all fucking random consumerism bullshit. Our pudding peddling TV dad heroes were rapists, and we elected a wholly unqualified fuckwit as a president as some sort of revenge against the system that tricked and fucked us. Then Covid and the consequences of climate change started burning our system down. Now here we are, nose diving into an era that would be Ronald Reagan's wet fucking dream.
My favorite part: the kids of the people who saved us from fascists, in turn used their wealth and influence, not to build on the generational wealth they had inherited, but instead to take us BACK into fascism as one last middle finger to the world that gave them so much.
This is the part I don't understand.. like that's just pure evil and I couldn't fathom doing anything like what they've done against a fellow human.
90s Nickelodeon, that shit was the GOAT back then.
Are You Afraid of the Dark Legends of the Hidden Temple Doug
That fucking Silver Monkey shrine.
“ITS ONLY 3 PIECES, MAN!!” -me, back then and now
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I still watch those shows and I’m 34 🤣
Rugrats Hey arnold Cat dog Amanda show
Don’t forget All That, Kenan & Kel, Rockos Modern Life, Doug, Clarissa Explains It All, etc
And Nick At Night! You can find whole broadcasts, including the commercials, on YouTube.
All That, Roundhouse, Salute Your Shorts, Weinerville....
Who remembers Pete and Pete?
How holidays felt (Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.)
Yeah, I wonder why that changed. I used to love getting together with family. Now it's all comparing accomplishments and political arguments. What the fuck happened?
Personally for me, I think it’s because I grew up and there’s too much to worry about. I wish I could just get one day to experience Christmas as a child.
Yep. When we were kids, our parents did all the worrying about life, not us. It's a lot more fun when other people have to do the whole "having to provide" thing. lol
Additionally, all the holidays have become so commercialized. The ads start in September- maybe sooner. The quantity is astonishing! If you don’t have the magical scenarios pictured, along with all the abundance, and the “perfect” family and friends, it can be depressing. Even as a positive person who believes in “grateful, thankful, blessed” - 3 months of this holiday saturation is draining. It’s already begun on the Hallmark channel and QVC started Christmas in July during June! I miss being a kid in the 60s, 70s when the Grinch and Charlie Brown came around once a year and we cherished it!
I remember my only worry during that time being what present I wanted or what ornament I wanted to make for arts and crafts at school 😂. Truly the best times
I think a lot of it is generational and societal. A lot of it has to do with getting older, but I definitely think previous generations cared a lot more about that stuff and had the time and mental energy to deal with it. In my family, growing up, no matter what the same ~15-20 people showed up to my grandparents for Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter every single year, and the same ~10 people showed up for 4th of July. My "nuclear family", my cousins, aunts, uncles, great aunts and uncles. Everyone showed up well-dressed (the old dudes usually wore suits or blazers, the ladies wore dresses, the younger men in their 20s and 30s wore sweaters and jeans or khakis). The tables would always be set and lots and lots of home-cooked food Now that the older generation has passed..... it's a total crapshoot lol. We'll sometimes see SOME people, and everyone is just wearing jeans and hoodies, store-bought food, sitting around on the couches, maybe watching TV, everyone is rushing or on their phones. I'm only 26 so what do I know lol, but at least in my family, the last of those olden days ended about 8-10 years ago and nobody really wants to or has it in them to carry on the traditions. I'd guess it's similar for a lot of families, no matter what your financial class or ethnicity or which holidays you're celebrating. Welcome to modern America!
Bud this is exactly how it was/is for me. I absolutely think it's a generational thing, the traditions are dying and the younger people aren't carrying it on. I try so hard to make it how it used to be but something changed.
Married M35. I think what has changed is that the younger generation aren't having kids and are gathering with their chosen family (friends).
Both sides of my family had huge gatherings on the holidays. Once the older generation passed no one continued the traditions, for about a decade a few of us would get together at a restaurant for the holidays, but now nothing. Nobody calls, no Christmas cards. Even family photos. The last holiday family photo we have is from where I was still a kid. Family doesn’t quite feel the same as it once did.
I miss that so much. Feeling like my family was a unit. We had our own traditions and it just felt amazing to be in that place in time where my memories of it look like you’re watching it on vhs. My family kind of drifted apart when I was no longer a child but there are still children in the family. I would love to have one more Christmas that felt like Christmas.
