ngl I wish I was born in the late 70s or early 80s (1977-1983)
Posted by Own_Mirror9073@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 314 comments
Being a kid in the 80s and being a teenager in the 90s must be a peak experience. The cartoons, video games, and movies we're so good at that time i wish I got to experience it first hand.
bassbeatsbanging@reddit
It was a very cool time to grow up.It certainly was super unique. We got to see the rise of technology when it was pure fun and not obtrusive data collection. We had tons of fireflies in the summer that seemingly disappeared. We had amazing punk, goth, rave and grunge scenes. Our parents barely knew where we were other than the occasional phone call. Even if they wanted to helicopter it was easy to lie and sneak about without a cell. And we wore probably the widest jeans that will ever exist in human history (with a trucker wallet attached, of course!)
But it still wasn't utopian. There were downsides too. It certainly wasn't fun to be a gay teen in the dirty South. So I try not to let my rose tinted glasses get too foggy.
massivewhitekitteh@reddit
Early to mid 90s peak hip hop scene also .
Forsythia77@reddit
I was born in 1977. My neck always hurts now. 😭😭
Cloud_Disconnected@reddit
Saturday morning was like mini-Christmas every week with cartoons. But, if you took a kid today and planted them in the 80s, they'd be bored. Boredom was something we both learned to live with, and developed strategies to deal with.
crystallmytea@reddit
Anytime my 8 year old tells me she’s bored I reply “good!” with delight. We’ve talked through why.
JudgeJuryEx78@reddit
My mom treated boredom like it was a cardinal sin. Now when my son says he's bored I'm annoyed because he has the entire workd on a device in his pocket and a million opportunities. My options were generally just go play in the woods or draw something. Which were fantastic options, looking back.
proxminesincomplex@reddit
MY MOTHER MADE ME PICK UP STICKS AND TWIGS IN THE YARD FOR FOUR HOURS WHEN I ONCE TOLD HER I WAS BORED.
I have never been bored again.
Ok_Monitor5890@reddit
Classic mom move ! 😆
jayne-eerie@reddit
That’s a little extreme but yeah, if I told my parents I was bored they’d find a job for me. They were affectionate and everything, they just didn’t see keeping us entertained as their job.
proxminesincomplex@reddit
My parents were…something. She watched me the entire time too, alternating from the kitchen window and the front porch with her Benson & Hedges Menthol Lights. I was old enough that my folks had moved to smoking only outside, which meant I should have known better. IIRC I think I was about 14.
I can also tell you that prior to my new rescue puppies’ arrival, my yard was always free of sticks. Now there are many, and I’m sure I’m being judged from beyond the grave.
flyinthesoup@reddit
My mom told me when I told her I was bored, that only stupid people get bored. Me, being a bit of a proud kid, didn't want to be stupid of course, so every time I felt "bored" I'd find very quickly something to do. I think this partly fueled my love for reading hahah, the other being having a pretty vivid imagination!
UnluckyCardiologist9@reddit
We never dared tell our mom we were bored cause she would make us start cleaning. ¿Estan aburidos? Pongansen a limpiar!
theRestisConfettii@reddit
Isiste la tarea? Isiste la tarea?
No?!? COÑO!
WereFlyingOverTrout@reddit
Omg bored was a bad word and signaled lack of imagination with my Mom. I’m also triggered when my son says it. Like dude, you have so many things to occupy your mind with. I had a couple of radio stations and shitty tv. 😂
StreetCarp665@reddit
Don't be annoyed; take the device away and let him be bored. The device is actually harming his brain.
https://childmind.org/article/the-benefits-of-boredom/
https://www.buildingbrains.ca/blog/the-science-behind-boredom-why-kids-need-down-time
JudgeJuryEx78@reddit
He's 24 though...
Blondeoramma@reddit
My dad always said “only boring people get bored” and it shook me even as young kid
Ok_Researcher_9796@reddit
My mom used to tell me, "Only boring people get bored"
flyinthesoup@reddit
Mine said stupid people get bored. I don't mind being boring, I certainly DO mind being stupid.
Catladylove99@reddit
Hear the voices in my head I swear to God it sounds like they're snoring But if you're bored, then you're boring The agony and the irony, they're killing me
Ok_Researcher_9796@reddit
How did I not know that one line was in there? Great song. I've heard it like a million times over the years but somehow missed that line. Thanks
harswv@reddit
My dad would say “life is boring! Get used to it!”
sps77@reddit
My sixth grade teacher always said that, too.
SoTiredYouDig@reddit
My 5th! Weird.
randomwellwisher@reddit
My mom told me, “Never trust a man who says, ‘Trust me.’”
kolnai@reddit
That’s why my mom said too.
NextPrize5863@reddit
Twiddle your thumbs
flatulating_ninja@reddit
No "hi bored, I'm dad"?
IndependentLove2292@reddit
This is the correct xennial response. Same for hungry and tired.
GuerillaRiot@reddit
Dad, I'm thirsty
"Well thirsty, I'm Friday, Let's go out Saturday and have a Sunday"
Catladylove99@reddit
I see you’ve met my dad
mightysockelf@reddit
Hi hungry, I'm tired.
BobbyP27@reddit
Looking back on it with my current perspective, a lot of times that I would have expressed myself as feeling “bored” as a kid was not actually bored, but some other negative emotional situation that I lacked the emotional maturity to articulate. Being punished for attempting to use the only language you have to express your feelings is a recipe for emotional disfunction later in life.
randomwellwisher@reddit
That’s amazing. I love this strategy.
Roland-Of-Eld-19@reddit
Kid: I'm bored!
Me: Go outside and play with a stick for 6 hours like I had to!
JegerLF@reddit
When people tell me they’re bored I reply “If you’re bored, you’re boring.” Make your own fun.
SirClarkus@reddit
Right?
I had as much "screen time" as I wanted, because we didn't have cable. Only thing on TV was the news or soap operas, so I'd go build a fort outside or something.
Saturday morning was the only time where there were cartoons on for hours at a time, and my parents loved it because they got to sleep in.
redditshy@reddit
Like reading the back of shampoo bottles.
RealityPossible9777@reddit
it’s wild how we had to find fun in boredom, not everything was instant gratification back then
MrsSamT82@reddit
This reminds me of the annual 5 hour (one way) family road trips down 99 to visit my mom’s family in SoCal. If we were bored, we were told to, “look out the window.”
rust-e-apples1@reddit
I've got 3 kids (8M, 6M, 4F) and I was telling my wife the other day that our middle is the best at "being a kid." He's psyched that he has learned how to snap his fingers, he wants to be able to whistle, and just gets excited about that sort of stuff. Anyway, when we're in the car going somewhere his older brother asks all sorts of questions, his little sister just never shuts the fuck up, and there he is, just looking out the window, watching the world go by and enjoying himself.
phdinseagalogy@reddit
But so was every weekday afternoon! Tale Spin, Animaniacs, Batman, Rescue Rangers and like ten others I'm forgetting.
gotta-go-II@reddit
Tiny Toon Adventures!
Mudcreek47@reddit
GI Joe Transformers Heathcliff
Crusty-Watch3587@reddit
Inspector Gadget
phdinseagalogy@reddit
All excellent! And while I didn't get it, I remember some stations showing Robotech.
