Time is a strange beast. One moment you think it’s still 1999/2004/2012, the next you realize you’re sitting in 2021. Confused, with no idea where the years went, there you are, busily counting how old you are on your fingers. Time doesn’t just fly by: it soars, does loop-de-loops, backtracks and fast-forwards, drips like a leaky faucet, rushes like a raging river, and delights in making you feel old and still young all at once.
Well, our team over here at Bored Panda wants time to be on our side, so we’re about to make you feel old and pine for the '90s and 2000s. Did we say ‘feel old?’ Sorry! We meant ‘feel nostalgic.’ Whoops. You’ll definitely get these memes and jokes if you remember the '90s and 2000s well, so scroll on down for a trip down memory lane, and remember to upvote the pics that you liked the most. We’d also love to hear from you what trends, technologies, and events you liked the most from that era. So be sure to leave us a comment below.
Bored Panda wanted to learn more about our nostalgia for earlier decades, so we reached out to Kemi Omijeh, a child and adolescent therapist who is based in London and is also a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). Read on for her insights, dear Pandas!
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The Days Of Poor Graphics And Endless Hours Spent On These Games
I never figured out how to play minesweeper back then, and still vaguely understands it now.
That's if you had the Win95 "Entertainment Pack" which not everyone had. Ski Free was my favorite.
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And yes, the exclusive releases. Imagine the release trailer for MS paint. "Make a shape. Fill it with colour. That's it."
Can't look at a picture of 3D Pinball Space Cadet without hearing the startup and ball ready sound sound, you probably heard it aswell. bwwwwwwwwwWWWOOO dindindin tonk drink clurnk
The refuelling noise too? Swip swip swip swoop swooh (I'm not good at writing down the sound in my head lol sry)
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Born in 2003 but those games were literally my childhood... Such good memories though I never knew what I was doing :)
Also, Dos games. You had to restart your computer every time you wanted to play one so that, instead of typing "win" and pressing enter, you would type in the file name of the game. Did a lot of ssf2 ♡
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My son loves these games on my pc! He has his modern nintendo switch, but enjoys these, kings quest, Sega, ps1 and original Pokemon on my gameboy, I think partly because he likes that they are things I like to play tbh, but he does seem to genuinely enjoy them (he's working on kings quest 6 atm). Ive slowly acquired these old gaming things over the last decade, a few I once had but mostly these were the things I coveted as a kid, and can now finally own :D "that 90s nostalgia, it's so hot right now" M.
Omg finally someone who can tell what we actually had to do there and what the objective was! Do share! I just clicked on random squares until something exploded... never figured it out. 😂
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I loved 3D Pinball!!! It actually popped into my head a few days ago. Might have to go on a nostalgia quest and try to find a downloadable version.
I was obsessed with every one of these at some point in my teens/ early twenties
I still don't know how to play minesweeper I just click and hope for the best
I still use Paint as my go-to image alteration software. 😂 Hahaha, though it's no Photoshop, I now have 20 years of experience with Paint and know how to work it really well.
We got our first Apple IIC in mid 80's. I still love mine sweeper and space cadet pinball. Mom is still the master of both in this house ;-)
I know KCLS. Are you intentionally putting your work email for anyone to access? Just looking out.
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Am i the only one who played Hearts? Also I aced minesweeper and mahjong
I did these and we had a program where you plan a family. i always created families, depsite it probably being a adult program or something.
Yah, when a game actually had to be done and fully functional, before they sold it
Tetris snake and NOKIA 3310 !!!!! ( OH II was happy and didn't knew) and my KIDS are asking if I was not afraid of the DINOSAURS. I repeat, of the black and white TV.
My poor dad played it heaps when he was sick years back, he was stuck on bed rest for several months and was queasy during that time, played minesweeper to distract himself....cut to now, he can't stand it and if he sees me playing it, even on my phone (my app is 90s style), he genuinely gets nauseated! Edit: so he's sickened by minesweeper but for a whole different reason I guess lol
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My last pay check was $8750 just ecom working 12 hours for every week .My neighbor have found the estimation of $15k for a long time and the she works around 20 hours for seven days. l can not trust how direct it was once l tried it information. NetJob1.com
My last pay check was $8750 just ecom working 12 hours for every week .My neighbor have found the estimation of $15k for a long time and the she works around 20 hours for seven days. l can not trust how direct it was once l tried it information. NetJob1.com
Since I started with my online business I earn $90 every 15 minutes. It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don't check it out..... Www.NetJob1.com
my co-worker's sister-in-law makes $79/hr on the laptop. She has been without work for 5 months but last month her payment was $17498 just working on the laptop for a few hours. hop over to here ... Www.NetJob1.com
Anyone Else Get Mesmerized By The Windows 95 Screensavers As A Kid?
