From the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War between them and the United States to the premiere of Star Wars Episode I — things from the ’90s automatically feel nostalgic. After all, ’90s nostalgia had ten years to develop the decade into one of the most remembered times in recent history. Some popular things in the ’90s that feel nostalgic stayed in this decade.
While not everyone was fortunate enough to live in this decade, we can still appreciate things from the ’90s. For example, toys, objects, and pop culture trends that date back to the ’90s are straight-up definitions of nostalgia and emotions. ’90s toys and other objects were like military tanks — created to last and bring joy to faces. Pagers, floppy disks, and Barbies — it would take a long time to break them, and chances are high you can still find them around a millennial’s living space. However, two things contributed the most to the cultural shake of the decade — ’90s pop culture and, of course, the popularization of the internet. MTV and plenty of brilliant ’90s series and movies were watched by multiple generations. We can thank the internet for that. Probably the greatest invention of the modern age, it connected people from several continents, and this connection continued to grow in the 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s.
With so many highlights of the ’90s to reminisce about, some people decided to share their thoughts on the internet. User Apart-Scale decided to get some reactions from the AskReddit community with a simple question — “What was normal in the 1990s but is rare or non-existent now?” We have compiled the most nostalgic and best answers in the list below. Did the thing remind you of the ’90s? Upvote it. Have anything to share about your own ’90s days? You can share it in the comments below.
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"I used to write 10 page letters to a girl I knew in Norway and she did the same for me back in the states.
I’d get like one a month and it was so exciting to read them.
People had to put so much thought into those letters before the internet.
So probably that."
"Video rental stores. Blockbuster was big but lots of locally owned businesses too. I miss being able to go through the aisles and discover something new."
My dad bought a video store in 1991. Then Blockbuster moved in two blocks away in '93 and we were gone by '94. Womp womp. It was still fun, though. UPDATE OH GOD I googled the store and found an ebay link to a 'vintage' pin from our store specifically and now I'm going to take out life insurance.
"Kids just doing their own thing... Riding the bus across town, riding bikes wherever just needed to be home before dark. Having a key to the house since you'd be the only one there when you got home (from kindergarten). Walk to/from school from kindergarten."
chairmaker45 wrote:
"Being completely unreachable by anyone for an entire day or more with no one thinking that it was unusual or rude."
acousticsoup replied:
"I do miss this so much. I feel tethered by my phone and miss being able to absorb into something without distraction."
I always make a point of either switching off or onto airplane mode and allowing myself that timeout. It doesn't have to be for long, just long enough for you time...
yepitsjen22 wrote:
"Calling the movie theatre or looking in the paper for movie times."
Ghstfce replied:
"Hellllllllooooo, and welcooooome to MoviePhone!"
Right next to the comics, horoscope and crossword in the newspaper.
MoistnSquishy wrote:
"Pressing play and record at the same time."
muddy-feet added:
"And then the button pops out while trying to get the song on the radio."
Not to mention when the announcer doesn't stop talking and you really wanna use this as your ringtone. lol
"Meeting people at the time and place you said you’d meet them when you made plans days or even weeks ago.
You used to say “hey, let’s hang out on Tuesday at 7pm at downtown bar” and then without ever having to text or call again you’d both meet there."
Or meeting up with friends from different areas involving trains and buses ... Complex logistics for young teens and no means of communicating once you set off ... Yet, you all managed to make it.
"Eavesdropping in on a telephone call, you had to cover the mouth piece to make sure they wouldn't hear you breathing and laughing."
This was more fun than you'd guess, and more annoying when it was you who got spied on. It was also the original "speaker phone" where you could have several people talking at once.
"MTV playing music videos."
Yes. And in the 90s only the stoner and skater kids cut and frayed the bottoms of thier pants. Now you see Gen Z wearing them like, "I'm sooooo 90s." Not even close.
carawwwwrrrr wrote:
"Taking your disposable camera to get developed, and having no idea if any of your pictures were even usable until you got the pictures back."
Whisper26_14 replied:
"I DONT miss this but I do miss the surprise “oh yeah! I forgot I took a pic of that!!”"
obscureferences added:
"The delayed surprise was nice. Also taking a photo was one shot, no checks and reshoots, you got back to having fun."
I miss reminiscing about the good ones and my friends and I poking fun at ourselves over the awkward pictures!!
PMMeUrHopesNDreams wrote:
"Keeping a binder full of CDs in your car."