AdditionalMustard@reddit
Yeah. I actually remember early in the morning before school, there was a really old dub of the original Dragon Ball that I used to watch where Goku was named Zero for some reason.
clayoban@reddit
Also He-man, gobots, jace and the wheeled warriors and voltron.
So many quality cartoons.
Tv after school, go out and play, dinner with news that showed way too much to kids, then homework and late night tv (a team, knight rider, buck rogers, Miami vice) great times.
On the weekends staying up to see tv stations sign-off for the night.
Mudcreek47@reddit
We could only get three channels and even they were not great reception. My grandmother on the other hand could get several more, some out of Atlanta. I remember one station that would rerun the old Adam West Batman show in the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon.
Steelclad@reddit
Robotech was my jam. I rented every VHS cassette multiple times
Dangerous_Prize_4545@reddit
She-Ra, He-Man, Thundercats
namdekan@reddit
I remember getting into old TV shows on weekday afternoons. One local station ran Laverne & Shirley and Andy Griffith at like 3-4 before having cartoons 4-5.
NextPrize5863@reddit
I still watch the Animaniacs!
burnafter3ading@reddit
Batman TAS was really great! Only as an adult do I get the references to Blade Runner in the HARDAC episodes, or the nods to Island of Dr. Moreau in Tiger, Tiger.
phdinseagalogy@reddit
Still my favorite Batman by far!
burnafter3ading@reddit
Kevin Conroy is Batman to me. Everyone else just seems like they are wearing his costume.
burnafter3ading@reddit
That flashback scene from Batman Beyond, where Batman sits on the swin beside the dying Ace, always makes me cry like a baby.
Syonoq@reddit
Duck Tales!
phdinseagalogy@reddit
And Darkwing! I am ashamed I forgot them! Man that was good television. Also Tiny Toons! Shit, that's just an embarrassment of riches.
warp16@reddit
Don't forget Goof Troop lol
burnafter3ading@reddit
Awoo-hoo!
plantverdant@reddit
I used to run home from the bus stop in elementary school so I could catch the intro.
CPTZaraki@reddit
We threw rocks at things a lot.
Dannydimes@reddit
We weren’t really that bored, we were busy playing with matches and hurling lawn darts at one another.
squish042@reddit
Our burning things with a magnifying glass.
__ohno_notagain__@reddit
Me, a latch key kid caught one too many times playing with matches and candles while alone in our wood frame home.
FoppyRETURNS@reddit
I haven't felt bored in over 20 years. Having too many things to do doesn't mean happy!
Entropy907@reddit
Fuck, right … I’d love to be “bored” for a few hours.
abbydabbydo@reddit
Boredom is actually something I have recently started missing dearly, actually yearning for. It spawns outside the box thinking and creates opportunities for engagement (not necessarily in a social sense, maybe it’s engaging with a craft you wanted to learn or even just the dishes).
blinkerfluid02@reddit
Boredom made us more creative and imaginative people. The lack of boredom caused by the constant entertainment available at our fingertips that we all experience today leads to a decline in innovativeness. Sort of that whole necessity is the mother of invention thing.
discostud1515@reddit
When I was bored I would just ride my bike around the neighbourhood and knock on the door that had a bunch of bikes on the front lawn.
parrisjd@reddit
Bored always meant either time to pour out the Legos bin and see what we can make or fire up the NES. Or, is it was nice, go play by the creek again. We used to always play around this huge culvert that went under the street pretending it was a war zone. Such fun times!
Taskerst@reddit
I credit occasional boredom with developing our imagination and I feel like the endless bombardment of media is currently killing it.
Penemere@reddit
Boredom helped us to appreciate every other engaging moment
skeeter_333@reddit
If you told your parents you were bored, they’d put you to work. So you just stayed out of the house.
4everDistracted@reddit
Boredom = imagination. I was the baby in my family. The accident came 6 years after they thought they were done. None of my brothers wanted to play with me.
So, if I was stuck inside by myself, I sometimes played multi player games with my stuffed animals. Games like Sorry, Parcheesi, or even Rummy. I had the uncanny ability to completely forget what each player's hand was the moment I put the cards face down.
main135@reddit
Remember when Oliver North interrupted our damn cartoons for what felt like forever? Damn that guy!
Lebowski304@reddit
Action figures were my bread and butter for boredom. I could engage in an epic action figure battle for hours if I had my whole stash
Turbulent_Tale6497@reddit
“Only boring people are bored”. - Betty Draper
IceManYurt@reddit
I feel like when Saturday morning cartoons left the air, we lost part of our soul as a nation
Intelligent-Invite79@reddit
Toy commercials were awesome on Saturday mornings.
DonutNo705@reddit
I'd write songs on the piano about being bored, I must have been so annoying
jarosity@reddit
Goddam right
tallshiphorizon@reddit
It was fine. It was life. Toys were fantastic in terms of quality and imagination. Cartoons and films were great. And then being a teenager in the 90s… unbeatable in my opinion.
animus218@reddit
1983 really worked out well for me. My sister is less fortunate as a 1991 baby
PersianCatLover419@reddit
What was her experience like being born in 1991? 1983 as well here and it worked out excellent.
animus218@reddit
Persistent decline of everything.
Stimpinstein22@reddit
Even better than the things you mentioned was not being tied to a rectangle in your pocket. There was a sense of community: we went outside; biked around; had our own little crew we fucked around with; actually talked with people and bought shit in actual stores; and the world was a little slower. We discovered music either through MTV, what was on the radio, or our parents’ records/CDs. Our streaming service was a TV Guide and what was on that hour was all we could choose.
Delicious-Diamond-86@reddit
THIS! Whenever I spend time with young people now, it's kind of sad. They're so lame. If we play Uno with my niece, when it's not her turn, she's on her phone. and has to be reminded when it is her turn. I played basketball with my church's youth group kids, they are terrible and as soon as the game is over, they sit down on their phones. No cheering, high-fiving or just having fun, basketball is just a distraction from phone time.
SuchMatter1884@reddit
This is what addiction en masse looks like. These smartphones are crippling our brains
smuckola@reddit
I couldn't take my young xbox360 cousins to the circus. Because they said THE CIRCUS IS BORING!!!!! Before that, at age 5, it was all about "come and look at my BLOODY GAME!!!" He didn't even know the names of the games on his murderboxes(tm), the playstation and xbox360.
That's exactly why I'd traded in my huge stack of my own original Nintendo Power magazines and gave those kids a pile of Nintendo 64 games. So they'd go as long as possible without the ol ultra V. At least they ended up mastering Minecraft.
redditshy@reddit
Streaming is WILD to think about. I remember getting Netflix DVDs in the mail, and that was cutting edge.
DifferentTrip2509@reddit
I'd say it was a lot slower in many ways
sllh81@reddit
This hits me where I live. I remember ditching school with two friends one day in our freshman year of high school. The reason? Metallica was gonna unveil their new music video, the first since the Black album.
Epic times.
JewishDraculaSidneyA@reddit
Seriously, I'd be a mid-40s virgin if smartphones (and more importantly social media) were invented 10-20 years earlier.
Dating was fun as shit in university, my early professional career, etc.
