People Share The Typical 90s Scenarios Gen Z Will Never Experience
Reddit user MediumRareTaint asked: 'What was a typical 90s scenario that today's youth will never experience?'
From latch-key life to knowing when someone's home based on their bike being thrown on the front lawn to the earliest, cringiest days of social media, 80s and 90s kids are full of stories from their childhoods.
But these stories are uniquely nostalgic as kids today will never quite experience this type of childhood ever again.
Redditor MediumRareTint asked:
"What was a typical 90s scenario that today's youth will never experience?"
Landline Etiquette
"Talking to someone's parent and asking for your friend, because it was the landline and no caller ID."
- MixedSyrup
"Answering the phone in the kitchen, then running back to your room to take it there, and yelling, 'MOM, HANG UP THE PHONE! MOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM, HANG UP THE PHONE!'"
- manderifffic
The Dial-Up "Song"
"Dial-up internet. That tone is ingrained in my memory."
- Reeeeaper
Downloading Woes
"The experience of losing connection when you downloaded 99% of the file because your mom picked up the phone. Still hurts."
- Cute_Panda9
"Telling everyone in your family you're downloading a big file; don't pick up the phone."
"Reminding your family that you're downloading a big file; don't pick up the phone."
"Telling your family the file is almost done; don't pick up the phone."
"Then someone picks up the phone with ten seconds left... and you have to start the 14-hour download again tomorrow."
- Mustang46L
Internet Sounds in the Home
"The dial-up internet tone that was like nails on a chalkboard."
"'Welcome! You've got mail!'"
"The happy logging onto AIM sound."
"Someone yelling from another area of the house, 'Get offline so I can make a call!'"
"Starting a file download/upload... walking away to make a sandwich, brew coffee, fold laundry, start a new load of laundry, put the laundry away... and coming back and the download/upload is still not complete."
"Getting disconnected from the internet because someone picked up the phone to make a call while you were in the process of the aforementioned download/upload, and losing your everlovin' mind on that person."
"The best part: The original Oregon Trail game."
- Just_another_Sue
Renting Movies
"Getting a video to rent and watch at home made you feel like you were going 'out' to do something."
- ekimlive
"Oh God, movie rental, a pizza, some microwave popcorn, and some soda. It was such a fantastic night if those things were planned."
- GreenOnionCrusader
True Quiet and Disconnection
"The feeling of coming home free from school or work, and the outside world was very separate from you until the following day."
"You couldn’t easily find out what your friends were doing (they weren’t doing anything anyway), you couldn’t easily catch up on the news unless it happened to be on, and you couldn’t catch up on new movies or celebrity gossip unless you had a magazine lying around, which would come out monthly."
"It’s a level of relaxation that we took for granted, but we were likely the last generation to experience it."
- Own-Firefighter-2728
"Man, this is a really good one. We are so, so connected and it's so, so unhealthy for us."
"It was really nice when we were an entire phone call away. I didn't need to know anything about anybody, the focus was on the people you were with, and experiences outside of the home were more special."
- artemasfoul
The All-Important Meeting Place
"Making plans beforehand and having a meeting place since no one owned cell phones."
- MixedSyrup
Being Stood Up
"My youth and adulthood perfectly straddle cell phones. Last-minute cancellations became increasingly more common throughout my 20s but were rare in my teens."
"What really sucked was when a date didn’t show up and you had no way of knowing whether 1. they were ok, 2. they had a good reason, or 3. they just decided to stand you up. You generally assumed the worst, or at least I did."
- Dudley_Do_Wrong
"I never adjusted to this. I still hold true to my original plans and am confused with today's culture on this. Like, we made plans. If you didn't want to, don't say yes."
"And I am only 39."
- x-Mowens-x
No Cameras Rolling
"I grew up in the 70s and 80s, but this applies to the 90s as well…"
"You could do the absolute dumbest, craziest, most embarrassing s**t you could possibly imagine, and no one was recording it."
- FrankNStein
Safer Surroundings
"A parent saying, 'Here's $20, I'll pick you up at 8:00 when the mall closes. Don't talk to strangers.'"
- Nonsenseinabag
Airport Security
"Meeting people at the gate when you pick them up from the airport."
- Main_Maximum8963
"Romance movies have been ruined because of this."
- lifejustice
Cramming Commercial Time
"Making a dash through the house from the kitchen to the couch when someone yelled out, 'It’s back on!'"
- NicGyver
"This is how my mom used to get my sister and me to clean the house. One commercial at a time during a movie."
- reklawpuck
Live Television Programs
"Missing an episode on tv and never knowing when you can see that episode again unless some chance someone recorded it."
- Cute_Panda9
School Delays and Cancelations
"Waiting for your school district to be announced as on time, late, or canceled on the news when it snowed."
- SuitableNegotiation5
"Seeing your school scroll across the ticker was like winning the lottery."
- umanousti
Simpler Travel
"Stopping at a gas station and asking for directions."
"Or driving around aimlessly looking for a place to eat."
- Actuaryba
"Using an actual physical map. Then trying to fold it again."
- he77bender
Anyone who was a kid or young adult in the 90s will surely get feelings of nostalgia from at least some of these memories, but with the way technology is rushing forward, it's unlikely that kids today will ever get to experience these.
With millennials now reaching their thirties and forties, many are looking back on the childhood they had compared to the ones they're witnessing now.
With technology advances and a constant need to impress, these two worlds of childhood are undeniably different.
Redditor professorf asked:
"What did your generation have that kids need more of today?"
Unstructured Playtime
"Unstructured playtime outside with others that are a variety of ages. Not under the eyes of an adult."
"This was my favorite part of being a kid. There were 10-12 kids within a six-year age range on my street and we'd all be out playing between multiple blocks, houses, and wooded areas. Our parents would just yell or whistle from the porch at dinner time, and sometimes we'd go back out again after!"
"Beyond playing and having fun, being unsupervised and big kids amongst little kids provides so much mental enrichment that kids don't get sitting in front of a screen being constantly tended to. Problem-solving, imagination, cooperation, taking care of each other, sharing, working things out, navigation, self-awareness... on and on."
- EarthCadence
Ghosts in the Graveyard
"I miss playing 'Ghosts in the Graveyard'!"
"I grew up with an actual cemetery in my backyard (once you hopped a fence, of course) and you haven't really played 'Ghosts in the Graveyard' until you played it in an actual graveyard!"
- Fred_the_skeleton
Computer Literacy
"Typing classes. Most Gen Z/Alpha kids grew up with tablets and maybe a laptop, no desktops. Teachers assume they know how to type, but they've only done it with their thumbs, they don't have the muscle memory for a traditional keyboard."
"The ability to type on a physical keyboard is really important in the working world, and a lot fewer kids can do it well these days."
"We need to bring back typing classes, along with how file/folder/directory systems work in general, a lot of college students don't know how to use them!"
- cinemachick
Imaginative Play
"Toys that were just toys. Not everything had to be educational. Just let kids play and explore and discover. Let them get bored."
It Takes a Village
"Village grandparents. My parents would leave me with my grandparents for months during summer. We had a large, large yard with many old collapsing or collapsed buildings, a variety of animals roaming around, and a few gardens."
"I’d climb trees, and buildings, play with the animals, and go fishing in the small river near the house with a self-made fishing rod made out of a bottle, rope, and an old nail."
"I never caught anything. Best time of my life."
- John_McTaffy
Thinking Outside the Box
"Freedom to explore, invent, and create. Today's kids are so scheduled with activities and online all of the time. Getting out in the world without an agenda would be helpful."
"I'm now seeing college graduates who have a hard time doing anything other than following explicit instructions from their boss. They don't problem-solve. They don't innovate on their own."
"I can teach someone numbers or the structure of loops or conditional statements. I can't fix an issue with someone not understanding why they would choose a certain solution or not being able to relate what they are doing to the software module's objectives. I see perfect Leetcode problems with no understanding of the problem they're solving or even why they want to be an engineer. Or what to do if something varies slightly from what they memorized."
"AI will take over a lot of jobs if kids can't think nonlinearly or relate information. ChatGPT already writes code akin to what I'm seeing from young engineers. It doesn't have human reasoning about the problem and why you'd need to solve it a particular way, but it sure codes a variety of solutions quickly. A senior engineer can replace the junior engineers who don't think through the problem with AI."