Whatwhyohhh replied:
"My car cds were stolen in 1998. I’m still angry."
v1ct0r326 added:
"I once left the door on my car unlocked and came back to find my car stereo gone but not my full 100 disc binder. The stereo had completely died 2 weeks prior and I just hadn't gotten around to swapping it out yet. I just laughed."
Still have mine. Spent way too much money and hours downloading to toss them
"Feeling like the future is bright and that things can only get better from here."
"Coin arcades in malls. And the malls I guess. I kinda miss arcades."
God I miss arcades. It was sooo much fun going with a group of friends and playing games then seeing who could kick whose āss at air hockey; I did quite well. Never forget the knuckle pain though
docholidaycali wrote:
"A printed list of family and friends' phone numbers stuck on the fridge."
legitttz replied:
"Parents leaving a $20 under a magnet on the fridge for pizza with the number of the restaurant they were eating at, your friend's parents down the block number, and maybe your grandmother's landline as a last resort."
ChibiSailorMercury wrote:
"Giving a meeting point and a meeting time in case we get lost."
daisies4dayz replied:
"Or just in general. Like you kind of forget, like you had to have your plans nailed down before you left the house.
Where you are going, what time you are meeting, when you’ll be back. If you aren’t familiar with the area, literally printing off directions from the internet and hope they are right."
When I was in college we had a white board in the living room where we would write where we were going, when we expected to return, and the phone number (landline only back then) of the person we were meeting up with. If we went missing, we wanted to be missed as soon as possible and have the roommates know where to start looking and who to talk to.
Espeon2022 wrote:
"Talking to your friends mom to see if they were home."
Lucky_Mongoose replied:
"Calling a girl's house and having to ask her dad if you can speak to her."
"Good evening Mr. Smith, is Lisa at home?" "It's Denny, I've got to talk to her about the chemistry homework" "No, just the homework".
"Only making calls after 9 pm because it was free. Having to buy mins on a phone. Long distance calls costing money."
Small town Missouri: no stores or doctors and every place that had services was long distance. Internet was dial up, shared with school and everyone in town. First month bill: $4,000.
"Paying with exact change in cash."
Facelesspirit wrote:
"When picking someone up from the airport, you could wait for them at their gate."
TipsieMcStaggers replied:
"Meeting a friend for lunch at the airport when they happened to have a layover in your city!"
"Roller rinks are now very rare to come by. Pre covid you would go to one around once a year, but now post covid they’re almost all gone. Also in the 90s everyone actually went to them pretty often, especially for birthdays."
"The twin towers being shown during scene changes in movies and shows staged in New York City."
Commenter No. 1 wrote:
"Telephone booths."
SamJSchoenberg replied:
"Pay phones in general."
The local one near me is now used as a book swap library. It's really popular and it's great to see the old classic British phonebox become a landmark.
"Card catalogues to find books in a library."
found so many surprise books that way; the card was in the vicinity of the one I wanted.
"Wait for the bus without doing anything else than waiting."
p38-lightning wrote:
"Back then I had a landline phone, camcorder, film camera, tube TV, VCR, dial-up internet, pager, and a newspaper subscription. All gone now."
LikeChicken replied:
"All in your pocket now."
Oh those pagers 😑 If employees didn't show up, parents paged me and I'd have to stop whatever I was doing and do the job. Mini skirt and 4" heels? Didn't matter. I hated that pager lol
Razaelbub wrote:
"Playing multiplayer video games with all of the players IN the room together. We had some pretty heated N64 parties."
Ihatemyshirt replied:
"Goldeneye and Mario kart 64. Intense games were had!"
I was permanently turned off from Mariokart and Smash bros because of jerk friends. Those games got heated and damn near violent
"The ability to simply exist without much effort.
I tell my students this story all the time: I got into the top university in my state as a classics major just because I was in the top quarter of my class. I paid cash for my education with a job I had at the campus bookstore. During my interview for my first internship, I was never asked any technical questions but rather a few questions about my availability and work hours. My first job out of college was as a software engineer, even though my degree was in classics because my employer trained me on the job.
Was I the smartest student in my class? Not really. I did my best, and that was enough to get by. I was an average person and was able to provide for myself without much effort.
Try doing all that today."
"Home telephone and answering machine. Also with these, memorizing phone numbers."
Ha! We had 1 home phone and 2 phones for our shops and warehouse. Plus pagers. And answering machines. And answering service.
"Those red bars you would put across your car's steering wheel to "prevent" theft."
I just had a customer who bought one after his car got broken into! He actually had it with him, too.
