While many eras quietly go down as parts of broader historical contexts, some carve themselves a special, distinct place in people's memories.
The Facebook page '90s Flashback' shares nostalgic posts about all the things that made the decade so special, and it has earned 533K followers by doing so.
We covered it earlier this year, but the page has released a lot of new content since then, so we decided to do a follow-up on it. Continue scrolling to check it out and teleport yourself to the good old days. Even if for a few minutes.
More info: Facebook
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It's very easy to fall into the nostalgia trap. You click on an article like this, and the next thing you know it, you're trying to find more '90s memes. But don't worry—it's natural.
"Consuming nostalgic media of all types gives us a way of thinking about who we are, and helps us make sense of our purpose in life," said Krystine Batcho, a psychology professor at LeMoyne College and longtime nostalgia researcher.
Batcho has been studying nostalgia since, surprise, surprise, the 1990s, even developing a Nostalgia Inventory that assesses how prone one is to nostalgia.
She says she's seen an explosion of research into nostalgia in recent years as scientists increasingly want to piece together what makes it so powerful.
Not sure why the world isn't a Richard scary book complete with the word above each object
"Nostalgia is one way of coping with things like social isolation or disconnectedness, loneliness," Batcho said
"Times of adversity can trigger nostalgia because remembering who we were helps with our identity continuity."
That's why people indulged in it so much during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Scotland. Village library, checked out books like this in the 90s. Fact.
According to Batcho, nostalgia serves several important psychological purposes, Batcho asserts.
One is the need to feel in control. Even if our circumstances are largely out of our control, nostalgia can help us believe that we have at least some of it over our own personal development.
The second is social connection. This may sound counterintuitive since nostalgia typically involves private reflection on our personal history, but nostalgic memories remind us of our relationships with others.
Batcho thinks nostalgic recollections can encourage us to seek social and emotional support because they frequently feature important people from our past.
This is a timeless and universal thing. It isn't even restricted to any age group. As long as kids/people are required to take turns reading aloud, they will not listen to what KS being read so they can practice. When I was teaching, I never went around the room, but a!ways asked for volunteers. There was always one who just kept reading and wouldn't give anyone else a chance.
Batcho said there's a reason our memories become fonder over time, why the negative bits tend to fade away faster.
"Remembering things as better than they were serves an evolutionary purpose. If people were to remember things faithfully to the original, most women would never want to have more than one child," Batcho explained while laughing. "It's a function of species survival that we can gloss over the bad portions of the past."
And endlessly fiddling with the options/screensavers in After Dark! XD (I still miss you, Flying Toasters.)
Yep! My mom cut away my ex-husband's face and just left mine in the frame.
So in general, nostalgia is a healthy, even vital component of the human experience. At its core, nostalgia helps guide us back to our authentic selves and reminds us of who we were always meant to be.
The problem here is that this song came out in 1977. An awesome, amazing rock anthem that still resonates today, but hardly '90's kids' related. Hell, those kids weren't even born when this was released!
Tonya told her stupid husband to "get the fancy cardigan I need for Lillehammer" not "hit Nancy Kerrigan in the knee with a little hammer." It was all a misunderstanding, I swear!
The way Google Maps acts sometimes, i need to go back to paper directions
Parts inside the tv would make cracking sounds randomly as they expanded or contracted with room temperature changes. This happened especially at night when they had been powered off for a while and was most noticeable when your parents had left you home by yourself.
I ruined at least three of my parents computers thanks to that damn site!!!
Docs but otherwise yes. Now, 35 years later its crocs. My poor tired feet.
In Phoenix we had Nordstrom's Last Call. ($50/pair) I owned 50 pairs of Docs. Quit buying when I read there were 2000 styles.
Load More Replies...Adidas Superstars. I've had them for over 30 years and I still love them.
iPod, filled with music that you own, until YOU choose to remove it. iPhone....filled with apps that give you access to music you don't own, until THEY choose to remove it.
I died a little inside when the "oldies" station in my area (KRTH), which used to play "hits of the 50s, 60s, and 70s" when I was growing up in the 80s, to "hits of the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s". I think now they include the 90s in their repertoire. The fact that music from the decade I was born in is considered "oldies" is just.... depressing XD
In a (probably) 99 corolla. Base model didn't have a cd player. Put 230k on mine and sold it 3 years ago. It is still in action, I saw it a couple weeks ago lol.
