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Nostalgia has a way of bringing us back to the moments we cherish most, and for many of us, the 90s hold a special place. The decade of baggy jeans, Furbies, and PlayStation 1—something about it was uniquely fun and lighthearted, a feeling that seems hard to replicate today.

Although we can’t rewind the clock, we can at the very least reconnect with those simpler days through the internet. There’s a Facebook group called ‘Nostalgia: 90s Kids Only’, which, as the name suggests, is dedicated to sharing relatable memes about this iconic time. So if you’re a 90s kid, get ready to take a trip down memory lane. And if you aren’t, stick around because this is your chance to see just why this era was so loved.

#1

90s-Kids-Nostalgia

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Rachel
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I like this one. I mean, in my brain, the 1980s were 20 years ago and I will die on that hill.

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“This was hands down the best time to be a kid in the history of ever,” comments one of the Facebook group’s 148K members in response to a post featuring a 90s television program.

This many people gather online to reminisce about the past for a good reason. Psychology professor and researcher Krystine Batcho from LeMoyne College explains for National Geographic that while nostalgia is often seen as a private reflection, it actually helps us connect with one another by reminding us of our earlier relationships. This emotional connection encourages us to seek support from others. Nostalgia is particularly linked to childhood memories because, as Batcho points out, “In childhood, we were loved simply for who we were.”

#3

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Khwasou Paghi
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

and the internet used to sound like half a motorcycle engine with an elephant trunk too

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Some may perceive nostalgia as melancholic or bittersweet, but research shows that for most people, it’s a positive emotion that evokes warmth, fondness, and a sense of belonging. Many things can trigger nostalgia, like places or smells, but movies, music, and photos are especially meaningful.

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“Familiar media from our past brings us emotional comfort, but it also meets a cognitive need: it encourages the belief that things will get better because they’ve been good before,” says Batcho.

#4

90s-Kids-Nostalgia

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ynyrhydref56
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I see pride. I see power. I see a badass mother****** who don't take no c**p off of nobody!

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There is an explanation for why often remember things in a positive light and romanticize our experiences through nostalgia. “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 notes humorously. “It’s a function of species survival that we can gloss over the bad portions of the past.”

#7

90s-Kids-Nostalgia

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Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You wouldn't steal a handbag. You wouldn't steal a car. You wouldn't steal a baby. You wouldn't shoot a policeman. And then steal his helmet. You wouldn't go to the toilet in his helmet. And then send it to the policeman's grieving widow. And then steal it again! Downloading films is stealing. If you do it, you will face the consequences.

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So, what else does nostalgia do to our bodies and brains? As it turns out, quite a lot. It boosts our sense of well-being, inspires creativity, and makes us feel more youthful, alert, optimistic, and energetic. Nostalgia can even encourage us to take risks and pursue our goals. Additionally, it reduces our perception of pain and enhances our ability to detect threats.

#10

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The Shark
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember when you'd blow on them they'd make a puff of fake sugar smoke lol... They kinda tasted like expired fruity gum 😅

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Moreover, it appears that people are increasingly nostalgic now compared to before, according to GWI Zeitgeist. Gen Z is the most nostalgic generation, with 15% preferring to think about the past rather than the future. Millennials closely follow at 14%, with this trend gradually decreasing with age.

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Both Gen Z and millennials are also driving nostalgia in the media. Half of Gen Z feels nostalgic for various types of media, closely followed by 47% of millennials.

#13

90s-Kids-Nostalgia

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Khwasou Paghi
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

More like the metal one depressed you to death and the other one we used to climb up feeling like spiderman on steroids because we thought our friends couldn't see us

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#14

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LaserBrain
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4 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well it does make it harder to see what's out there in the dark... So it is a driving hazard

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Nostalgia doesn’t always have to be related to personal memories. Amid recent challenges like recovering from the COVID pandemic, navigating a cost-of-living crisis, and struggling to find jobs, younger generations are seeking comfort in a time before the internet and social media. Surprisingly, nearly 40% of Gen Z feels nostalgic for the 90s, even though most were born after 2000.