According to therapist Omijeh, our memories of the past can contribute to our sense of self and well-being. "The period of time we tend to be nostalgic over are significant moments that stood out. Perhaps it was a time when we felt happiest or safest, or perhaps it’s a period where things changed for us."
She explained that the age we were at during the era doesn't matter as much as what exactly the time period represents to us. "Our memories of the past can change over time depending on how often we revisit and also depending on what is going on for us in the present."
Latchkey Kids Unite!
Yes, when did this change? I was capable of having a snack and not dying when home alone at age 7.
Windows 98
Omijeh joked that "of course, the '90s was better! But then again, I may be being very biased here." The therapist pointed out that who we were during each decade will influence our impressions of it.
"Generally speaking, the better decade is associated with youth and freedom. Nostalgia also often gives us rose-tinted glasses from which to reflect from. How we reflect on the past decades can play a part in how we engage with the current decade." If you're living in the UK and would like to speak to a therapist, you can find a counseling professional through the BACP right here.
Movie Time In School
I Member...
I am this old!! When I saw this pic, I literally heard the thunk of the ball hitting the pad, and the rip of taking it off to throw again.. Aah, good times 😄🤣
Ceilings In The 90s
Bored Panda previously spoke about nostalgia with therapist Omijeh in more depth. "Many psychologists, myself included, believe our childhood is the foundation to who we are as adults. It explains why we frequently revisit our childhood as it influences our present," Omijeh told Bored Panda.
According to Omijeh, the kind of childhoods that we had directly correlates to how we remember our childhood experiences. To put it simply: we’re nostalgic for the times that we felt loved and nurtured.
“If we’ve had a difficult childhood, it can be hard to feel nostalgic, instead it will feel like something we need to get over in order to move on," the therapist said.
Gather Round, Children, While I Tell You Of Bath Beads
Burning The Sickest Cds In The Neighborhood
"Nostalgia can also be a good coping strategy for times of low mood and challenges," she detailed. However, she warned that nostalgia is only useful to a certain extent. The moment it starts interfering with our ability to be present in our everyday lives is the moment that we should start to be worried.
“If we end up comparing it to our experiences today and feeling like nothing is as good as it was, then this will inevitably affect our mood and our ability to do what we need to do," Omijeh said. “We can become stuck in our nostalgia; in which case it might be best to seek help from a counseling professional to help you process your past in order to enjoy your present,” the therapist explained. In short, it’s fine if you feel nostalgic for the 90s and 2000s, but remember to enjoy 2021, too!
Good Ol' Days
Sure Grandma
Fridays At Blockbuster
Earlier, Bored Panda also spoke about the changes in technologies and trends over the past few decades with Ramona Pringle, who is the Director of the Creative Innovation Studio and Associate Professor at the RTA School of Media at Ryerson University.
According to her, even if we know what trends occurred in the past, we can’t say for certain what the future will hold. “We don’t know what the future holds, and anyone who says that they do is selling snake oil. But, there are certain things we can count on: we love stories, and we love to be part of something biggest than ourselves. Be it oral storytelling, books, blogs, movies, or video games, we’ve never lost our love of narrative.”
Entertainment and connectivity, then, will continue being a vital part of our history as human beings as we move boldly (or trembling slightly from excitement and anxiety) into the future. “Equally true, even when we can’t go into a concert hall or colosseum, we look for ways to be together, connected, and part of a communal experience. The tech might change, but these will continue to be the drivers of our entertainment experiences,” Pringle said.
Before The Days Of Internet
It Really Was
And do you think I can remember how to fold them like that? I used to start all my letters with Hey Chicky or Hey Chicka dee and end with Catch ya round like a fruit loop.