Heck, you often didn't even need to make it to the bar - because everyone was bringing friends-of-friends to the pregame. Worst case Ontario, if you didn't match up with someone during pre-drinking, you'd figure it out at the bar.
Having to spit out cheesy routines on dating sites (and FFS, add in the AI facilitation these days) seems like a nightmare I'm glad I didn't have to deal with.
Dorf_@reddit
The stuff I’d watch on tv, things I’d never actually choose but it was what was on. Cooking shows, weird sports on espn, Bob Ross, wrestling on saturdays, re-runs like Leave it to Beaver and Gilligan. Game shows from the 70’s. I even remember getting caught up in All My Children one summer. All that choiceless tv really had a hand in who I’d become.
iron_jendalen@reddit
We played street hockey and lots of other games out in the street living on a dead end road.
Wobbling@reddit
We blame the devices a lot, but it's also the societal attitude that has changed with regards to children. They are either at home, at school, out at planned events under the eye of adults.
You'd be borderline accused of neglect of you raised kids the way we often were.
ailish@reddit
I roamed the whole city on my bike and the bus. My parents had no idea where I was but didn't care as long as I was home by dinner.
ailish@reddit
I am so so happy that we didn't grow up with social media.
Magicguy226@reddit
So well put. Fellow '80 baby here. The ages of 12-16 were the best. We spent Saturdays riding our bikes to the edges of town to go to "that place" older kids had told us about. We slept over at each other's places almost every weekend and rented NES games at the local video store, playing til our thumbs hurt. We got into scuffles, fucked around and found out. We checked in with parents on land lines but nobody knew exactly where we were most of the time. The Internet existed but it was just a novelty and not very useful, so we still devoured magazines and other analog media. Having fewer choices was actually better. You enjoyed what there was or you were bored. It was the right blend of technology moving along quickly enough to feel cool and interesting but it had not yet devoured everything. Definitely miss those days sometimes.
alphabetikalmarmoset@reddit
Amen to that, brother.
Capn26@reddit
It’s funny, because listening to my parents, I actually longed for the 50-60s. They had less stuff, but seemed to actually do more and have more fun.
Bat2121@reddit
I never thought this even one time. Give up my Nintendo and watch baseball in black and white? No thanks.
flyinthesoup@reddit
I thought my parents' time was pretty lame too lol. I've never wanted to live in those decades, I didn't like their music, and I found their fashion too "weird". I'm pretty happy being born when I did, except maybe for the fact that being a professional e-sport player (in selected countries) is something you can do now, and I feel like I missed out on that chance (and being born in a wrong country for such a thing lol). Other than that, I love the times I got to live as a kid and teenager. And I'm really happy I'm a full grown adult in the era of social media, not caring at all about it, instead of having the peer pressure of my friends/classmates to participate in it. I feel I was born exactly at the right time to have a great offline childhood.
Capn26@reddit
I loved the outdoors. Hunting fishing. Camping. That stuff was much more of what my parents did as a kid. My dad used to walk through town, at 12, with a shotgun, on his way to go hunting. No one cared.
Bat2121@reddit
I went fishing with my dad constantly. He didn't go fishing nearly as much as a kid as I did.
becauseiamagenius@reddit
Coming of age in the 60s would also have been awesome.
The music revolution going on would have really felt wondrous.
The wonder I felt in the 90s was amazing, but it might have been even stronger back in the 60s.
balding_git@reddit
i hope this cycle means we’re due for another couple awesome decades.
would be nice to live through a couple decades people will look back on and say “oh man i wish i grew up in the ‘30s or ‘40s” … i think we’ve all earned it
CNBLBT@reddit
Same. In the 90s I lived in the late 60s/early 70s. I listened to the Beatles and watched the Brady Bunch to relax. I also started affecting a UK accent from watching AYBS every night.
proxminesincomplex@reddit
I love that show. It seems like it hasn’t been on PBS in a few years though?
JudgeJuryEx78@reddit
I used to wish I lived in the 60s. Now I know that women mostly couldn't get birth control unless they had a husband sign off on it.
CallidoraBlack@reddit
I'm sure they left out a lot of stuff though.
Aggravating-Wrap4861@reddit
This is it.
Talking about being born in 'le wrong generation' was a meme for Millennials in the early 2000s
drawredraw@reddit
It was
royv98@reddit
Peak NES gaming in the 80s. PEAK music in the 90s. Can confirm. Was a glorious time. Wise 76er here.
Crawsh@reddit
90s was shit if you were into metal. Grunge was all there was, and only a handful of those vands were any good.
PlentyOfMoxie@reddit
My experience was quite different: we lived in an area with no TV reception so I couldn't watch cartoons, everything had to be vhs. Also my nearest friend was seven miles away so there was no "biking around the neighborhood". The 80s, for me at least, were brown, not neon.
The 90s were better because I finally got a car, though I was still in the country so there wasn't much to do besides go to a friend's house to watch movies, steal liquor from our parents, or drive to the quarry and blow things up.
PandaHombre92055@reddit
It was amazing.
nochumplovesucka__@reddit
I always thought being born in 77 was awesome.
Childhood firmly in the 80s.
I turned 13 in 1990, So my teen years were firmly in the 90s.
Graduated in 95, so I got to live the 90s as an adult as well.
I think the timing was perfect.
mosesoperandi@reddit
'76 so just on the other side of the X/Xennial line but we had the same experience.
Childhood was the 80's, adolescence including early adulthood was the 90's.
Given the progression of technology, I'm increasingly starting to think that we lived a truly unique developmental experience. Everyone before us lived through a slower pace of socio-technological change in their developmental years. Everyone after us lived through something much faster, like radically faster.
We're a truly aberrant moment in the progression.
Obvious_Argument4188@reddit
100% agree
AdComprehensive7939@reddit
Y'all def got into adulthood at an easier time. I have a lot of fire snake friends and would trade timeliness in a heartbeat.
evoc2911@reddit
Born in '78 I can confirm we got it good
SpeedyDragonzcales@reddit
Reading comic magazines in a fortress was the best entertainment.
WasabiAficianado@reddit
You’re damn correct is what you are.
joshyuaaa@reddit
TV series were often a PSA or after school special lol. I've been watching 21 jump street on prime, and was something I liked when I was young, but geez I don't remember every episode basically an afternoon special.
The5thBeatle82@reddit
The 80s were awesome. Saturday morning cartoons were the best!
StillhasaWiiU@reddit
I lived in a neighborhood hit by the crack epidemic. Don't let the pop culture make you think those times weren't tough.
AIDS and treatment of the gay community was also rough back then. And the sexist words casualty tossed at women made the work place pretty hard for many of them.
Just food for thought.
__ohno_notagain__@reddit
I grew up in an affluent area and knew 2 kids that were killed with guns by other kids, before I even made it out of elementary school.
Then at an even more affluent middle school where I went next, this kid in my science class - who was assigned to sit next to me - brought in a six piece revolver to show off.
90s teenage years weren’t a cake walk either. But lots of putting gold on shit like Cheetos.
flexcabana21@reddit
The rise of school shooting and then 99 happened and it’s been downhill on that front ever since.