#15

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Khwasou Paghi
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i have a cat named simba and the little ones have picked him up like that as a demonstration for so many zoom classes lol

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#16

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Colleen Glim
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Those things will survive the apocalypse. The hard is gonna be finding a charger that fits

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#17

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The Shark
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Don't get me started on ripping CDs and then burning mixes just to have them get scratched and skip while playing them on a discman with a tape adapter in my car😆

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So, the 90s are definitely trending, but it’s not just because of Gen Z. Patrick Metzger explains that pop culture follows a 30-year cycle, which he calls the ‘Nostalgia Pendulum’. After analyzing 500 movies, he found that it usually takes around three decades for a remake to appear. For example, Ghostbusters originally came out in 1984 and was remade in 2016—a span of 32 years. Jurassic Park debuted in 1993, with Jurassic World following in 2015, 22 years later.

“The driving factor seems to be that it takes about 30 years for a critical mass of people who were consumers of culture when they were young to become the creators of culture in their adulthood,” Metzger writes on his blog. So, those born in the 90s are now in their mid-20s to early 30s and are inspired to create content similar to when they were growing up.

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At the same time, Metzger highlights that on top of creators genuinely referencing their childhood, companies and advertisers recognize nostalgia as a powerful marketing tool. They consciously use the ‘Nostalgia Pendulum’ to build emotional connections with their intended audiences and are able to make bigger profits because of it.

#21

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Meaghan Stewart
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4 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had trauma-related anxiety over dentist visits, so after every one until I turned 18, my dad would let me pick a stuffed animal at Toys R Us. One time I had to go by myself and then had a softball match and I turned around to see him in the stands holding a GIANT stuffed tiger. I still have him, 2 decades later. (ETA to clarify it was my dad and not my dentist lmao)

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#22

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August West
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

they only stopped making them because the world, or at least the US, is saturated with them. They never die and persist from generation to generation.

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Greyling Streets
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But who remembers trying to hit snooze when the clock wasn’t all the way on the shelf and it came crashing down? Quite effective as an alarm that way!

Austin Sauce
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

5 mins snooze button… perfect. My phone does like 8 or something. What are you crazy, Apple? I got places to be!

Rhonda
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We are using one almost exactly like it! My husband likes to brag about how old it is!

Shelby Richeson
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

God damn I hated this thing. 4:30AM every morning for 20 years this monster screamed the whole neighborhood awake. I still get furious when I hear it in commercials or some YouTube video.

Maggie Fulton
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I would sometimes wake up before the alarm went off because the sound was that stressful.

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Dan St John
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Mine sits next to the bed and still works. They don't make them like that anymore.

Jan Moore
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had one that had the numbers on flippers(?), it made sounds when it flipped over.

R.A. Haley
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ha! I had the same one, but the digits were little metal plates that flipped over to tell the time.

2DB
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I still have one. I think the perma-dust distribution is the same.

Sue Ellen Jensen
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I sold one of the two I had at a yard sale and the guy was more than happy to pay me $3 for it. The other one is under my TV so I don't have to turn on my phone to see what time it is!

Cat_Whisperer
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is literally my alarm now…I also have a flip-phone (because it’s $5/mo)…and I am the only person in my age-group that has no use or desire for a smartphone.

Brenda White
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My husband is 69, his sits on our bureau and still works perfectly. We retired to a rural area and just discovered we can listen to our favorite talk show without Internet on it. Who would have thought?

Ali Ball
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Dude, I just reset one, using iPhone 11 time for accuracy. Still works.

Teresa Spanics
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I still have mine that I got for Christmas in 1983! The radio no longer works, but the clock does! I plan to use it until the clock part dies, and then it is recycling time!

Donald Holder
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not very many clock radios around anymore, plus the fact that video killed the radio! There are actually less than 100 AM stations

Cuti Cuteo
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Mine was always faster. After a month or so, it could be 5 minutes ahead of the real time.