Renting movies. Going to the video store and picking out some tapes was the best.
It's hard to explain, but it really was such a fun thing to do - then pick up something to eat on the way back home and have an evening with the family watching a movie and maybe playing a board game.
It was the anticipation and the fact you had to wait to watch it.
I think that loud DING when you pulled open the door to enter the Blockbuster store was a huge paychological addiction thing… like you’re announcing you’re there, and also starting the timer to decide on a movie for the night?
I often wish a had tons of money. Most of the time for logical reasons or bc then I could also donate lots of money to organizations I care about. But sometimes it’s simply bc I want to own and operate a movie store. And if I was a millionaire, I could do so even if I never made any money from it. Then a few people out there, like you and me, could enjoy browsing the aisles trying to find the perfect video for the wknd. Sigh. To have obscene amounts of money. 😔
That's why I'm glad our local libraries branched out and have a wide variety of movies, series, and even video games. There use to be a $1 rental fee for a week, but that's gone away now. They also changef the time to two weeks. Despite streaming services we still browse. It's nice to browse and hold the box.
Except when the movie wasn't there. Nobody mentions it, but that part sucked ***bad***. You really wanted to watch/play something, and you had to wait for somebody else to get done with it first.
Not having it also meant that it felt more fulfilling when you actually got to see the movie.
...and the worst: my parents required me and my sisters to agree on a movie 😭
There was a general sense of optimism in society at large. We all genuinely believed we would graduate from school and work hard and be rewarded with a fulfilling life, free from financial worries. IDK, maybe it was youthful ignorance, but it really did feel like the world was our oyster. Now, everyone is just SO. ANGRY.
Well, part of the reason I believed it was all the seemingly happy, financially secure adults explicitly telling me this is how the world worked for them and their parents, and they held jobs that now require side gigs and roommates in order to avoid employed homelessness. So there’s that.
My dad convinced me to get a business degree so I could make $200/hr like his "base rate." That didn't work out.
I'm still mad about that. Did they know they were lying? Or did they genuinely believe that getting good grades and going to college would make a "good job" magically appear in our field? This is not the adulthood I signed up for.
They genuinely believed it because it was true for them. Pre-2008 homes were affordable, food was cheap, jobs would pay for your training instead of expecting you to hit the ground running on Day 1. People who entered adulthood in the late 70s thru the 90s had the easiest path of any generation in American history.
It was true for them, and they don't really understand why it's not true for the younger generation, and they tend to look down on younger generations for not something something BOOTSTRAPS something something WORK HARD AND SUCK IT UP and all that.
Seeing my friends every day
Mix tapes
I rocked a Walkman for years. Our friend group would exchange tapes and try to outdo each other. A mixtape could even have been a romantic gesture if you did it right.
I just got a new vintage Sony sport Walkman for $15 on Craigslist. Then went down to the used music store and got Prince, Paula Abdul, and Soup Dragons for $1.50. Rocking my old Koss Porta Pros. Feels like 1999 again. No subscription fees or new gear upgrade FOFO.
Listening to the radio and hit record on the tape. Also, needing a pen handy at all times. Lol Then the modern mixtapes become the ‘Now!’ CDs.
The hours spent making the perfect mix for someone.
My youth.
Youth is wasted on the young.
"Youth is wasted on the young" and that's so true for myself and the dumbass that I was. At least I've been trying to be much more mindful in my 30s of all the things I should appreciate, even the simple things like going on a bike ride on a pretty day. So many things we take for granted as kids and even adults. Hopefully we all take a moment to be mindful of things we have now, that we might reflect back on in a few decades when someone asks "what do you miss about the 2020s?" My parents, my family, my health, my kayak trips, sitting outside on a summer morning listening to the birds chirp as the sun rises. What may seem small now, may be a cherished memory in the future.
Privacy and a sense of optimism about the future
Optimism because the national budget was actually balanced 2x! The 90’s were a time of growth and hope. Middle class was able to afford homes, insurance, etc. We had some privacy, but you could still be tracked, data information was in its early stages. Biggest thing I see is infinitely more greed. Before social media *cough** **fb* & egotism of the Bush era.
I liked that “Internet” and “gaming” was just one thing you do at home amongst other things. It was just one small part of a whole day.