PersianCatLover419@reddit
My gay cousin near SF was infected in the late 1970s ir early 1980s and dead by the early 1990s.
People are still dying from HIV/AIDS. A gay Gen X friend that was a total bareback only bottom since 1977 recently got infected with HIV. I was surprised it had not happened before then as he did have unsafe sex with men who had HIV/AIDS and were not on AZT, later the cocktail, etc. My friend was very naive and thought he was invincible or that "If a man is preppie, looks healthy and fit, and has a job he cannot possibly be sick with HIV/AIDS. You cannot get HIV from a single sex act/exposure" and I told him that it can happen. I knew men in our university that had AIDS and you would not know it unless they told you. These Poz/PWA men, and my friend are on meds but the meds have horrible short and long term side effects and need to be taken daily. I hope he is on the injectable meds as he forgets to take other meds he is prescribed and needs to take daily.
EntertainmentOk6470@reddit
I grew up in a neighborhood full of gangs. People glorify different time periods too much.
FatherFarnsworth@reddit
Yeah but gangs back then were cooler and more fun.
EntertainmentOk6470@reddit
Um, no.
FatherFarnsworth@reddit
No one crip walks anymore. It's a shame.
suzysleep@reddit
Wasn’t bullying rampant in the 80’s as well?
Inevitable-While-577@reddit
There were so many negative things that you probably can't imagine nowadays. Not everything was cartoons and games.
redbeardscrazy@reddit
Born in '80. Shit ruled.
Topwingwoman2@reddit
Same.
0peRightBehindYa@reddit
Not gonna lie, it was pretty fuckin great. Not to mention not having the fucking Internet ruling our lives. Social media meant riding around the neighborhood and looking for a pile of bikes.
Fuck, I'm becoming a boomer!
AdComprehensive7939@reddit
Right? The "coming home by the streetlights" comments I see in here sometimes remind me of the Gen Jones forum, ngl.
syntax_sorceress@reddit
It was a great time to be alive. It was so good that I didn't have kids of my own because I can't give them what I had. Just the right amount of technology and connectivity with the world.
gini_luxe@reddit
Born in '78. I had so much fun...SO much.
RevolutionEasy714@reddit
Born in 75, it was an amazing time to grow up for sure, and not just because of cartoons, video games and movies, but because the world was just a much more fun and interesting place, and the internet didn't exist.
Danthrax81@reddit
It was.
I honestly feel sorry for kids today.
They have access to seemingly everything but they're still bored and you can see the soullessness in their eyes as teens.
Roscoe_P_Trolltrain@reddit
It’s true, it’s true.
odin_the_wiggler@reddit
A huge part of this was the Reagan administration/US Government rescinding some laws that then allowed corporations to market products directly to kids. It made the whole era feel like kids were the absolute most important thing, even though it ultimately was just a big, fun, money grab.
larryb78@reddit
It was a sad day when I realized the cartoons we grew up loving were mainly just half hour toy commercials
balding_git@reddit
he man had some banger stories for a cartoon modelled after a bunch of random toys, it and transformers were both fun to rewatch
captain power apparently also has great stories but i don’t remember much of that
jayne-eerie@reddit
Now they’re half hour ads for a giant entertainment conglomerate that wants all your money instead.
look_ima_frog@reddit
Joke's on them, I was too poor to buy any of it!
NextPrize5863@reddit
Exactly!
_wheeljack_@reddit
This is such a bullseye retrospective take
selftaughtgenius@reddit
NGL, I was born in November 1977, and I look back on my childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood with almost entirely great happiness.
I’m not going to pretend that I never went through it, but I am thankful that I lived without our current internet climate for the majority of my life, even though I very much appreciate the golden age of the internet in my late teens/early 20s and wish we could go back to that every day.
REO_Speed_Dragon@reddit
Yeah but you'd have back pain now.
Playful_Animator_180@reddit
The baby boomers were beginning to be the movers and shakers. Thank the boomers for all they brought to us then and now.
Redlady0227@reddit
Yes it was a peak experience IMO
Seeoneart@reddit
Being born in 1980 was the best time.
SexyFroot@reddit
Being from a previous generation other than Gen Z or Gen Alpha—you had a sense of growing up with the same zeitgeist. You’d have something to relate about because you were watching the same reruns or sitcoms or movies on television that was playing around that time. You don’t get that now. Media is too fragmented.
Background-Action-19@reddit
It might seem like that in hindsight, but just like now we didn't know what the future was going to hold
Wyldawen@reddit
The best part of it was going outside with zero supervision and no one breathing down your neck about reputations, universities or careers.
You can download all the entertainment now. It's the freedom that youth had that mattered.
rust-e-apples1@reddit
We had two signs it was time to come in: the street lights coming on and the bell my mom kept by the back door. I could do basically whatever I wanted to so long as I was close enough to hear her ringing it. The only other place I'd go was the pool about 1/4-mile away, and since there was adult swim at the end of every hour I could keep time to come home when I was told I needed to.
GreenGonz@reddit
I’ve been waiting to hear this my entire life.
ringobob@reddit
It wasn't as good as you're probably imagining it, I always thought it'd have been cool to be born in the late 60s/early 70s, and that time probably wasn't as good as I'm imagining it. I think most of our opinion about the time comes from our circumstance.
That said, it was a pretty cool time to be alive, and to have witnessed the progress during. You're welcome to be an honorary Xennial if that's what you want, so far as I'm concerned, just don't harsh the vibe.
Sufficient-Pop-7977@reddit
It wasn't great trust me Netflix and stuff like Spotify and digital cameras email,text all are a vast improvement from the 90s .especially GPS Want to call your girlfriend......well you have to talk to her dad or tge family message machine ,CDs where 10$ usually with 12 songs if that, phones sucked if you had one 3$ a minute in you car and with a cord . Tv watching with your family was awful to .......also checking your bank was calling in ,registration at college was a nightmare. I mean some stuff was OK and things didn't cost so much so that was a plus
PuzzleheadedAbies678@reddit
78 here, i think its interesting because I always wanted to be a teen in the 70s mostly because of the movies and things (huge fan of 70s movies, grindhouse, exploitation, comedy) and love watching them now.
I rewatched Gremlins which i watch in the movie theater and was astounded at the shit in that movie that I hesitate to show it to my 8 yo son. (I know the back story and the whole pg13 rating etc but I mean cmon now)
Now 70s movies there's no way ill show my son now but they seemed so much more free with what they put out on screen.
Although now that I think about it. I did watch the midnight showing a day earlier of Independence Day. And the original Mortal Kombat midnight release
So yeah was a pretty special time to be growing up l, the last who didnt have to worry about filmed and viral
dpldpldpl@reddit
What’s funny is that we wished we had grown up in the 50s and 60s during the 80s. This has got to be a trend. Cant wait to hear what my kid says when she gets older, she was born in ‘18.
GramercyPlace@reddit
It’s funny cause when I was a teenager I always wanted to have grown up in the 60’s.
atmkcmo@reddit
I’m so glad no one had cell phones when I went to high school. I did some stupid drunk stuff at weekend parties and never had to worry about videos, photos, or social media come Monday at school. Just my crew talking shit.
croissant_and_cafe@reddit
lol omg the real world in the 90s as a teenager was better than any of those visual stimuli. I’m sorry terms today don’t know the wildness we had.
jedigreg1984@reddit
Lol yeah it was fucking awesome ngl
jikt@reddit
I am not going to lie either. It was fucking rad.