LynzCatastrophe
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm smashing my dad's when he dies. I heard that damn thing from my room, directly under his.

Ozymandias73
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember in HS band camp I had brought mine with me. My cabin, the cabins on both sides of ours all got up when that sucker went off!

Daddy’s Girl
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had one right up until a couple of months ago. I checked around to replace it and decided on an Echo instead. I guess I came into the future.

Connor N
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm 30 and I have this same one. Just in case my phone alarm doesn't wake me.

Steve Jensen
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had one like this in the late 70's. So they were around quite a long time.

Stefaan De Clerck
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I still have one and still use it too. Don't wont to wake up by the sound of my smartphone.

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Analyn Lahr
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My dad had that exact model with that exact amount of dust on it. If it weren't for the fact the background looks different than anywhere we ever lived I'd swear it was my dad's clock.

Stephen Nichols
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I still have one! It used to wake me up 30+ years ago for my paper round. Radio part doesn't work anymore but it still tells the time.

Barry Fruitman
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Bedside clocks are still a thing but they make fewer and fewer with radios

Michael Largey
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Still one in our guest bedroom. And all our guests are old enough to know how to use it.

Ashlie Dearest
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Still have it, and use it. Things back then are far better quality, than today.

Aussiegirl
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My husband has a white version, it’s so loud 🤪 I use my phone

Amy Gebauer
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My grandparents still have this alarm clock in there bedroom lmao

Patric Romesburg
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The deepest pits of Hell has the alarms on this thing as background music.

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Currently, many businesses can be seen trying to monetize 90s nostalgia. Last year, Pepsi rebranded its logo, drawing inspiration from its 90s look. Interestingly, PepsiCo’s chief design officer, Mauro Porcini, told CNN that when people are asked to draw the logo from memory, they often recreate the version used from 1987 to 1997. The famous toy Furby, first released in 1998, also made a comeback last year for its 25th anniversary. Apparel brands like Birkenstock and Juicy Couture, which gained momentum in the 90s, are having a resurgence in popularity right now.

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#24

90s-Kids-Nostalgia

Nostalgia: 90s Kids Only Report

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Austin Sauce
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The grapes scented marker. Sometimes I get a whiff of something similar and all of a sudden I’m in Mrs Houston’s 3rd grade class…

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However, the 30-year nostalgic window may be shortening. BBC correspondent Leah Carroll recently coined the term ‘Nowstalgia’, describing how people and culture are moving so fast that we start to miss things as soon as they’re no longer available or possible to do.

#28

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Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had a Star Wars version, a Rancor, I found a glitch to up his age to the maximum allowed of 99 years old.

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#29

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Sava Hax
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Had a bottlecap the other day that said "Sorry, you're a loser!". Would've been fine if at least there was some sort of raffle or competition going on.

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So whether you’re nostalgic about the 90s, something that happened last year, or even just a few weeks ago, we hope you take the time to reflect on these memories and use them in a positive way. Nostalgia can be a powerful tool for connecting with our past and inspiring our future.

#35

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Sabrina Longo
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Pockets, they needed the pockets. The 90s decided they would punish the women who wanted pocket by giving them only this monstrosity to wear.

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#37

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Matt Stadler
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh yeah... I remember having dopamine production. That was the best.

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#42

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BatPhace
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nah this is my road trips now. It's cheaper this way and you can just have whoever in control of the cooler hand you something

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#43

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Khwasou Paghi
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

why didn't grass just stay on the ground. how did my feet mow the lawn better than the machine fr

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#45

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Nikole
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The guy who played Billy was horribly bullied on the show because he’s gay and the Red Ranger has been indicted on federal fraud charges. Trini is dead. And I’m a little ball of sunshine.

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#46

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Kalikima
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Go to a casino in Laughlin, Nevada, they still use it alot..

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#50

90s-Kids-Nostalgia

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Daniel Atkins
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The best way t carry a crt tv was with the screen towards the body. That is if you could lift one. Learned this having to load them in cars while working at Walmart.

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Note: this post originally had 80 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.

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