Inedible-denim wrote:
"Gas that was under a dollar (in the US). I still feel like I was in an alternate reality but I remember!"
Commenter No. 2 replied:
"Right? I can remember it being 77¢."
Commenter No. 3 added:
"Semi-related, places using the cent symbol. Nowhere seems to use it anymore!"
I remember when the attendant would wash front and rear windshields, check your oil and tire pressure, and add to both if needed.
UGLYWOLFF wrote:
"Always went w/ the smoking section cause the wait was shorter."
Commenter No. 2 replied:
"The smoke would end up wafting into the non-smoking section anyway."
Commenter No. 3 added:
"It’s still crazy that only like 15 years ago we still had smoking sections. I’d say a ton of restaurants before the Great Recession in 2008 had the smoking section."
Reasonable_Ad_6437 wrote:
"A single-family home under $200,000."
TheRealOgMark replied:
"In small cities around here, you could get a nice home for 40k in the 90s."
"Privacy.
In the 90s you could just go somewhere and not have to worry about every tiny thing you do, everywhere you go, what you wear, what kind of cereal you like, etc being harvested. Now it feels like every single thing we do or decision we make in life is monitored and recorded.
Worse yet, people seem to be okay with this because it's convenient."
People seem more than happy to forego privacy (or are oblivious to it) to post so much information online willingly...
"A pet Tamagotchi. God, the chores I did for that thing."
"Modem noises."
Red_Vitamin wrote:
"Floppy Disks. My parents had a file cabinet full of those things."
Octabraxas replied:
"I used to save cool Dragonball Z pictures off the internet on them for later viewing enjoyment lol."
Back when I was in 1st to like 4th grade we used these in school. Each student had one with their name on it that we'd save our assignments from the computer lab on so the teacher could pop them in and grade them.
theglove wrote:
"Crystal Clear Pepsi."
InvidiousSquid replied:
"Back in '17 I found a few bottles of Crystal Pepsi in a tiny, run-down gas station in the a*s end of nowhere, tucked into a remote corner of the beverage coolers.
Logic tells me Pepsi briefly brought back Crystal Pepsi.
My heart tells me that it was sitting there since the 90s.
And it was delicious."
They brought it back a few years ago and now seems to be a summer thing. So happy when I see them in stores now.
"Mapquest and specialty stores that would print out directions for your road trip."
And then not proof reading said print out before embarking and ending up not where you thought you would.
terpterpin wrote:
"Pagers."
goodnewsonlyhere replied:
"I felt like the coolest person on earth when I got my little purple pager, must have been around 1999."
Whenever my dad got a new one, he'd give me the old one to play with. Who remembers when they were called beepers?
"I used to have one of those nice leather Franklin Covey planners, it let people know you meant business, LOL. Every year I would order a new calendar for it. Other rarities for me are having a chequebook, buying magazines, watching the early morning news for weather and traffic, and having books in the bathroom."
trashtv123 wrote:
"Calling Miss Cleo."
swedishplmbr replied:
"My dumb*ss ass brother in high school came home drunk and called Miss Cleo. Passed out for a few hours while on the phone and our parents' phone bill was 800 bucks. He got in a lot of trouble for that one."
"Newspapers! They were still highly relevant up into the late 90s and early 2000s. Want to sell something? Place an personal ad. Need the showtimes for a movie? Go to the entertainment section. Current events? Comics? The actual news? It was all right there."
Still here in Tassie, but they also are great after you've read it to use for starting the fire.
"Going to the mall to just hang out. I got an old a*s home movie of my friends and i just hanging at a mall. Sharing food. It was so much fun now the mall is a slog."
Well, when you've seen one big shopping centre, you've seen the mall...
"Using "A/S/L?" as an online introduction."
Yes, it's not just the kids who invented talking in acronyms.
madmart07 wrote:
"Basic knowledge of MS DOS."
libra00 replied:
"I had pretty advanced knowledge of MS DOS back in the day. I had to write my own autoexec.bat to do custom memory management to be able to play games. I seem to recall the last one I ever wrote was like 2 screens long."
"Buying batteries, so many batteries."
In my Nikon today I have rechargeable batteries and I hate them. Never charged when you need them, lose charge after a couple of days idle, and quit working after a dozen or so recharges. Give me back my AA battery cameras.
I either have the world's worst case of déjà vu, or BP has posted this every other week for the last 6 months.
I either have the world's worst case of déjà vu, or BP has posted this every other week for the last 6 months.