Similar_Part7100@reddit
I was born in ‘83. Even though I was dirt poor, it was pretty good. We had a kind of community culture then. Now everything has been very fractured by the internet. We used to go play outside in the way human beings were made to do.
Current times are just fine, and even better than the 90s in some ways. Medicine is better. Education can be had for free, if you want to put in the effort, thanks to the internet. Dunno when you were born, but I’m sure it has its perks.
StreetCarp665@reddit
There's a misconception about the "cartoons, video games, and movies" that I think younger generations fetishise, thanks to thinks like Stranger Things - they were still quite infrequent. We spent a lot more time playing outdoors with other people, not living digitally.
_plays_in_traffic_@reddit
i had the same 10 movies on vhs i was rotate through. mostly i just kept rewatching rad, winners take all and gleaming the cube
Acidmademesmile@reddit
Disconnect the WiFi and it's about the same. We were all bored back then and people said all kinds of bullshit without getting called out on it, the only good thing were the shoulder pads and real heroin.
nopeofnopenope@reddit
It was epic. No helicopter parents, all the video games (looking at you Metroid and Zelda!), malls were the place to be, arcades all over the place. OREGON TRAIL! Epic. Seeing a world where the internet was for true geeks that wanted to play text video games over dial up?!?!?
A US economy that was promising to pay down the national debt? Amazing.
Being able to meet your friends and family at the airport gate? The absence of this hurts more than many will ever know.
Then again, if you’re at the older end of the Xennial, there was the blind terror of being taken out by a nuke at any random moment, exploding space shuttles… Columbine. Hrm. Maybe it’s not all perfect. But I’d still do it all over again, and wish it on anyone born too late.
_plays_in_traffic_@reddit
i just wanna go back to computers being for oregon trail and once i was middle and high school i could play text based rpgs on the local dial up bbs. no social media. just riding bikes and finding music.
aspbergerinparadise@reddit
from the perspective of someone from the class of 2000:
pros: the freedom, I would just leave my house every day after school and roam the neighborhood on my bike with my friends. I lived on Siesta Key in Florida back before the housing prices went insane, and we'd ride our bikes into Siesta village or go to the beach. At like 12 years old my parents started letting me take the bus to the mall so we could watch movies or go to the arcade. License at 16 and so many hours cruising around with friends when gas was still $0.89 a gallon.
cons: rampant homophobia. "Gay" as a derogatory word was used so so much. The F-slur was the most cutting insult that one could levy in the schoolyard.
Bullying was... relentless. I know it's still a problem, but from what I've seen it's not like it once was.
It was extremely cliquey. There were in groups and out groups. I have school age kids now and it's not nearly so stratified these days.
Smoking was everywhere. Smoking sections in restaurants, cigarette vending machines. I remember flying on a plane with a smoking section. I had my first cigarette at 12 years old and most of the kids I knew had at least tried it.
We remember the good music, but there was a lot of bad music too. Bryan Adams... countless one-hit R&B groups, Billy Ray Cyrus, the Macarena...Puff Daddy rapping over Kashmir.
SnowDay415@reddit
I feel like these posts are "one of us", with a throwaway account to make us feel better about getting old.....If that's the case, it's working.
With all that said (in hindsight), I do feel fortunate to have been born when I was (77). Basically childhood was 80's (BMX biking everywhere, golden age of WWF, action heroes (Arnold, Sly, Van Damme), He-Man, Thundercats, getting lost in the woods with friends etc.. The 90's was entirety of high school and college for me (finishing college in 99). Was into all the hard rock/grunge bands in the era, got into an saw some of the "old school" Phish shows. Keg party's in the woods, all that. I will say though the one "bad" thing was thinking I'd get AIDS from every girl I slept with (if it can happen to Magic!).
Had a blast in early/mid 20's as well in early 00's. Getting hammered, dancing to "Lets get retarded" (original Black Eyed Peas) in questionable clubs. Still finding fun today where I can but alas things have changed....
Acceptable_Stop2361@reddit
My nostalgia says probably so, my actual memories, meh, not so much.
HallucinogenicFish@reddit
Can’t lie, being an 80s kid was fucking awesome.
Being a teenage girl in the late 90s on the other hand, not as great. Lots of cool things about thr 90s, I look back on them with fond nostalgia, but 90s media really did a number on everyone’s body image.
gabbadabbahey@reddit
I actually think it's worse now in a way. Better acceptance of different body types, true, but social media is a horrible distorted mirror.
And filters that can make you immediately see your face/body as if they were "improved"? ...
Good lord, I stumbled across a Snapchat filter a few years ago and my 40-something ass felt a true tinge of dysmorphia, the likes of which I hadn't gotten a whiff of in decades. It's brutal out there
suzysleep@reddit
Yes, this was a dark part of the 90’s even early 00’s people forget about. There was so much pressure to be thin! Like if you weren’t rail thin, you were fat.
JewishDraculaSidneyA@reddit
I had some very lucky timing.
Where I live, it used to be 5 years of high school. We were the last year that was a thing - so the top universities had dialed in their requirements for the pending change, ahead of time.
For anyone that planned ahead, you had a half-load (at worst) for your final year. I had 4/6 requirements done when I entered my final year (as did most of my friends).
My day was pretty much going to a single class, driving to the local strip club for the brunch buffet, then heading to my part-time corporate job.
The strip club thing was key at the time for a bunch of reasons. We all had flip phones but wouldn't use them during the day (it's only unlimited on nights and weekends, man!) Half of us were old enough to legally drink, the other half had an old ID from someone that was. It was a fun surprise to pull in and see what cars were at the standard meeting spot at a point in time.
It's honestly a little depressing that these days; the senior students are walking to the dollar store during their limited off-time to browse cheap watering cans, rather than comparing notes on how the chef did with the eggs benedict that day on pervert's row.
Equal_Question_4594@reddit
I just was talking with my mom tonight about how I feel lucky to have been a kid when I was. We were talking specifically about tv. Not only were the tv shows of that time extraordinary, but it was really special how those of us in my age group also grew up watching shows from past generations. Nick at Nite would show things like Get Smart, I Love Lucy, Happy Days, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Bewitched, etc. I’d go from watching contemporary stuff to black and white stuff from the 50s and 60s without ever feeling like it was from another time. Nowadays, I fear that past generations’ media and culture will be forgotten because kids aren’t automatically exposed to it; you have to make a point to seek things out via streaming, but you can’t search for something if you don’t even know it exists. And with streaming and algorithms, it’s so easy for people to say in insulated little bubbles… Anyway, I’m glad those magical years have been getting some love by younger folks. It gives me hope. If I could go back to the 90s, I would in a heartbeat!
Adventurous-Depth984@reddit
It’s pretty dope having been born in 78. The only downside is being 47 now…
Maleficent-Ad5112@reddit
81 here. It was.
geezorious@reddit
Only downside was that the Macy’s catalogue was the only fap material around.