Everything was kind of compartmentalized, yeah... you were watching TV, or you were using the computer, etc... on top of that, the computer had limited uses so you'd need it for 30 minutes or so and then walk away.
I miss simple HTML coding that was done in Notepad without any embellishments.
Circa 2000 I had a website with dozens and dozens of pages of technical stuff... that I could back up on a 1.4 Mb floppy disk. Those were the days.
I remember messing around with a geocities website back in the day. Somehow it was easy back then. I wouldn’t even know how to get started these days.
Same Don't forget your website visitor counter!
and the guest book!
my old band had a website and we'd get SO excited when someone would sign the guestbook. I'd secretly feel competitive about our visitor count vs friend's webpages.
JavaScript frameworks can go fart themselves. All my homies stick to a script tag
I'm learning programming, and more and more I feel like front end isn't for me. I know technology is always changing, and to program you have to always be learning, but damn Javascript feels like stuff duct taped onto other stuff, duct taped onto more stuff, etc. It's like this Howl's Moving Castle of code and it just sort of feels exhausting. At least with back end it seems like there's some sort of actual solid foundation of syntax.
Summer vacations for 2 months.
The days when you weren’t obligated to think about anything school related until mid-August once school let out in June, followed with the joy of not having to wake up at 7:00 or earlier every weekday.
That’s why I became a flight attendant. I knew since elementary school that I was not built for 7-3 (or 9-5) & that I need control of my own schedule but still have great benefits & report to no one. I clear out my schedule every month & pick up trips as I go; taking as many or little days off as I want to.
I also picked a career based of benefits. I might not get paid a ton, but damnit is it nice to be able to leave for a month whenever I want.
That's why I became a high school teacher. Summer vacations for the rest of my life.
Teachers well deserve their summer vacations for the service you guys provide.. Good for you.
Pop culture being ubiquitous through TV, movies and music instead of the endless content on streaming where no one watches the same things.
Monoculture
I agree with this, but at the same time, social media has paradoxically made everyone look the same now. It's like the entire culture follows a small handful of trends at a time. Everyone looks and acts the same, but we're all listening to different music and watching different shows.
I really liked the huge malls with every store imaginable. All closed now.
The times before smartphones infested everyone's brains
Before cell phones, you had to show up to the agreed time and place. There was greater obligation to stick w the schedule bc likely couldn't reach them to change or cancel plans. Now, it feels like last-minute cancelations and ghosting are standard.
Nah, social media is the problem, not smartphones. Life is better with real-time driving directions. No more printing out Mapquest directions only to be hopelessly lost because there was construction. No more having to pull out the phone book to look up a business's phone number so you can call and ask them what their hours are. No more having to find an ATM to check how much money is in my account. Yeah, a PC could do a lot of that, but now I can do it from anywhere.
No subscription bs
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Without question, not having phones, social media, 24/7 news cycle, etc. Those of us born in the 70s and 80s are the last generation that will have experienced it.
We did such stupid shit as kids.. now everything is high stakes because everybody has a camera and social media.
I overheard a middle school student talking about an upcoming school dance, and when asked if she's going to get on the dancefloor she said "god no, people film you and make fun of you if you dance". That broke my heart, all of the things young people are missing out on because they now have to worry about being recorded
I really do wonder if the Gen Zs will overcome the phone addiction. I'm a millennial and addicted to my phone and I hate it, but the people I know that consistently have their "Do Not Disturb" on and reply to my texts with "sorry this took me a couple of days, I was taking a break from my phone" are actually Gen Zs.
Face to face conversations. It seems nowadays 95% of the time I talk to my friends it’s online… I miss going out but we never have time.
The simplicity. There really wasn't any smart phones. Internet was still fairly new. You had to be sociable. We would actually hang out with friends, go camping, ride bikes, sleep overs, whatever your little heart desired. Now it's nothing but looking for validation from people who will never know you or even care about you by farming for likes and shares. Social media has ruined humanity and I will die on that hill.
Affordable rent
The lack of social media (and yes, the irony of me posting this comment on Reddit is not lost on me).
Finding cool stuff at garage sales, flea markets, pawn shops, antique stores, that was not automatically marked up to whatever the item recently sold for on eBay!
