Sometimes all it takes is hearing a song that you loved back in school or stumbling upon a favored childhood toy while looking for something in your parents’ garage for a surge of nostalgia to sweep you off your feet. That often results in listening to the forgotten musician for weeks on end or spending the next three hours going through childhood pictures at your folks’ place.
Browsing pictures of items and phenomena quintessential of a certain period can also evoke nostalgic memories, which is why many people follow accounts, such as ‘Flashback 90’s’ and reminisce about the good old days. With over 785k followers, the Instagram account brings back bits and pieces of the ’90s that ought to make one feel sentimental about the iconic time or curious about what it was like for those representing a younger generation. So, whether you would like to take a trip down memory lane or familiarize yourself with the ins and outs of a time you didn’t get the chance to experience, scroll down to find some ’90s flashbacks on the list below and enjoy.
Below you will also find thoughts shared by the creator of the Instagram account, who was kind enough to answer a few of Bored Panda’s questions in a recent interview.
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I wanna have back the prices from the 90ies back in general. Rent, insurances, taxes and the list goes on
I'm "put the tape recorder on piled up furniture in front of the TV to record songs at midnight" old.
I'm a "turn the tv off now, the National anthem has played and it's now showing the test pattern" old.
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Boombox??? That young??? I made cassette mix tapes on my cassetteplayer...
I'm old enough to have done the latter, but it was only last year that I burnt some MP3s onto a CD so I could have some music in what is now my gf's car. Car was built 2013, and has the original stereo, which has no USB input, or bluetooth, only the ability to play MP3 s (no other formats) from a CD!
I'm "get up from the bean bag pillow and use pliers to change the channel then adjust the bunny ears antenna" old.
*that dreaded moment when you forget to stop recording on your dual deck radio and accidentally record a part of a commercial for your mix tape
I'm "fan yourself to eine kleine Nachtmusik" old - greetings from beyond the grave!
I'm 3" reel to reel tape recorded from the radio and spliced together old
Oh yeah? Well, I have a cassette tape here somewhere I made of the timpani drum-rolls during the Jerry Lewis Telethon (when they'd announce a new amount on the tote board) from around 1977-78. So there.
"cassette tape in a boombox" LOL What a youngster. My first "mix tapes" off the radio were on 3" tapes on a portable reel to reel tape player. Nobody had yet heard of 8 tracks or cassettes. (so yeah, my weird flex is I haven't died yet. haha) PS - the radio was only AM of course.
I was in college when burning CD's was something our wealthier friend could do for us. It was a couple years before that tech was in the normal person's price range.
I'm a "record songs played on the radio onto a cassette tape before boomboxes were invented" old
I’m play the two sides from one of the double albums, (Allman Brothers, “Eat a Peach”) and work the volume knobs on the amplifier and cassette recorder, like an audio engineer,, to be able to play the whole mountain jam, without interruption, old…!
Yesss .. And accidentally record the commercial that comes even before the song's finished
I have a bootleg copy of "the wall" that I got from my parents lmfao
I agree. It was the dawn of a new era. Away with the old dictators and wars, it's time for the new generation. Ya and then 911 happened and here we are today seemingly on the brink of a World War and we even repeated a global pandemic, while our generation is not in charge of anything anyway.
The founder of ‘Flashback ‘90s’ told Bored Panda that they started the account back in 2016 after a session of reminiscing over their childhood shows, toys, clothes, and events of the past.
“I thought to myself, ‘I wonder if anyone else remembers these cool things? It would be so awesome to find a community of people who also enjoyed them’,” they said, adding that that’s when they realized that they should start one themselves.
“I should start a page about the ‘90s just for the fun of it and see if people also remember and like the same things,” they remember thinking back then.
The person responsible for the entertaining account shared that their favorite thing about it is the positivity it brings to both themselves and the followers. “It is truly awesome to be able to post something and see people’s reaction. I love to read comments that are left on the posts; a lot of people have funny responses, and I love when they share their story and how they relate to the post.”
But without the mishandling of toxic chemicals, we wouldn't have the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The creator of ‘Flashback ‘90s’ told Bored Panda that it’s a very nostalgic community in which it often feels like people get to relive their childhood again. “I think internet users can benefit from ‘Flashback ‘90s’ because it’s always fun to go down memory lane,” they pointed out.
“Nostalgia is a powerful thing, and it brings so much joy; it’s like reliving the good old days. It always makes me smile, and I’m sure other people might feel the same way.”
Me in my 30s without any reason... I hope I never stop being a kid :D
In a piece for Psychology Today, professor of psychology at Georgia Gwinnett College, David Ludden Ph.D., too, suggested that nostalgia is a powerful thing; he noted that, according to experimental evidence, such an emotion is considered to be an overwhelmingly positive one.