Apprehensive-Row7312@reddit
boom, it’s where creativity starts. kids today are missing out on inventing their own fun
mountednoble99@reddit
It was great. Living in both the analog and digital eras! Going from 8-bit to 8K!
wookape@reddit
He-Man, Count Choclua cereal and day dreams of owning the GI Joe Aircraft Carrier.
Unique_Limit_1576@reddit
Peak childhood and teenage years, but some of us may never be able to retire as safety nets that were promised to us and that we’ve paid into our entire careers are being stripped away.
Seriphim86@reddit
It was awesome, then 9/11 happened and everything changed. Literally EVERYTHING.
We saw the mountain top and OBL tore that dream right to the ground along with the Twin Towers.
That mfer popped Ms America's cherry and ain't nothing been the same since. Bitch couldn't handle that level of hate and cut off her nose to spite her face in the name of security.
Fk that dude, total buzzkill.
MattDubh@reddit
Not just that, but in the days before BMX, there were Raleigh Choppers. Cigarettes could be shoplifted incredibly easily. And every parent had bottles of alcohol that could be redistributed with ease. A great time to be alive.
LittleJessiePaper@reddit
Those shows lasted for half an hour and then you spent the rest of your time reading a TV guide while your mom chain smokes and talks on the phone.
HugeTheWall@reddit
As an early 80s baby it was amazing. The sad part is watching the world now and knowing nothing can ever live up to that.
_6siXty6_@reddit
This sums it up.
BeardedPuffin@reddit
Yeah pretty much. Not much to do as a 12/13 year old in 1996 aside from ride our bikes around town and cause mostly harmless mischief.
PsychologicalMix8499@reddit
If was great. You really missed out.
Traditional_Entry183@reddit
I was born in 77, and am glad that my entire childhood was spent in the 80s, absolutely. The 90s were a good time to come of age as a teen and young adult as well.
trailrider@reddit
I mean, I get what you're saying but it wasn't all that. Like child abuse was the norm back then. My dad whipped the shit outta us. One neighbor told my brother after we grew up that he and his wife hated hearing the screams comming outta our house when my dad was laying into us but there was nothing they could do. Or the time I ran away after my dad beat on me with his fists. Hrs later, the state police found me. I told them what happened and that I was scared to go home. My dad thanked them after dropping us off.
eatsleepdive@reddit
NGL it's great being a xennial
kattrup@reddit
79, can confirm
Eagleburgerite@reddit
1982 here.
It was.
discostud1515@reddit
Yeah, it was great.
spuckett0039@reddit
It was, it really was.
Thatdewd57@reddit
Was pretty sweet. Even though I grew up Upper poor class we had an abundance of entertainment in our formative years. Then the dawn of the internet was out generation too.
det1rac@reddit
By the look of hairstyles in high-school now everyone does.
LilBrutButt@reddit
It was pretty great! I'm so grateful I grew up without a cell phone and totally miss my childhood cartoons. Watching Pinwheel on Nickelodeon before kindergarten was the best!
OldCreezy@reddit
Can't lie, it was pretty awesome.
billybjimbobthe4rd@reddit
Don't forget: having Nirvana launch your puberty at age 12 with Smells Like Teen Spirit
BlacksmithThink9494@reddit
It wasnt all fun and games. It was highly glamorized by Hollywood. I grew up in LA county and yes it is beautiful here but the late 80s/early 90s were much more violent than even we want to remember.
ChubbyStoner42@reddit
When I left the house, no one could get a hold of me. No electronic leash. It was great.
starshade16@reddit
It really was.
startfragment@reddit
Yeup
SittlersRippedC@reddit
1969 was great… just old enough to enjoy pong, Atari 2600, Intellivision, etc.. while also playing D&D on graph paper …
Asleep_Onion@reddit
NGL, it was pretty epic, and I kinda feel bad for people born too late for it
13scribes@reddit
My kids tell me my 80's looks like the best.
iron_jendalen@reddit
I enjoyed watching all the old shows my mom grew up with on Nick at Night. I loved playing Tetris matches with my mom on the computer in the early nineties.
imcataclastic@reddit
“If you have sex you’ll get aids and if you do drugs your brain will turn into a fried egg”
marshmallowest@reddit
Tbh watching the cartoons now, most of them were kind of trash lol. But yeah I think screens messed up childhood
ThaGoat1369@reddit
I grew up in that era(born in 1977)in the area of Boston Massachusetts. The best part of it by far was the music scene. I lived about halfway between Boston and Providence, and there was always something going on. Punk/hardcore, metal, and alternative was all in a golden era at that time. Being in active bands nonstop from about 1993 to 2003 opened a lot of doors, and we were lucky enough to play shows with all sorts of bands we grew up loving.
It wasn't all peachy, but I wouldn't change any of it.
blellowbabka@reddit
We were lied to about college and saddled with student loans becoming adults just in time for the 2008 crash.
Ralinor@reddit
I enjoyed it. Ngl
outcastspidermonkey@reddit
EngineeringRight3629@reddit
It was.
80s toys and cartoons were the best. 90s brought in grunge and the best era of hip hop and R&B ever.
I don't think any of us knew it at the time, but it was pretty awesome.
Paratwa@reddit
It was pretty damn awesome, just enough tech to have the first video games without the overwhelming glut of brain rot thrown our way these days, along with still playing outside and feeling safe. I feel sorry for kids today.
mackattacknj83@reddit
Ditch the smart phone and buy a pack of cigarettes and you're at like 90% of the experience.
PhillNewcomer@reddit
'81 here. It was pretty fun not having helicopter parents. Being able to leave the house after Saturday cartoons and not come home til dark. Or friends coming over to to play video games.
I hate being an adult and having to take care of myself. As a kid we didn't worry about bills or jobs unless it was a paper route
death__cup@reddit
I liked being a kid in the 90’s and teen in the 00’s. I was born in ‘88 and the joy of opening a N64 on Xmas was insane. Movies were better too imo. Comedies peaked in the early 00’s.
Automatic_Phone8959@reddit
Being queer was extremely shitty.
qtjedigrl@reddit
It was a peak experience
harlembornnbred@reddit
This entire thread put a smile on my face
International_Bit478@reddit
Yeah it was.
Grand-Try-3772@reddit
Yea it was real fun being a teenage girl before the public was aware of the wide use of Photoshop on magazine covers. Did a real number on the self esteem!
Lakai1983@reddit
Born in 83. 80s and 90s were as good as advertised.
Lurker-O-Reddit@reddit
Born in 1979. It ruled.
JaCliner@reddit
Born in 81. I wouldn’t change a thing.
kates_graduation@reddit
I think about this often because being a little kid in the 80s - the whole aesthetic of the 80s was kid themed. Bright colors, neon, everything on a big bold scale. The music bright and optimistic.Like it was all for us.
Then the moody 90s hit just as we became moody teens.
RedDawnWlvrines@reddit
I was born in ‘77, graduated high school in ‘95 and it was pretty great. I’ve been introducing our daughters to the 80s shows and cartoons I grew up with and music-wise they’re even getting into 80s new wave and 90s alternative. It’s been great reliving it with them.
lxdarksnip3r@reddit
I wish I was old enough to have a job during the mid 90s. I would have bought all the video game consoles that I wouldn't dare ask my parents for.