I also remember liking the fashion of that era. I had this pretty purple top with long bell sleeves, made me feel like Ella Enchanted. And I had purple suede boots, which I wore everywhere. I remember roll on glitter perfume, glitter tattoos, Limited Too sequins tops and crochet ponchos… Clothing that was just very colorful and very girly. Made me feel like a total girl 😇.
oh my gosh, I'd forgotten roll on glitter perfume!
Pre 9/11 travel.
Not feeling like everything is a commodity for someone else's profit.
My mom
A person worth missing so much made the best use of their life ❤️
The music. When MTV was still cool, and had good shows and played real music videos.
Lack of options for entertainment. I never imagined I would say something like that but I feel we were more connected back then. We were mostly all watching the same things, conversing on the same subjects and we got bored so we visited friends and family just to hang out.
You could buy something and own it, rather than being forced onto a subscription. Not needing to download a smartphone app for every little thing because a business is too stingy to do things like print menus. Social media can fuck off as well.
McDonaldland cookies
From the 90s? US perspective, the feeling of hope and moving into a new collaborative global world. It wasn't all unicorns and rainbows, but it felt like we were getting closer to a global kumbaya situation. I really miss the optimism and "togetherness". We were progressing as a global society. 2000s was the reality check decade, and 2010s just built on that fear and division. I think that's why Obama had a great initial campaign, he was running on that 90s sentiment.
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You knew where everyone was by finding the house with all the bikes in the front yard. No texts needed.
The innocence I had and the general feeling that I was living in the best times.
Good E's
All hail the reigning champ, Mitsubishi.
My fabulous body :(
The ability to disappear. There was such a sense of freedom in just leaving the house, where you'd become uncontactable.
My hair.
Anonymity. We got to grow up as kids and could learn lessons without our mistakes being broadcast to the whole world.
Group phone calls after school. “Be by your phone at 4:30.” Someone would have to hang up for someone needing the internet and have to hang up, dropping the caller they added. We’d have to do roll call lol Also, AIM, Gameboy, passing notes (or notebooks ;) ), Lisa Frank was everywhere, Nickelodeon, cheesy but memorable Disney movies, etc, 90’s kids were the last generation to grow up during the transition into the internet. Our patience was stronger then. For how long we waited for one image to load after Asking Jeeves.
The simplicity of the internet. No obnoxious ads everywhere, no influencers, etc.
local co-op in video games.
Passing letters/notes between class with your crush in high school. Kids today will never know there was an [actual art](https://i.redd.it/fa9v8fy0caqa1.jpg) to folding your letters. There was nothing more satisfyingly than sitting down in class and reading a long letter from your crush.
Lower prices on food and gas.
My barbie cd player that only played barbie songs
Everything felt relaxed. Time was slow. I remember feeling ALIVE! Yes I was a kid, but things were cheaper to do and easier to afford a simple happy life. Now its about being or getting filthy rich to enjoy a leisurely life like that again…
Things of prices more aligned with what you were paid
Video games that worked out of the box.
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Video games you just plugged in, threw a disc in, and played. Now it's a fifty step account user process with endless updates and other nonsense. I still play modern games but it's just annoying sometimes.
Life without the unjustified, entitled outrage all around.
90s cartoons were top notch compared to cartoons today
Music for sure. The late 90s early 2000‘s were the last times that I really enjoyed a lot of newer music. These days it’s very hard for me to find some thing I enjoy from any genre..
I find as a Spotify user that the more effort I make into creating playlists or liking songs, the better my Discover Weekly curated playlist is. I lean on that when I need to hear new music for my taste! YouTube can be alright too but I haven’t fed it enough for the algorithm
I miss actually having to go to people’s places to see if they wanted to hangout.
2000's more simple and carefree internet.
People listening to the music at concerts
I miss the how the world looked. In my childhood in the early 2000s, I remember everything looked much more vibrant and colourful. Now the world seems to look grey and dull.
Thats the crushing depression.
Early internet was just neat. More expression and first time seeing cool and weird stuff before it was commercialized. Message boards. ICQ. Web Ring. Geocities.
Not worrying about someone recording me in public to ruin me or for their own clout.
Common sense and respect from strangers. Society is so damn stupid and judgemental these days, especially in our younger generations. Technology is actually destroying a humans basic functions...
Taco Bell used to hit different
Having hope for the future
News that actually reported the news.
Hope for the future