Why 90s Kids Are The Best Kids | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Entertainment

Why 90s Kids Are The Best Kids

And why we're bitter kids too.

236
Why 90s Kids Are The Best Kids

If you're like me, you've joined in on the never ending 90s nostalgia that seems to be everywhere on the Internet. Maybe you follow the Facebook Page 90's Babies only. Maybe you've seen this video, where a man makes 90s cartoons out of pancake batter, and you immediately missed everything you knew. Maybe you were perusing YouTube and you say the video for Fall Out Boy's "Irresistible", and the N*Sync figures and theme threw you for a loop and had you looking up the music video for "Dirty Pop". Well. let me tell you something, there were so many amazing things about our childhood, that there's a reason we're still obsessed. Unfortunately, all these reasons aren't good.

We had the best music.

This is so crucial. You know you were addicted to some of these things as a kid, even before you really knew what they were singing about. Destiny's Child, Shaggy (" It Wasn't Me" was released in 2000, so basically your 90s childhood), Britney Spears, TLC and so much more. Remember when Will Smith was a rapper? R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion"? Released in 1991. "Wannabe"? As in Spice Girl's "If you wanna be my lover?" 1994. Crazy, isn't it? But if you play these songs now, most of our generation can belt them out word for word.

We had the best toys.

Remember before the Internet? I'm sure you do. There were so many things we did before the Internet. We had toys, real toys, that we played with that required us to think, or to move, or to be quick. Remeber Elefun?

You loaded the butterflies up into the little jerk's trunk, and then you fought tooth and nail with whoever was playing with you, because if you didn't get all the butterflies, your life would end. Oh, was that just me? There are other toys that incited our never ending madness. There was also the Tamagotchi. God forbid you didn't feed that thing. If it wasn't right in your hand, you panicked. Where is it!? Where could it be!? How about my least favorite game, Perfection? All of my friends had these:

The devil himself created this game, but looking back on it, it was so genius. A cognitive game that helped you get quicker and quicker? Do smart. And so infuriating when the timer went off and all the pieces exploded out.

We had great TV Shows.

We had the best books.

Sometimes people forget this, because Harry Potter is such a powerfully amazing series, and has taken over the world. But the first Harry Potter book was published in America in 1999. What this means is we were the first kids to get a hold of Harry Potter books. We ended that decade with the first book in our hands, and for most of us, the love of Harry Potter helped to shape the rest of our childhoods. J.K. Rowling taught us lessons about hope, love and disappointment, because we would spend years waiting for Hogwarts letters that were never going to arrive.

We has the best movies.

"Forrest Gump", "Jurassic Park", "Clueless", "Good Will Hunting" (RIP Robin), "Braveheart", "Saving Private Ryan" and "American History X" all came out in the 90s. These movies, and so many more, were some of the greatest films to cut our movie-goer teeth on. Back before every single movie was a remake or based on books, video games, or mobile apps (yeah, angry birds, really?), there was the 90s, when people still had their own ideas.

We had the best (worst) sense of style.

There was something about the 90s. I don't know what to tell you. We all wanted to be clueless.

We thought overalls were the way to go.

We let Aaron Carter dress in duct tape. Silver? I don't know what this is. Not only did we allow it, we loved it. We looked at these people and wanted to be them. We hung these photos on our walls. We were the 90s. Thank God my mom was in charge of buying clothes and would have never allowed me anything like these outfits.

We had the healthiest childhoods.

Being the last generation to mostly grow up without never ending video games is so important. We had days and days outdoors. We played hide and go seek, freeze tag and threw balls that we could never find. We wandered our neighborhoods from dawn till dusk, coming home only when the street lamps turned on and our parents called for us. (If they used your middle name, you knew it was all over, you were grounded.) We played four square. We argued over the rules. Hopscotch was a thing. For a while we carried this into our teenage/adult lives. We still talk about it, "I don't understand why kids don't go outside more," and "when I was younger, if I tried to play games too much my parents took them away." We are slowly turning into our parents, and it's not a bad thing in some ways.

We got to see technology really start to develop.

If you don't remember being excited about AOL discs, you either didn't have a computer or you're not the 90s kid I'm talking to. Every time I got a new America Online Disc, the world opened up. I couldn't pay for it, but all my friends used AOL Instant Messenger, and I wanted to as well. I wanted to get online and change the color of my text and create away messages so they knew how clever I was. The only thing that could really ruin this time was my mom calling down the stairs, "Get off the computer, I'm waiting for an important phone call!?" That was literally the worst. When your parents wouldn't or couldn't get a second phone line, the house became a battlefield for internet time. A battle that us 90s kids lost every time.