Pringle explained to Bored Panda that over the next decade, entertainment tech will change and improve, focusing even more on immersion and interactivity.
“For the last decade, we’ve leaned into virtual reality because of how it enables both of these. We can step inside a world and have influence over it, and the story or experience that unfolds,” she said. “I think one of the things we can expect moving forward is, in a sense, the opposite of virtual reality. Instead, more of an enhanced reality or fictional reality, wherein the entertainment isn’t in a headset, but instead, all around us.”
How Many Of Us 90s Kids Destroyed Our Family Computer With Viruses For Free Music?
Your youth is showing. Many of us will never forget the original. RIP Napster
The changes to tech have been massive, but we’ve absorbed them so well (some of us, anyway) that we sometimes don’t even notice them anymore.
“A decade ago, we didn’t talk to robots. Today, many of us do,” Pringle detailed. “Siri and Alexa are some of the more common bots, but we already interface with non-human characters regularly. As technology advances, including augmented reality and mixed reality, I think we can expect that entertainment will be something we can engage with off of the screen, but out in the world, with characters and stories we can engage with throughout the day, or throughout our houses.”
Feeling Old
Who Remembers These?
Lmfao
The rise of e-sports is one clue that the ways that people engage one another change in unexpected and often surprising ways. “Whoever would have thought that people would pay money to watch other people play games? Media that engages us and gives us something to gather around, be it together, or virtually, is something that will always appeal to us.”
The Late 1900s
The Early 2000s
Pink Medicine
Pringle made some more predictions about the near future: “I think we can expect to see the ebb and flow of experiences that bring people together offline and then on screen, or online, as well. In the last few years, we’ve seen the rise of interactive and immersive venues like the museum of ice cream or the Dr. Seuss experience,”
Crickey!
TV Guides
My Nanna still gets the TV guide from the Sunday newspaper and goes through it marking all the shows she wants to watch or record.
She continued: “These are places we can go, with friends and family, and have a shared experience. It feeds back into our online experiences because we can share photos or memories and these environments are designed to foster that. Certainly, as we find ourselves in a time of social distancing, we’re seeing new creative ways of “being together” even when we’re apart. So I think we can expect to see entertainment that helps us connect, be it online or off, and immerses us in an experience, story, or community.”
Proud Millennial Heritage
Four Square Anyone?
Getting Blisters
The Memories
I really miss this, got more free pizza from Bookit buttons, and their salad/pizza bars were great
Putting Bike Beads On Your Bike
A Late 90s Classroom
Where’s The Remote?
I Was 50% Cool In 96
The Beginning
I'm So Glad...
Low Rise Jeans
This Was The Life
Take Me Back!
Crackin' Open A New Laser Pointer With All Those Attachments
Vintage Taco Bell
If You Were Raise In The 90s
Dial up internet...every department store had racks full of AOL discs. ("You've got mail!")
When Someone Asks You
Take Your Vitamins
Is It Haunted?
I was always wondering, where the hell are the spirits from the recently deceased ? How come, no ghost ever moans :"What's the wi-fi pass ?" :D
Note: this post originally had 56 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
When people start with "I am this old" and shows you something so new you never heard of it... o.O (Also a lot of these are kind of country/US specific...)
I am from Eastern Europe and I am not familiar with only two things 🧐
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How to feel SUPER old. Look on Bored Panda to discover your kids' age group are feeling old and reminiscing about 'the old days' I feel as old as dirt..
Yeah. My oldest godkid was told by my youngest godkid recently, "Wow, you were born in the 1990s! You're really old!"... I think revenge is already planned.
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This is great but could you also do one for people who grew up in the 1980s please?😊
same! Especially the school computers one, we still have pencils and paper T.T do people think we don't?
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Born in 1967, in a communist country, my teen-age was in the '80's: '90's, for me, were years of transition - a rough one! - years seeing everything becoming commercial. Was a vinyl fan, but instead of Lynyrd Skynyrd or Stevie Ray Vaughan we got Lambada and instead of Weather Report we got euro-techno-disco... That's why I try to forget the '90's...
At one point, I had a rotary phone at home. There was the phone book and yellow pages. My first mobile phone, as it was called before, is bulky and heavy enough to be used as a projectile weapon that would split skulls open. Oh and it can be converted into 2 projectile weapons when you remove the battery.