- LilMick786
Boredom
"I feel like kids have no tolerance for 'boredom.' I try to tell the youngins to let their minds wander and allow thoughts to flow, but they feel compelled to stuff every moment with games or videos."
"They’re not even enjoying music anymore. It’s all, 'Can I play this song? It’s from a meme.' And they change the song before it’s over because there’s less appreciation for composition anymore."
- Specific-Pen-1132
Lacking Patience
"No patience. That's a side effect of the tech culture. My friend's kid is 10, and she's only known the instant gratification of TV, iPad, and Nintendo Switch all without ads. She never has to wait. If she's losing a game, she hits the reset button. Doesn't like a song, she skips."
"The rest of us grew up with limited or no tech. We had commercials on TV. Our favorite shows were only on once a day at a specific time. We were prisoners to whatever the DJ was playing on the radio. Sometimes our friends were grounded, so we'd have to play alone."
"Now I have friends with kids who place limits on the 'electronic babysitter.' These kids do have patience and they use their imagination. So there's hope."
- popcornstuffedbra
Basic Connections
"I love technology for its educational pieces. I avoid my kids on YouTube etc. They are aware of those people but not how you access it from their tablet. Coding, PBS Games, reading, writing, math, stem games."
"Kids today need time to just be kids. I believe study hall should exist after their main subjects. They can do homework, tutoring, and extracurriculars afternoon until their parents pick them up or they ride home on a bus. It should be a time of exploration, soft social skills through board games, etc."
"They are missing, and even daily living skills because the world is always on the go."
"They need access to actual food. Vegetable gardens, rabbit pens, etc. Helping others. Time to just be kids, make mistakes and get messy without it being filmed. We all f**k up that doesn't mean it needs to be filmed and posted or shamed for it."
"They need time to build resilience, kindness, and just to be with their family and friends. Access to actual public transportation. I could go on and on."
- Taterandabean
Being Held Accountable
"Accountability! Especially in schools. In my district, they think it’s unfair to the children and can hurt a child’s self-esteem if they’re held back in school. So, even if they never do a single assignment, flunk every class, and learn nothing, they advance to the next grade."
"Because of this, I have sixth graders who don’t know how to spell anything, don’t know punctuation, have no idea what to do with commas, and have no clue that they need to capitalize the first letter of a sentence. They don’t know how to write a paragraph. They are disrespectful to teachers and just don’t care because it doesn’t matter if they flunk. It is just sad."
- meow1983
Enjoying Nature
"The outdoors without electronics. We have nature trails that border where I work and when I see people out 'enjoying' the great outdoors, most of them have their faces buried in their phones."
"There is so much beauty in nature and being able to observe it can teach a person a lot."
- crewchief1949
Less Technology Dependence
"Growing up in the '90s/early '00s was a lot of fun. H**l, I didn’t get my first cell phone until ninth grade."
"Kids are surprised when I tell them I had to share it with my brother, had no internet access, and it only had enough memory to store 50 texts. If you reached that, you had to delete some in order to receive new ones. Oh, and I got so good at texting without looking at my phone."
- WolverineJive_Turkey
Poor Attitudes
"I'm Gen Z but I see older people being a lot more optimistic. If something fails, they try something else. A lot of young people are so fed up with life (me included), they can barely function and they either isolate themselves or indulge in obscene hedonism."
- pensiero_97
"Free time (too much homework in my opinion)."
"Privacy (social media and constant connection via a phone/laptop)."
"Downtime (time to just chill and do nothing, they feel like every moment needs to be filled or they’re missing out)."
"Ignorance (they’re introduced to world/political issues way younger)."
- Strude187
Kids Being Kids
"A youth without having to be perfectly styled and ready for social media..."
"We played. Outside. In the mud and snow and in the summer's heat. We came back with dirty clothes, freezing cold noses, and wet from jumping into the nearby lake. We didn't care about our clothes, about our "style" and happily wore the same green t-shirt and jeans every day (of course, cleaned)."
"We knew when to come home , not because we had a smartphone or a smartwatch, but because of the sunset. I'll never forget sitting on the porch, watching the sunset, eating ice cream, and being completely and undeniably unworried."