We saw cell phones really start to become what they are today. In the 80s, they were essentially huge house phones that you needed a briefcase just to carry. In the 90s, they came something manageable. Nokia really cornered the market for a while there, creating this little beauty:

This phone, the Nokia 6110 came out in 1997, and inspired some of the Tracfone's we really remember growing up. Most importantly though, it had the best game ever on it: Snake.

Unfortunately, our generation is also characterized by something else: A loss of hope.

We remember the American Dream.

We remember being told as we were growing up that the only way to succeed in life was to work hard. That's it. Work hard, push yourself, and you'll get what's coming to you. And in the early 90s, this was solid advice. We knew that as we were growing up, we just needed to try. We had to work hard. We had to push ourselves. As long as we did that, things would turn out all right in the end. But now we're faced with the idea that that isn't true.

We knew that hard work would get us good jobs. But then, as we got older, we saw how getting good jobs wasn't going to be that easy. Our middle and high school years were characterized by never ending unemployment (which is down, but still frightening.) We knew we wanted to go to college, but the cost of college has gone up so much, that some of us can't afford it. We all want the basic things: food, shelter, water, transportation and medical coverage, but the cost of all these things have gone up so much that we have to worry. People in Flint don't have water. People in poverty don't have health insurance. Houses are now affordable, as minimum wage doesn't rise with the cost of living. We're scared.

We're 90s kids, and we have a sense of anxiety that comes from the changing of the world around us. The reason we're so intent on remembering the 90s fondly, is because the 2010s are scary. The top music in this decade is a mash up of things we don't recognize. Adults think we're entitled. They think we demand everything, and we want everything, but our generation, the Lost Generation, just wants what we were promised. We want the American Dream.

We want to know that hard work will get us where we want to be. We want to have some of the simpler days we had before. We want to sit and enjoy our lives. We just want our kids to know what we had, from our terrible sense of fashion to the Olsen Twins when they were a household name. We miss it.

This isn't a criticism. This is me saying that it's okay. It's okay to miss the 90s. Never let go.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Relationships

10 Facts All People In A Large Family Can Confirm During The Holiday Season

The holiday season can be the best and most stressful time of the year, especially when more people are involved.

1629
kids jumping

The holidays are full of lights, sweets, sweaters, and your favorite movies. There's nothing quite like this period from the beginning of December through January. Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Years. The fun of it all.

I don't know about you but with my large Italian family something is always going on during this season. It can be the most wonderful time of the year while also being the most hectic. These are a few things you know if your family is anything like mine during this time.

Keep Reading...Show less
10 things that happen the second Thanksgiving is over
reference.com

To those who celebrate, you just spent an entire day cooking an elaborate meal with all of your favorite foods. You probably ate your body weight in pumpkin pie and mashed potatoes. What happens now? Oh yea, Christmas. It’s time to take out all of the decorations and Christmas themed things that have been sitting in the attic since last year; it’s time to make a reappearance. So, here are 10 things that happen the second Thanksgiving is over.

Keep Reading...Show less
Adulting

18 Things I Want To Do Now That I'm 18

I'm technically an adult, so I'm legally required to live a little, right?

4698
Happy Birthday Cake

For the entirety of my high school career, I was always seen as the goody-two-shoes. I never got in trouble with a teacher, I kept stellar grades, and when I wasn't doing extracurricular activities, I was at home studying. Even when I did go out, it was usually with a bunch of fellow band geeks. The night would end before 11:00 PM and the only controversial activity would be a fight based on who unfairly won a round of Apples-to-Apples when someone else clearly had a better card (I promise I'm not still holding a grudge).

Now that I'm officially an adult, I want to pursue some new things. I want to experience life in a way that I never allowed myself to do prior to entering college. These are the years that I'm supposed to embark on a journey of self-discovery, so what better way to do that than to create a bucket list?

Keep Reading...Show less
Featured

10 Life Lessons from Christmas Classics

The holiday classics that shaped my life

2895
10 Life Lessons from Christmas Classics
Flickr

The holiday season is full of stress, debt, and forced conversation. While we rush through the month of December, it's important to take a step back and enjoy the moments before they're gone. Most families love to watch Christmas movies, but these beloved films provide more than entertainment. Here are 10 life lessons that I've learned from the holiday classics we watch every year.

Keep Reading...Show less
Featured

15 Mind-Bending Riddles

Hopefully they will make you laugh.

202271
 Ilistrated image of the planet and images of questions
StableDiffusion

I've been super busy lately with school work, studying, etc. Besides the fact that I do nothing but AP chemistry and AP economics, I constantly think of stupid questions that are almost impossible to answer. So, maybe you could answer them for me, and if not then we can both wonder what the answers to these 15 questions could be.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments