I was born in 1994, so I'm technically a '90s kid. I wasn't into Nirvana, Pearl Jam, or wearing flannel shirts – I was simply too young. But I remember thinking Space Jam was the coolest movie ever and that wearing wide-leg jeans was the epitome of fashion. Now, after my generation grew up, we're remembering things with rosy nostalgia glasses.
Technology that's obsolete now seems like cool gadgets to own, and movies that we once denounced as "childish" have become comfort watches. There are lots of things from the '90s and the early 2000s that people wish would make a comeback. So, when one person online recently asked, "What do you miss the most from the 90s/2000s?", thousands of folks had an answer ready.
This post may include affiliate links.
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.
I remember my friends having parents being low bank employees and moms working part time able to own their home, going to vacations and some of them having country/ sea houses. Going to restaurant for saturday evening was nearly standard. Some didn't have that, but lived with dignity without having to struggle. Also employment stability.
Live music ticket prices. I saw Beastie Boys and Rage against the Machine for like $20 in 1993.
This. I saw Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth and Alice in Chains in San Francisco in 1991...tickets were $15. I went to Metallica's Summer Sanitarium Tour w/Korn, Kid Rock, System of Down & Powerman 5000 at Candlestick Park in SF back in 2000. $25 a ticket. Both of those shows would costs hundreds of dollars today (thanks to all the b.s. Ticketmaster fees)
Looking back, the amount of insects. I remember there being insects all over the place when you get outside. I feel like in my country (netherlands) about 75% of them have died. And this can't be good for nature or us.
I agree with you, seems like the Veluwe (national park) has less and less bugs, it saddens me
No subscription bs.
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...
I really liked the huge malls with every store imaginable. All closed now.
I greatly enjoy being able to walk into a store and physically see/try on the item I am purchasing rather than waiting days only for it to not be what I expected/not fit and have to return it and start the process again.
Not worrying about someone recording me in public to ruin me or for their own clout.
I especially hate the augurments that "oh you're in public, it'll happen", it's one thing to be a random person in a background and to have someone specifically trying to record you.
Mix tapes. I rocked a Walkman for years. Our friend group would exchange tapes and try to outdo each other. A mix tape could even have been a romantic gesture if you did it right.
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!
Walking into a Goodwill lately and seeing their prices. Are they now an offshoot of Christies auction house?
Feeling relatively safe. Yeah s**t went down. But riding my bike literal miles away from my home at age 9 and coming home when the street lights came on.
No influencers, no social media, no constant communication via cell phones, feeling unreachable, easily getting lost in the wilderness on trails (in a good way i.e. not running into a bunch of people), conversations with strangers, and really life being affordable.
I remember we lived in an apartment in small town area with little stores around and stuff. I was about 8ish believe and my parents would let me walk/ride my bike the 2-3 blocks to go to the penny candy store or the 711. ( I am only 35 the penny candy store was crazy to still have around I loved it so much)
Getting a job without having to create a profile, copy/paste all the s**t from your resume into the bubbles, write an essay, do a test and do 7 interviews for a minimum wage job.
I miss turn in the resume and filled out form, done.
Back in 2012, I was looking for a job. I'd spend hours on the computer, filling out online applications, tweaking my resume, and taking those stupid personality tests. My mom constantly asked me why I didn't just go and get a paper application in person or just hand them my resume. One day I got tired of explaining and when we were driving, I just innocently asked her if she'd like to go with me to apply at a couple businesses. She did and I was told at the three businesses I walked into that it was online application only. At the third business, my mom irritably asked why I couldn't just hand my resume over to be given to the manager. The clerk answered that they wanted all resumes submitted online and if I gave them my paper one, it would probably just be thrown away. That finally shut my mother up.
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.
Games back then were designed with the knowledge that they had to full, complete, and working, because the console couldn't connect to to internet to download 5,000 updates made after the sale because of the half-a$$ attempt at completion to get them out the door. That's honestly what makes retro gaming so awesome today, because the same, complete game just works, as well today as back then. No internet required.
Privacy and a sense of optimism about the future.
Today is my birthday and while I never thought I would make it to this age, I can't help but wonder how many more birthdays I have left. From wondering how much longer the Earth can handle our BS to wondering which idiot will be first to hit the big red button, it's all just too overwhelming.
You knew where everyone was by finding the house with all the bikes in the front yard. No texts needed.
Or in my son’s case, because they knew there was food. I also quickly learnt pasta with tomato sauce and butter was cheaper than a couple loaves of bread. 20 - 25 years later those kids, when I see them, still thank me. (We lived in a middle class suburb but most mums worked or didn’t want kids over.)
How holidays felt (Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.).
Holidays felt different because it was your parents and.or grandparents doing all (or almost all) the preparations. Nowadays when you have to do all the stuff yourself it is quite different. Not worse, but so much different. We also used to have white christmas, with world covered in snow, but now it is mostly covered in mud during christmas. This also make them feel different.
The ability to disappear. There was such a sense of freedom in just leaving the house, where you'd become uncontactable.
I tell this to all the kids I work with all the time! They lose their mind thinking about not having a phone on them all the time
Affordable rent.
Affordable ANYTHING. The real reason there are so many homeless people is they can't afford rent. I feel fortunate that I can rent a room in a large house. Too many people have jobs but are literally sleeping in their cars. Do NOT get me started on how the minimum wage has not increased in 15 years - or on this country's war on homelessness--
The simplicity of the internet. No obnoxious ads everywhere, no influencers, etc.