When those huge mobile phones came out, I remember thinking who on earth would want their phone on them all the time?
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Born in 87 so full on 90's kid. Things i missed on this list: anything Gameboy related,battery chargers where essential for any kid. free cd roms that came with magazines with stupid but awesome stuf. NBA jam. Video arcades were still around (time trial anyone?) but losing popularity. The rise of the console wars (nintendo vs sega and eventually playstation). those horrible colourful track suits. Nirvana. The end of phone booths. Y2K. Power rangers. Superhero tv cartoons(spiderman in particular comes to mind). Steve Urkel and all those other family shows. Britney/Christina/spice girls obsessions. I don't know, i am sure there's a whole lot I am forgetting. Final conclusion: the 90's where awesome!
Me too I am so happy in this thread it feels like comfort and childhood :)
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I was 5 during this stuff so it’s vaguely familiar (2008)
It's better with sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A1M2xL3YGY
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Your time will come all too soon trust me lol, but now is ur time to be young and one day the things you do now will be on whatever version of these posts exists by then :)
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Of course most of this is the usual way of things, eventually everyone will get seen as old. My problem is companies telling you thirty is old, especially now that few of us die at that age anymore. And they're doing it so you'll buy wrinkle cream, and then they blame it on the clueless teenagers so we fight with them instead.
I am from Ireland and I didn't consider myself old until this post. All of it-I feel so called out. Up until now I've been blissfully walking around still considering the 80's to be just over a decade ago...
When people start with "I am this old" and shows you something so new you never heard of it... o.O (Also a lot of these are kind of country/US specific...)
I am from Eastern Europe and I am not familiar with only two things 🧐
Load More Replies... How to feel SUPER old. Look on Bored Panda to discover your kids' age group are feeling old and reminiscing about 'the old days' I feel as old as dirt..
Yeah. My oldest godkid was told by my youngest godkid recently, "Wow, you were born in the 1990s! You're really old!"... I think revenge is already planned.
Load More Replies... This is great but could you also do one for people who grew up in the 1980s please?😊
same! Especially the school computers one, we still have pencils and paper T.T do people think we don't?
Load More Replies... Born in 1967, in a communist country, my teen-age was in the '80's: '90's, for me, were years of transition - a rough one! - years seeing everything becoming commercial. Was a vinyl fan, but instead of Lynyrd Skynyrd or Stevie Ray Vaughan we got Lambada and instead of Weather Report we got euro-techno-disco... That's why I try to forget the '90's...
At one point, I had a rotary phone at home. There was the phone book and yellow pages. My first mobile phone, as it was called before, is bulky and heavy enough to be used as a projectile weapon that would split skulls open. Oh and it can be converted into 2 projectile weapons when you remove the battery.
When those huge mobile phones came out, I remember thinking who on earth would want their phone on them all the time?
Load More Replies... Born in 87 so full on 90's kid. Things i missed on this list: anything Gameboy related,battery chargers where essential for any kid. free cd roms that came with magazines with stupid but awesome stuf. NBA jam. Video arcades were still around (time trial anyone?) but losing popularity. The rise of the console wars (nintendo vs sega and eventually playstation). those horrible colourful track suits. Nirvana. The end of phone booths. Y2K. Power rangers. Superhero tv cartoons(spiderman in particular comes to mind). Steve Urkel and all those other family shows. Britney/Christina/spice girls obsessions. I don't know, i am sure there's a whole lot I am forgetting. Final conclusion: the 90's where awesome!
Me too I am so happy in this thread it feels like comfort and childhood :)
Load More Replies... I was 5 during this stuff so it’s vaguely familiar (2008)
It's better with sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A1M2xL3YGY
Load More Replies... Your time will come all too soon trust me lol, but now is ur time to be young and one day the things you do now will be on whatever version of these posts exists by then :)
Load More Replies... Of course most of this is the usual way of things, eventually everyone will get seen as old. My problem is companies telling you thirty is old, especially now that few of us die at that age anymore. And they're doing it so you'll buy wrinkle cream, and then they blame it on the clueless teenagers so we fight with them instead.
I am from Ireland and I didn't consider myself old until this post. All of it-I feel so called out. Up until now I've been blissfully walking around still considering the 80's to be just over a decade ago...