"No one captured every third step on digital videos and posted them on every single social media platform. No one needed 'likes' and 'retweets.' No one bullied you because you didn't have the iPhone 383637 S for ˘$3000..."
"We were KIDS. Just. Kids. Not miniature adults with bad manners and mobile phone addiction."
- DieDobby
For people who grew up in the early 2000s or sooner, these memories are undeniably nostalgic, and even sad, knowing that today's kids won't share in the same memories.
The biggest takeaways seemed to be the push for a full schedule and impressing the internet, when really, the point used to be to unplug and relax with friends.
People Who Grew Up In The 1990s Describe What It Was Really Like
With certain trends coming back into fashion from the 1990s, as well as reboots from '90s kids' favorite TV shows and movies, some who were born since then might be wondering what all the fuss is about.
And the '90s kids were ready for a walk down memory lane.
Redditor Anitoko_chan182 asked:
"To all those who grew up in the 1990s, what was life like?"
What Homework?
"Get home from school, lie and say I had no homework, and go ride bikes or hang out in the tree house with neighborhood kids until it got dark."
"Go home, eat dinner, watch cartoons or play video games, and lay in bed with anxiety because I didn't do my homework."
"Rinse and repeat."
- Slawth_x
"Car!"
"'Car!'"
"What amazes me is the universality of this. Because there was no other phrase. And I think people think it's a reference to 'Wayne's World,' but let's be real, that was art imitating life, not the other way around."
- whatever_befall
The Sweetest of Afternoons
"Don't forget riding bikes with a group of like eight kids to 7-11, all of you leaving your bikes out in front unlocked while you went in and loaded up on candy and Slurpees, and then going back to someone's house to play cards and listen to music while we ate the junk food."
- brasslamp
Unlimited Nights and Weekends
"I remember my parents got cell phones when I was pretty young. Like early-early versions."
"My mom turned hers off unless she needed to make a call. And then one day my dad had road trouble or something and then couldn't get ahold of her because she just didn't turn her phone on."
"It was a whole thing. But it was like this light bulb moment of, 'if I have a mobile phone so I can be reached wherever I am, I need to keep it turned on.'"
- Catsdrinkingbeer
Ghost in the Graveyard
Staying out playing in the front yard until dark (yes, the cliche was true). We played 'Jurassic Park' a lot and made up dances to the Spice Girls."
"My personal favorite was Ghost in the Graveyard (Hide and Seek in the dark), but it sounds like that may be a regional thing."
- midnightlightbright
That Dial-Up Sound
"No social media, which means all my f**kups are only captured on Polaroids and the mind of people slowly approaching dementia, thank merciful Christ."
"The internet was slow as s**t, like it took 20 minutes to get online with dialup. China's economy was still dominated by Hong Kong, and Russia looked like they were going to modernize into a real democracy. The president of the US played jazz on live TV, and hair gel sold faster than crack."
"We were definitely more optimistic than we are now, but maybe that was just delusion rather than fact. It's hard to tell sometimes if things were actually better, or if I was just a kid who could enjoy the simple moments in life."
- Cyanora
The Little Things
"No social media, or cell phones, was the absolute best. If we wanted a picture, we had to remember that the person, who in my case was a real gossip at high school, was going to see it."
"I was in high school in the mid-90s, my elementary days were spent playing hide and go seek with the neighborhood kids, and every front yard on the block was fair game; not one neighbor ever complained."
"Everyone seemed kinder, the music was awesome, and we were all so much more connected it seemed. Lots of basketball, rollerblading, and 'jacka**' type shenanigans that we would come up with."
"And Dunkaroos, Surge, and Flinstone push-ups were the ultimate treats."
- expecto_your-mom
Just Relax
"Colorful, unashamedly campy, and everything basically had that 'your lame parents trying to impress your friends' vibe... and it worked."
"I was born in 87, but I grew up in the 90s. I miss that decade immensely. It was so laid back and carefree (as a child)."
"Everything now takes itself so f**king seriously. It's depressing."
- MateriaMuncher
Before the Crash
"I was reading something about this not too long ago. Compared with much of the previous century, the 90s would have come off as amazing."