3DO Neo Geo Atari Jaguar Sega Saturn CD-I Turbo Grafix
I would have bought them all
NewFactor9514@reddit
You can play all of those systems in emulation on your PC today, if you weren't aware. Worth looking into if you are feeling nostalgic for that era.
boogs34@reddit
Yes we were still in a high trust societies in the western world
Aggravating-Wrap4861@reddit
Not really, right wing radio and whipping up fears about immigrants was well underway at that time.
We just didn't hear it because we were kids.
This garbage about high trust societies is right wing talking point propaganda.
NewFactor9514@reddit
This. The phrase 'high trust society' is hilarious, when applied to the 1980's. I grew up in a right-wing family, where hearing phases like 'They got a dozen spics down towards Yuma', or 'We just got a new 100-nigger machine at work' was daily fare. Both of my parents were terrified of gangsters on crack. We lived in an upper-middle-class suburb in Arizona.
It was just as fractured as today; however, everyone did watch Cheers on Thursdays.
Key-Shift5076@reddit
My parents devotedly listened to Rush Limbaugh, Ollie North and G. Gordon Liddy. Some of us had no other option than to hear it.
Dazzling-Astronaut88@reddit
My freshman year of HS was Fall of 1990. Graduated in 94, started college that Fall, went to grad school after that, finishing school in spring 2001. That was definitely peak 90s experience.
mangocalrissian@reddit
I spent much of my formative years on a military base in the 80s/90s in Japan, and looking back, it was a pretty surreal experience. Biking everywhere, at least where the chain link fence allowed. TV was a military channel with imported shows and PSAs I still remember today, Japanese channels, and some international ones (I distinctly remember a music channel with tons of Indian and Chinese music). There was a betamax movie rental place right off base my family used to go to.
When we moved back to the US in the mid 90s, it was quite a culture shock.
gorgeousf-edupmind@reddit
Born in 1980. I can confirm this.
Chernabog801@reddit
If I’d been born in 75 instead of 85 I’d probably own a house right now.
Gullible-Courage4665@reddit
It was pretty awesome ngl
The_Best_Yak_Ever@reddit
It was. I wish there was a way for you to experience it! We were the last of them pre-digital generations. Before the Information Age truly kicked into high gear. We participated in the rise of the internet. We watched gaming go from blocky 2D 8 bit games (some of which looked amazing for what we were used to), and finished the nineties with the PS2 and Dreamcast. I wish I could somehow impart the magic of seeing RE Code Veronica on Dreamcast or Ready 2 Rumble boxing, so you could appreciate just how mind blowing those graphics were at the time! And around when I graduated high school, Resident Evil Remake… holy shit. It still holds up today thanks to clever use of processing power.
I’m so grateful for when I was born. And my childhood was incredible, and I will be forever happy I got to experience it all!
But fear not. I’m in my forties now. You have your own generation to enjoy, and you’ll push the culture forward, long after our generation has released the baton to yours :- )
Sad_Training_1595@reddit
Is this legit a person saying they wish they were a Xennial? I don't know why I find this so amusing.
skallywag126@reddit
‘84 here. My poor ass childhood stands unrivaled. Played down at the creek all day or king of the hill in the rock quarry every summer. Super Nintendo, no cellphone, biker riding off of dirt ramps in the barranca.
DookieMcDookface@reddit
NGL it was pretty sweet.
wheresmolasses@reddit
It was pretty rad.
messy_fart@reddit
You are correct
No-Hospital559@reddit
I remember building several forts in the woods about a mile from our house. We would all ride our bikes, there was absolutely no supervision. It was glorious.
TheVelcroStrap@reddit
I’d rather be a kid now and watch them online.
catsdelicacy@reddit
Saturday mornings were golden in the 80s. There's nothing like it for kids nowadays, a part of the weekly television schedule just for us.
Then, at noon, it was over, and you went outside with your friends to talk about what had happened on the Ewoks or Muppet Babies.
This life we have now isn't good for kids. I'll die on that hill.
Illustrious-Lead-960@reddit
The video games, at least, certainly were at their peak! But I sure hope you’d be prepared for all of the secondhand smoke.
oh_wll_whtvr_nvrmnd@reddit
We here are just so happy that other generations want to share in the best of the '80s from a kid's perspective and the '90s from the view of a teen, even if we act all whatever, or, like, you know, whatever
Cattle-egret@reddit
That’s what it was for me and my older brother (him late 70s me early 80s). We were only 2 years apart.
It was awesome
dorky2@reddit
There were a lot of wonderful things about growing up in that time, but there were unfun things too. I try to be grateful for the good and let go of the bad.
TheJokersWild53@reddit
Most mindless thing I did to cure boredom was seeing how many times I needed to roll a pair of dice to get to 1000.
are_you_scared_yet@reddit
You're not wrong.
Funandgeeky@reddit
As someone who did exactly that…not going to lie, it was pretty dope.
fairlyaveragetrader@reddit
Everything was more social. When somebody asks me what it was like, that's the main reply. You were out riding bikes, actually calling your friends, hanging out, going all over the place. In a way you became an adult earlier but you also didn't. What I mean is it was fairly common to hear about your friends driving their parents cars when they shouldn't be, dating, maybe having sex, definitely walking home from school on their own and going over to their friends and your parents don't know where you are and all of this started around 13 or 14. There was a problem with this though. Delayed development. It was very easy to get sucked into crowds that weren't really going anywhere in life, you didn't have the structure pushing you into college or a trade or the military or thinking about actually being an adult so while you grew up kind of quick in a way, by the time you were 25, if you didn't have good parents and good structure you were basically a teenager in anadult body. This was actually extremely common
helikophis@reddit
I hated my teenage years in the 90s. I think being a teen mostly just sucks in any era
vabello@reddit
Born in 77. Growing up as personal computers and video games evolved was amazing. Apple II, C64, Atari, NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, early PC gaming with Wolfenstein 3D and Doom… I feel bad for the younger generation not having the foundation of computing that I have. The command line was home.
New_Stats@reddit
Ehhh, grass is always greener
There was a lot of bullshit we had to deal with that you didn't have to
Cigarette smoke in every place that wasn't outdoors
Restaurants, houses, cars, malls. Anyplace you can think of that wasn't outside was filled with smoke
Apprehensive_Hat8986@reddit
On the bright side, we'll be dead before the worst of the climate catastrophe. On the downside, we'll be dying knowing we trashed our home and wasted our childrens' future.
Trixie1143@reddit
People got beat up a lot. Don't believe all the hype.
smaked_by_the_pods@reddit
Yeah but the ass beatings i used to get for even making a peep to early was insane I be getting thrashed by a lethal lether belt just to teach me a shitty lesson
Key-Shift5076@reddit
Ah. I see you also had a traumatic childhood. I don’t remember much of mine ‘cause of the trauma.
dorky2@reddit
I'm sorry, my friend. I have very sharp memories of my traumatic childhood, and sometimes have intense flashbacks. I think both options suck.
irelandm77@reddit
It wasn't perfect, but I can confirm it was better than hardcore GenX, and better than full-monty Millennial.