The expert pointed out that based on certain studies, nostalgia can not only boost one’s mood but increase their sense of meaning in life as well. Moreover, such a sentiment is also believed to raise self-esteem and optimism for the future.
With nostalgia likely to lead to such positive outcomes, it’s no surprise that people tend to engage in it and reminisce over the good times of the past. Whether it acts as a pick-me-up on a difficult day or a chance to enjoy the fuzzy nice feeling for no peculiar reason, according to a poll of over 2,000 US adults, for the majority of them, watching nostalgic content brought feelings of sentimentality and happiness (as well as a sense of longing).
The poll of adults in the US found that for roughly a quarter of them, nostalgia would lead them to thinking about a specific event in their life or their childhood in general; for around 15% of them it was linked to a favorite book or a favorite TV show/movie (especially if it’s an older one).
When it comes to the TV shows and movies, respondents seemed to feel the most nostalgic over the fashion sense in the past, the dialogue and slang used, as well as the actors seen in old productions themselves.
The creator of the ‘Flashback ‘90s’ Instagram account shared that they were in no way immune to the feeling of nostalgia themselves. “Do I feel nostalgic? Yes! I love the ’90s,” they told Bored Panda, adding that there is something very special about the time.
“I think the ’90s generation was the last one before technology took over completely, and children actually rode bikes for hours, played outside with their neighbors and knew it was time to go home when it got dark outside.”
“When we wanted a toy, we actually had to go to our local toy store and search for a must-have toy,” the creator of the Instagram account—a representative of ‘90s kids themselves—shared. “Movie nights were also such a fun time; we either had to look up times in the newspaper or call the movie theater to find out when a movie was playing.
“Even having a movie night at home was the best,” they added. “Going to rent a movie was not just a thing, it was an event; spending time with family and friends at a local movie rental place, going down the aisles looking for a great movie to watch together. Couldn’t forget the popcorn, either.”
i felt like a king. do not underestimate the powers of the all mighty plastic chairs.
It was real and there was a contest to own that house. It was a huge thing back then. The inside was completely styled and furnished like the cartoon show.
I'm so old that I remember being very excited because my new phone had polyphonic ringtones! My first camera phone had a detachable camera. It was VGA quality and I walked round pretending that the pathetic grainy photos I took of my friends were the best thing ever.
“Let’s not forget about the television programs,” the netizen behind ‘Flashback ‘90s’ said, emphasizing that they got to enjoy an abundance of great shows, from animation to action. “We not only watched the shows at home but could talk about them with friends the next day.
“I personally think we had the golden age of television programs but I may be a little biased,” they told Bored Panda, adding “Long live the ‘90s,” and this way validating the preceding statement.
I always thought I was cool when I added sunglasses, because he was too bright for even himself.
If you love taking memory lane back to the ‘90s, continue doing so by browsing these posts about the ’90s, these ‘90s-related memes that ought to take you on a wild nostalgia ride, or marvel at pictures that perfectly encapsulate what Christmas was like back then.
This is what the Predator sees looking at me sitting in my chair doing nothing
... every motorcyclist should avoid driving behind any load if possible. A lawn-collector-box once took of from the trailer in front of me, and not hitting it only is a result of luck including aerodynamics - it REALLY took off and thereby gave me the time I needed to avoid contact.
These days, scan the QR code, input your name and email, the name of your firstborn, how many pets you have, do you own your home, how many children do you have, does my bum look big in this....
So apparently, those markers were always dry because you're supposed to add water to them. Who knew??
do people not do this anymore? i thought it was something every parent did
How about jelly jar cups or if you're classy the Batman glass ones from McDonald's
I'm "who's that robot dog, and why is there a police box in the backyard" old, but I never actually got to go to the year 3000. It's kinda cool that my son is also police-box-in-the-backyard old, now.
Note: this post originally had 101 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
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I'd like to see this with countries other than the US as a lot of these are synonymous with the US. Just interested to see what was big in other places and if they were also a thing here.
The UK is really similar. Different TV programme references, but largely the same.
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It’s like they think the only people on the internet are ten year old kids who got raised in a cave.
It's just called nostalgia. I didn't get a lot of these, but it seemed like a lot of people enjoyed the list, so I'm not mad.
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I'd like to see this with countries other than the US as a lot of these are synonymous with the US. Just interested to see what was big in other places and if they were also a thing here.
The UK is really similar. Different TV programme references, but largely the same.
Load More Replies... It’s like they think the only people on the internet are ten year old kids who got raised in a cave.
It's just called nostalgia. I didn't get a lot of these, but it seemed like a lot of people enjoyed the list, so I'm not mad.
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