Was there ever a more perfect decade than the 90s? It was a much simpler time full of candy, boy bands, and funky fashion. For many of us, it was the decade that defined our childhood, and us crazy millennials just love being nostalgic about it. We have fond memories of wearing overalls and watching every video that those adorable Olsen twins ever made (remember when they sang?) and being blissfully unaware of all the crazy technological changes that were on their way (like Tinder and Instagram). Sure, there are lots of things in popular culture today that echo the 90s – like One Direction and the Netflix revival Fuller House which is coming this February. But it’s just not the same. Life is pretty crazy busy these days and we feel so much pressure to be as healthy and happy and fabulous as possible. It makes sense that we would lust after an earlier decade when posting every detail of what you ate for lunch just wasn’t a thing. Here are 13 things we miss about the 90s.
13 All Things Plaid
Seriously, is there a more perfect pattern out there than plaid? It really doesn’t seem like it. The 1990s were all about plaid. Of course, thanks to everyone’s favorite store Urban Outfitters, we can still buy a new plaid shirt anytime we want to. But it’s still not the same. Back in the 90s, it was basically expected that you would wear plaid everywhere and anywhere. Now the only acceptable form of plaid is a shirt. Oh well. Fashion experts have been saying for the past few years that flowery shoes and other forms of 90s fashion are officially okay to wear again, but they feel a bit too extreme these days.
12 The Cheesy Teen Shows
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If you never fell in love with Jordan Catalano on My So-Called Life or went back-and-forth between Dylan and Brandon on Beverly Hills 90210 then you’re a liar. The 90s was the best time for cheesy teen dramas. Thanks to Netflix and DVDs (which seem so terribly old-school now – it’s funny how much things change), we can still bask in the glory of these corny and melodramatic coming-of-age stories. These shows were just so honest about how hard it is to have a crush, how falling in love is super exciting but also terrifying, and how it’s just plain difficult to know who you truly are. Those themes never go out of style.
11 Pledging Our Allegiance
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Quick: were you an *NSYNC girl or a BSB fan? You know you had to pick one. The same went for Coke or Pepsi and so on. In the 9os, you couldn’t be on the fence – you definitely had to play favourites and choosing the boy band of your choice was a matter of life-or-death. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we still felt that way today – if we could only listen to Taylor Swift or Adele, if we had to choose between cable dramas or all Netflix all the time? When you think about it, we have way too many pop culture options these days and there are so many difficult decisions to make. Being forced to pick one from a whole list of options is so much easier.
10 Girl Bands
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Let’s bow our heads and pray for a Spice Girls reunion. The media keeps teasing us and claiming it’s going to happen sometime and it really needs to. The 90s were an amazing time for feminism and girl power. The Spice Girls are just one shining example. These days, we still have a few boy bands, but instead of girl bands, we have solo artists. T-Swift and the rest of them are definitely super talented and amazing, but there’s something so inspiring and wonderful about a girl band. They’re so much fun to obsess over.
9 The Ridiculous Slang
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As if. I’m totally outie. I’m totally buggin’. Remember the good old days when Clueless was the coolest movie in the world and the Valley Girl slang was not even that weird because it became part of everyday conversation? The 90s was a wonderful time because of its completely ridiculous slang. It’s actually pretty unbelievable that we said some of those things. We should definitely bring back “as if” – it would be the perfect line when we get a creepy message on Tinder or want to blow someone off.
8 Calling People
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Yes, it’s true: in the 90s we actually called people. Like on the phone. Like on purpose. There was none of this texting or Facebook messaging or tweeting or direct messaging on Instagram. It may seem totally strange today but in the 90s, phones were basically the only way you could communicate with someone (email was pretty young and seen as a much slower thing – since we weren’t glued to our smartphones and laptops like we are today). Today we obsess over people not answering our text messages and feel like it’s weird if we actually dial their digits. Bring us back to the 90s – it was so much easier.
7 Playing Outside
Kids these days just don’t seem to get any fresh air. They’re sitting inside watching TV and playing video games and computer games and even stealing their parents’ iPads from a super young age. What happened to the golden age of childhood? To the importance of playing catch with your dad or setting up a super adorable lemonade stand? The 90s was definitely the last decade that allowed kids to just be kids. There was no crazy technology or temptations. We were so innocent, it’s actually pretty hard to believe. We had no idea what was in store for us.
6 Eating Whatever
Of course if you have food allergies you can’t eat gluten or dairy or whatever else. That totally makes sense and you need to look after your health. But for the rest of us, we miss the 90s when we never obsessed over gluten-free bread or wondered if we should give up sugar. We didn’t think about eliminating entire food groups or feeling bad if we ate too many carbs. We just ate food. Maybe we ate too much junk food – at least today we realize that we should be eating more vegan meals and upping our veggie intake – but at least we didn’t worry about it. There’s so much noise and confusion about being healthy these days. Sigh.
5 Renting Movies
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Okay, so you can “rent” a movie from iTunes or stream one basically whenever you want (thanks, Netflix) but it’s still not as fun as the old-school experience of walking into a physical video store and, you know, renting a video in person. You could browse for hours and it was a super important decision because this bricks-and-mortar store was the only access you had to at-home entertainment. It was basically your lifeline. Maybe you even talked to the cute guy behind the counter who was a film student at the local college and he gave you some great recs.
4 Writing In Cursive
When you were a kid, you were taught cursive in school. It seemed so cool and old and sophisticated. Today, you barely write anyway – it’s all about about typing. You type emails, projects, stories, Facebook updates, tweets, and little blurbs to accompany your latest Instagram selfie. Cursive seems to be dying out and that’s pretty sad because it’s definitely becoming a lost art form. We should all be writing in cursive on a daily basis to keep the 90s alive (even if it’s just our grocery list). Today’s kids are amazing when it comes to anything to do with a computer, but unfortunately, handwriting is no longer considered an important or worthy skill.
3 Bad Sitcom Fashion
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The 90s sitcom gangs basically had the worst clothes. Jerry Seinfeld wore the baggiest shirts known to man and Rachel Green wore shoulder pads or crop tops. Let’s not even talk about the hair. Okay, we need to talk about it. The actors and actresses on our most beloved 90s sitcoms had either crazy big curls or hair slicked back with so much product it was super obvious. However, this lack of hair or fashion knowledge was actually a good thing because it was so funny and entertaining. It added an extra level of entertainment to the shows. Today’s sitcoms are basically all about the jokes and the characters. Snore.
2 A No Selfie Zone
Oh, selfies. Whether you love them or hate them or pretend to loathe them yet post one every once in a while, it’s no secrets that selfies have taken over our lives (or at least our social media feeds). Back in the 1990s, if you took a photo of yourself, it was called just that – a photo of you. So much better, right? Selfies are what is wrong with society today and make us seem so vapid and obsessed with ourselves. Let’s bring back a time when we just took photos of ourselves without a specific name for it – and when we didn’t need to post that picture anywhere.
1 That Sense Of Freedom
If there’s one word that sums up the 90s, it would be freedom. You didn’t feel like a slave to your iPhone. You didn’t worry if someone didn’t text you back literally one second later. You could run an errand or go the mall or the movies and actually enjoy the experience without thinking you were missing out on something. There was no such thing as FOMO, no such thing as taking selfies, and you could hold a conversation with someone in person. Can’t we travel back in time to 1990? Okay, maybe until 1995 – it would have been so cool to actually see Friends and Seinfeld the moment they aired instead of on Netflix.
sources: torontosun.com, huffingtonpost.com, richmond-news.com