"No world wars, the cold war had just ended. The economy was doing very well. The modern tech industry was up and coming and the downsides that we're aware of today hadn't become apparent yet. 9/11 and its aftermath hadn't happened yet."
"Someone growing up in the 90s would have definitely felt pretty optimistic."
- Always_Statsing
What Health Issues?
"We all had health issues and ate the terrible 1990s all-carb diet."
"We just didn't discuss mental health, etc. Those topics were incredibly taboo. I was diagnosed with ADHD as a kid, nobody wanted that diagnosis, nobody wanted to have to be in special needs classes, etc."
"Tony Soprano being public (on tv) about taking Prozac was a HUGE deal."
- imnothereurnotthere
Entertainment on the Rise
"Pretty cool. The Internet was fresh and exciting. Video games were this really creative interactive medium that was seeing rapid development."
"3D animation became a thing and had some really creative TV shows like 'Reboot.' 'Chumbawumba' made us all feel like nothing could keep us down. 'The Simpsons' were a comedy powerhouse."
"Pokemon became an international craze and kids were obsessive about it."
- ILikeToThinkOutLoud
Living Slower
I am super grateful for my coming of age in the 90s! I’ve written about it before, but looking back, it was a great time for a childhood. It was hard to beat Friday night at the local video rental place, perusing the horror VHS movies from the 80s."
"I was born in the early 80s and remember the late 80s well and had my formative years in the 90s. It was actually really amazing, gaming on the early consoles, but having a full life outside that the digital world just didn’t really intrude upon. Playing outdoors on summer days and retiring to the Super Nintendo at night was a really great balance."
"We watched and participated in the growth of the internet, with a pretty solid delineation between a time before the net and the time after. To a middle schooler, getting the internet for the first time was damn near a magical experience."
"Things were slower. We didn’t have instantaneous gratification or access to so much information/goods/services so quickly. Even though I enjoy getting my stuff within a day or two as much as the next yak, I would be lying if I said that we didn’t sacrifice something important for the wonders of same-day shipping."
"In short, I wouldn’t trade my childhood in the ’90s for anything. While I love my awesome gaming PC, my home theater, and above all else, my iPad that I’m typing this out on, I miss the slower-paced world of the 90s and wish we could get a little of that patience back."
- The_Best_Yak_Ever
The Information Age
"Hank Green recently did a video talking about how, in an earlier video he'd joked about the internet being as big a change for society as the printing press. And while he'd originally intended that as joking hyperbole, it's become apparent that it might be an understatement."
"Us born in the 80s kids are more or less the last generation to remember life before the internet. My family had a computer early on, and I'm really nostalgic for the early days of chatrooms and message boards before everyone was online and in these walled gardens."
"It's a little helpful to realize we're still in the early days of the Information Age. It takes time for society to adjust and figure out healthy ways to live with big things like this in our lives."
"It doesn't help, though, that big things like this seem like they're happening at an increasing rate."
- Krail
Knowledge in Your Pocket
"I am still impressed with the idea of literally having a repository of essentially all human knowledge in my pocket."
"Back then you couldn't remember something or wanted to know what was the primary language of a different country? Hope you know someone reliable who knows that or you own an encyclopedia or can get to the library. Good luck with the dewy decimal system in the card catalog."
"The amount of effort to obtain knowledge has become so minute that we should all be smarter than we are but when it's so accessible the value is diminished to some degree."
"I remember seeing on inspector gadget penny his niece have a book that was effectively a mobile computer and videophone and thinking it was pure insanity if that were to ever exist. I am literally typing on such a device now."
"When I saw the internet become accessible on a phone for the first time it was 2006 and my friend's sidekick and I about lost my mind. We are living in the future."
- DanielFyre
I.R.L.
"Everything felt a lot more real, and a lot more wholesome, for the most part. Mind you, I was a child back then so I'm sure I'm biased. Things felt slower. Kids used to play outside whenever they could, and no one was EVER using electronics outside, except for the occasional Walkman."
"I preferred the houses back then a lot since they still had some semblance of beauty and color. Unless you were in a big city, almost everyone had yards. There were a lot more trees everywhere. People weren't just constantly cutting down every single tree in every town for no reason."
"And the average person's language skills were MILES better than they are today."