Still is: I'm Canadian but retired at 47 and now live in Costa Rica with my wife of 27 years and our youngest kid (16).
Intelligent-Invite79@reddit
It did indeed kick ass.
Godawgs1009@reddit
It was pretty awesome looking back
mcsweetin@reddit
It was awesome! Honestly.
ole_slacker@reddit
I wish I was born in all the time periods where being 18 to 25 was culturally relevant.
JudgeJuryEx78@reddit
'78 weighing in. Great and also not great. Being a latch key kid was great, Saturday morning cartoons were great. But there was the AIDS crisis, and crack, and Ragen shuttering mental health services which didn't help either.
The 90s were an amazing time to come of age, with the music and fashion (or the whole attitude of "If you think you can pull it off, you can"). It was called the Decade of the Woman, but it was full of heroin chic and rampant eating disorders.
A lot of women made scratches in the glass ceiling while others were horribly shamed for coming forward about abuse. It was a time when people called Kate Winslet fat, ffs. The Lilith Fair was a huge success, but I felt embarrassed telling people I wanted to go. I don't know if a Me Too Movement would have gained traction without social media
Don't get me wrong, a lot of it was amazing. I think being a teen in the 90s was a groundbreaking time to be a teen. I don't think I'd trade for a different timeline.
pink_faerie_kitten@reddit
I certainly enjoyed my '80s childhood. I loved the illustrations from that era especially. OG Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake and all the children's books. Plus I had a nice mix of '70s because I got my older sisters hand-me-downs of toys, books, and clothes. The movies and sitcoms and the generally quieter pace from today are great memories.
Mail_Order_Lutefisk@reddit
It wasn’t all sunshine and lollipops, kid. To this day I have pain in my left thumb from a 28 hour consecutive run of playing Double Dribble on NES. It was never the same after that. We started playing at 7 PM and played through the night, next day, next night and then when we stopped for lunch at 11 AM I couldn’t move my left thumb at all so we had to quit.
BIGepidural@reddit
1978 here. It was alright but not anything special
LazySwayze@reddit
'78 here, can confirm it was a really exciting time. I'd do it over again if I could.
AlphaGrayWolf@reddit
Anybody remember ICQ??
Sitting out on the front steps waiting for one of your buddies to drive by. They’d stop, a few other people would stop, shoot the shit for a hour or so, get bored, hop in each other’s cars and make laps around town. Go down to River Bend with a case of Natty Ice and turn up the system in someone’s car (that we all installed together in someone’s driveway). It was a good childhood.
KudosOfTheFroond@reddit
Ngl being an ‘81 kid is probably the best possible year to ever be born at any time in human history.
davidwal83@reddit
Summers sucked when I was a kid. I was just playing video games and riding my bike around the neighborhood. There was just TV with local channels. Cable TV was for the rich kids. I never got to watch cartoon network, or Disney channel as a kid. Music was expensive and later on you had to request a song on the radio.
punkopops@reddit
Good times. Can confirm.
Sausage_Queen_of_Chi@reddit
As long as you were a straight white male.
Sexism, homophobia, transphobia, racism, etc, were more acceptable.
Powerful-Self-2840@reddit
It was truly awesome. :) 82 baby here.
Aggravating-Wrap4861@reddit
I don't know why people have rose tinted glasses about being plonked in front of a TV for half their childhood, watching advertisements disguised as kids shows.
Sure, I enjoyed it fine at the time but once I became aware of the reality it's a bit weird in hindsight.
At least you guys get to be on group chats with your buddies and play games together. Not saying I wish I was born recently but everything has its good and bad side
ichthyomusa@reddit
80's kid, 90's teen, 00's young adult: peak experience indeed.
Zero internet and real, raw, presential experience during your most formational years, and early / pre-social media internet when it was still exciting and organic and, dare i say, human.
(tho i could have used the social media advantage for dating during my awkward, insecure teen years 😅)
C1sko@reddit
Greatest time to grow up in.
mattjh@reddit
Holy shit at your post history. Obsessed.
Kain347@reddit
They're a time traveler, possibly a T-1000
bobby6544@reddit
It was awesome. And no cell phone cameras to capture our shenanigans. No one over reacting over pranks. I miss it. So very much
SnooObjections4628@reddit
Great time. I miss it somedays.
Horror_Garbage_9888@reddit
NES in childhood, Grunge in tweens, tech/internet boom in teens. Blissfully unaware of what the 2000’s would actually bring.
Acceptable_Class_576@reddit
It was awesome.
Dramatic-Dark-4046@reddit
It was…peak. Feel it was the best time for both those ages. Unbiased of course.
GladosPrime@reddit
It was a great time to be a kid. I was lucky🥹
Huck84@reddit
'84 here, but im the youngest of 4. My oldest sibling is 10 years older than me. I experienced so much 70s and 80s content. I had the best of both worlds.
Grammarhead-Shark@reddit
In Australia we had a Saturday Morning Show called "Saturday Disney" that ran - 0630-0900
It was basically what you think it would be - three brightly dressed teens hosting the show, giving away prizes, while playing Disney Cartoons inbetween
I recall the classique line up of Gummi Bears, Ducktails and Chip'n'Dale
But the fun didn't stop there when Saturday Disney finished - we then got at least a couple of more hours of childrens TVs. It was often a mix of cartoons, 70s British shows (Black Beauty, Tripods I recall) and maybe some repeat of an kids infotainment show. Unfortunately around 1130 it always went to sport (golf mainly, though in the summer we got Ironman at least -and I tuned out then)
TheLastofthePoets@reddit
It kinda seems like it was now. I’m a 77 kid and remember having my first computer when I was like 5 years old in 1982. My dad was always into gadgets so he brought home a Dragon 32 and I loved the type in adventures. Which taught me to type at a pretty young age. The cartoons were (and still are) some of the best. The movies mostly feel dated now but the classics will remain classic like Ferris and the Lost Boys and all the John Hughes’s stuff.
TheLastofthePoets@reddit
It kinda seems like it was now. I’m a 77 kid and remember having my first computer when I was like 5 years old in 1982. My dad was always into gadgets so he brought home a Dragon 32 and I loved the type in adventures. Which taught me to type at a pretty young age. The cartoons were (and still are) some of the best. The movies mostly feel dated now but the classics will remain classic like Ferris and the Lost Boys and all the John Hughes’s stuff.
vandal_heart-twitch@reddit
A lot of it is rose-tinted. The cost of all that arcade and shopping mall bliss was lots of boredom, barely working tech, long waits, and a feeling of lonely disconnection if your friends were actually not nearby, or easily accessible via bike, or you didn’t have many.
But the nostalgia and the good moments were very very good.
Alternative_Art_9502@reddit
Yes. It certainly was an interesting time with everything changing rapidly.
osddelerious@reddit
Yes
Actual_Appearance246@reddit
I can say wholeheartedly growing up without a lot even in SoCal in the peak 80’s & 90’s, life still was great.
sassypants450@reddit
Yeah. Honestly the other day I was sad and was thinking “maybe I am just sick of the city where I live and I need to move somewhere else,” and then I realized I actually wanted to move not to another place — but back into the past to the 1990s. Like not as a kid or teenager, but just as me now, back to that era before phones and social media BS ruined everything.