That kid is not crying because he's afraid of losing a leg. He's crying because he's heard that joke 1,000 times already and is sick of his dad's c**p.
I had a mad crush not on Hercules but on his friend Iolaus. For some reason I thought that actor was cuter XD And I REALLY loved Xena as a teenage girl. Didn't have many "strong/powerful" female action heroes in those days.
I.. have that tiger blanket. And a wolf one from the same era XD
I used to buy 15 for £1 for my cat. She'd diligently carry them to the top of the stairs and then watch them bounce on the stairs as she dropped them one by one. Especially at 2am.
I grew up with no volume bars. Had knobs to use for the volume. Also knobs to turn the TV on and off and to adjust the tv for vertical and horizontal screen/picture.
Wow. Time travel has been perfected and it's used for door dash!!
I go back and watch old movies or TV shows every once in a while and I am horrified when characters are "supposed" to be 18, or 20, or even 25 or so and they look like they're 40 XD I took it as a matter of course when I was a kid ("Ah, all grownups look like that. Of course.") but now that I'm 42 and I remember being 18 years old, and 20, and 25, it's absolutely insane to me XD
I remember Push Pops. I know we were *supposed* to lick them to make them last longer, but I always crunched them instead XD I would crunch Jolly Ranchers too; my friends thought I was psychotic. I can't seem to lick lollipops or suck on hard candies - I've always been a cruncher XD Am I the only one?! Do most people have the restraint to lick/suck on hard candies?
"What part of the 1990s do you miss most"? - being 30 years younger
Lol. The fact that my back didn't hurt. And I could sleep literally anywhere.
Load More Replies...Lists like this are why I followed Australian 90s 00s Nostalgia on Facebook- to many that come up on here are not relevant for non-Americans.
I would like to see what things were like in other countries in the 90's. That would be I interesting.
Load More Replies...As usual, this “ ‘90s nostalgia” list is a “if you were a child or teen in the ‘90s” list. I don’t have the slightest idea what half this stuff is, never mind having nostalgic feelings about them.
Agreed. Born in '97, I have less idea of what these are than my husband, born in '86.
Load More Replies...What premium begging and paid-for ad-free browsing? Ditch the app; Brave browser on phone and Ublock on desktop. All free, no adds or nags.
Load More Replies...Xbox Labs is allowing custom see-through plastic for their controllers right now and the temptation is something. Very 90s. Fortunately, I'm broke and I have the controller I want.
Bored Panda sucks now, what with AI stopping you from commenting, and now they want money 🤑
Yeah, the poll needs another answer - being up to date with music, technology and popular culture.
It definitely needs the answer: The bit of hope I had for the future back then.
Load More Replies...A lot of these cover the 70s/80s, too. Sometimes it feels like 90s peeps think the world started in the 90s, lol.
"What part of the 1990s do you miss most"? - being 30 years younger
Lol. The fact that my back didn't hurt. And I could sleep literally anywhere.
Load More Replies...Lists like this are why I followed Australian 90s 00s Nostalgia on Facebook- to many that come up on here are not relevant for non-Americans.
I would like to see what things were like in other countries in the 90's. That would be I interesting.
Load More Replies...As usual, this “ ‘90s nostalgia” list is a “if you were a child or teen in the ‘90s” list. I don’t have the slightest idea what half this stuff is, never mind having nostalgic feelings about them.
Agreed. Born in '97, I have less idea of what these are than my husband, born in '86.
Load More Replies...What premium begging and paid-for ad-free browsing? Ditch the app; Brave browser on phone and Ublock on desktop. All free, no adds or nags.
Load More Replies...Xbox Labs is allowing custom see-through plastic for their controllers right now and the temptation is something. Very 90s. Fortunately, I'm broke and I have the controller I want.
Bored Panda sucks now, what with AI stopping you from commenting, and now they want money 🤑
Yeah, the poll needs another answer - being up to date with music, technology and popular culture.
It definitely needs the answer: The bit of hope I had for the future back then.
Load More Replies...A lot of these cover the 70s/80s, too. Sometimes it feels like 90s peeps think the world started in the 90s, lol.