This was either written by someone who was not on the web in the early 2000s or has somehow forgotten what it was like back then. That's when ad-blockers were INVENTED because invasive advertising was so thick. Hell, AOL was spamming your real mail with all those free CDs.
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 new music I love all the time. It just happens to be modern synthwave that sounds a lot like 80s and 90s electronic music. Gunship and The Midnight are two of my current favorites.
Pop culture being ubiquitous through TV, movies and music instead of the endless content on streaming where no one watches the same things.
Yeah. I remember big blockbusters like Ghostbusters ot Titanic absolutely dominating everything everywhere for months.
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.
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.
Thank Bill Clinton. When he went on Lenno and played the saxophone with the house band that was PEAK 90s. The President of the USA was playing with a band on live TV.
Not feeling like everything is a commodity for someone else's profit.
Passing letters/notes between class with your crush in high school. Kids today will never know there was an actual art to folding your letters. There was nothing more satisfyingly than sitting down in class and reading a long letter from your crush.
Coming home from school on a crisp fall day, riding my bike until it got dark, logging into AIM to talk to my friends, watching TV Land until I fell asleep, and never knowing what it felt like to have a cell phone near by.
I'm 43yo and I still do literally do that. Did you know you can find big blocks of old video recorded onto VHS that has been digitized and uploaded to YouTube? I like it when they leave the commercials in. Makes me feel like a time traveler. I'm watching an episode of Siskel and Ebert from 1988 right now. OH memories. EDIT: Minus the AIM of course. Never had that.
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….
I think we need to hear more from people who were older than 30 in those years. :p
I miss the days when I wasn't old people (actually I don't really, but you are absolutely right)
Load More Replies...People need to learn about nostaglia, phenomenology, statistics, selective perception etc...
Ya there are a good few things in this list that are not nostalgia but are just simply thr poster realising they are no longer young.
Load More Replies...One of the things i miss a lot is libraries.. physical ones... i loved to read the latest books and magazines.. i was a member of the British Library which was the biggest one in my city and had a large number of english books, magazines and even DVDs. Covid happened and they went online. I am not a member anymore and feel sad. if i want online books, i have other options
That's sad that they're not around for you anymore :-( They really are the best. Our local public library (in northern Virginia, US) is *the* place to be for kids who can walk there after school. It has book clubs for different ages; baby/toddler "Mommy & Me" programs; conversation groups for English language learners; and even some tools (mostly the more expensive electronic ones like heat sensors for if you're weatherizing your house), board games, and activity packs (with directed activities for exploring local parks, etc) you can check out. The problem that we're having is that they always seem to be the first on the chopping block when budget cuts happen :-(
Load More Replies...What's with the Poll at the end? Platform shoes were not a '90s thing, they were all the rage in the '70s, for men and women. If they made a brief resurgence 20 years later then I must have blinked and missed it.
They were definitely a thing here in ireland in the late 90s. My parents were horrified they made a return. They thought they'd seen the last of them in their time. Maybe it was a geographical thing but platforms are very ubiquitous with the 90s. Think spice Girls and the fashion of that era.
Load More Replies...I think a lot of these are, "I miss being a care free child, and not an adult". Not a bad thing, or a good thing, but I know my world view and observations have certainly changed in the last 30 years 🤷♂️
to much "those were the days" for me, life and earth was already a mess, we just saw it with young mind.
Pffft, I still wear flannel shirts! Perfect for when a hoodie is too warm, and it's too chilly for just a t-shirt.
I think we need to hear more from people who were older than 30 in those years. :p
I miss the days when I wasn't old people (actually I don't really, but you are absolutely right)
Load More Replies...People need to learn about nostaglia, phenomenology, statistics, selective perception etc...
Ya there are a good few things in this list that are not nostalgia but are just simply thr poster realising they are no longer young.
Load More Replies...One of the things i miss a lot is libraries.. physical ones... i loved to read the latest books and magazines.. i was a member of the British Library which was the biggest one in my city and had a large number of english books, magazines and even DVDs. Covid happened and they went online. I am not a member anymore and feel sad. if i want online books, i have other options
That's sad that they're not around for you anymore :-( They really are the best. Our local public library (in northern Virginia, US) is *the* place to be for kids who can walk there after school. It has book clubs for different ages; baby/toddler "Mommy & Me" programs; conversation groups for English language learners; and even some tools (mostly the more expensive electronic ones like heat sensors for if you're weatherizing your house), board games, and activity packs (with directed activities for exploring local parks, etc) you can check out. The problem that we're having is that they always seem to be the first on the chopping block when budget cuts happen :-(
Load More Replies...What's with the Poll at the end? Platform shoes were not a '90s thing, they were all the rage in the '70s, for men and women. If they made a brief resurgence 20 years later then I must have blinked and missed it.
They were definitely a thing here in ireland in the late 90s. My parents were horrified they made a return. They thought they'd seen the last of them in their time. Maybe it was a geographical thing but platforms are very ubiquitous with the 90s. Think spice Girls and the fashion of that era.
Load More Replies...I think a lot of these are, "I miss being a care free child, and not an adult". Not a bad thing, or a good thing, but I know my world view and observations have certainly changed in the last 30 years 🤷♂️
to much "those were the days" for me, life and earth was already a mess, we just saw it with young mind.
Pffft, I still wear flannel shirts! Perfect for when a hoodie is too warm, and it's too chilly for just a t-shirt.