- RebeccaETripp
Watching a Movie
"When the commercial came on, you RAN to the bathroom. Then your sibling yelled, 'it's back on!' And you RAN back to the couch!"
- chompytown
Snuggled in-between wars and economy crashes, the 1990s felt like a uniquely safe time that we may never fully see again. But it sure is fun to reminisce.
People Noticed A Common Thread In This Photo Of A Movie Theatre Marquee, And 90s Kids Are Relating Hard
As the republic continues to crumble, nostalgia has never been more in.
This is exemplified by the theatre marquee at Edwards Cinema which features a list of movies that will have you checking the date to make sure you're in the right decade.
The picture of the marquee shows the films Toy Story 4, Men in Black, Godzilla, Aladdin, and Child's Play—all of which had wildly successful iterations in the 1990s.
Devon Sawa—himself a 90s heartthrob—tweeted the image with the caption:
"Dear children of today: Like it or not, you're really 90s kids."
The films are still a little different than their original counterparts: Pixar's animation has grown by leaps and bounds since the original Toy Story's release in 1995, Aladdin is a live-action remake, This decade'sChild's Play revolves around technology rather than voodoo, and Men in Black now features a woman as the lead.
Nevertheless, the marquee had people hella disoriented.
Some lamented that the nostalgia is actually a lack of originality.
If that doesn't overwhelm you, The Lion Kingwill be arriving to theatres next month.
Freeform has announced that is picking up a reboot of the classic show Party of Five. The show followed five siblings struggling to make their way through life as a family after the unexpected loss of both of their parents. The show ran for six seasons, won tons of awards, and still has a passionate fanbase even though it's been over for nearly two decades. Freeform announced that the new version will be a "modern reimagining" - and the new plot is bound to make a few people upset.
In the initial series, the Salinger kids lose their parents after an accident with a drunk driver. The show followed the kids through six years of essentially raising each other and fighting their hardest to stay together as a unit.
Original Executive Producers Amy Lippman and Christoper Keyser released a statement saying they will focus on something closer to the heart of the current American political climate.
Twenty-five years ago, we imagined a story about five kids navigating the world after the untimely death of their parents. Today, stories of families being separated, children having to raise themselves in the wake of their parents' deportations, don't require any imagination; they are everywhere. This new iteration of Party of Five isn't a retread of the original; it's a whole new look at kids trying to parent each other in the wake of circumstances beyond their control, yet learning a similar lesson: that families persist no matter how great the obstacles.
Freeform's Executive VP of Programming And Development said the network "just had" to have the series and they were proud to help tell this new story.
News of the reboot is spreading fast on Twitter, and people have a lot to say. Warning: It's not always something good.
@JustJared Yes! I loved that show— KREAM OUT NOW 🇦🇺 (@KREAM OUT NOW 🇦🇺) 1536272870.0
@THR So sad 😞— rarebella (@rarebella) 1536274055.0
@THR Show with a clear political agenda #byebye— jd (@jd) 1536306096.0
@people Cashing in on the real traumatic experiences for some Latino families. Great job ABC 🙄— chelchel (@chelchel) 1536287758.0
@Grateful24x7 @DEADLINE Same here.— Brenda Libby (@Brenda Libby) 1536276599.0
@newsbusters And on the season finale, ICE comes and deports everybody back to the country where they are legally a… https://t.co/fPMgc7mdBt— Dave Cullather (@Dave Cullather) 1536340064.0
(Stoked for the Party of Five reboot in which the parents were deported instead of killed. It's a smart, relevant s… https://t.co/crDu9IXDhz— Carina Adly MacKenzie (@Carina Adly MacKenzie) 1536268515.0
"Reboot, but make it Latino!" streak going on strong: - One Day at a Time - Charmed - Magnum, PI - Roswell, New Me… https://t.co/WG3KTJkRWi— Manuel #LordDámeloTodo Betancourt (@Manuel #LordDámeloTodo Betancourt) 1536267848.0
@THR https://t.co/mxMjqeyhkU— Fraulein Steve (@Fraulein Steve) 1536303685.0
What are your thoughts? Does the retooling strike you as relevant and modern or like a "clear political agenda?" Maybe both? Let us know!