The '90s Weren't All That: People Are Sharing The Things They Do Not Miss About The Decade
As much as millennials and Gen X'ers tend to romanticize the '90s, there were both little and big things that were commonplace then that make living now in the current day soooo much better. For example, one I don't often see brought up is how TVs had terrible resolutions and, for the most part, were no bigger than around 32 inches. This made it so you really had to focus on the screen, and because of the low-res, it was easy to miss so many details in TV shows, movies, and music videos.
Recently, Reddit user Maester_Maetthieux was curious about those things that, in hindsight, were not so great back then when they asked: "What do you NOT miss about the '90s?"
The thread got hundreds of responses from people who lived through the '90s. Below are the top, best, and most-often repeated comments:
1."Going to the video store incredibly excited, only for you to find out that what you wanted was out of stock."
"Remember when Blockbuster had new titles 'guaranteed to be in stock'?"
"The Empire Strikes Back was always checked out. I was always settling between A New Hope and Return of the Jedi, which I had seen a bazillion times before. Went on a trip to Montreal, and our host family offered to rent me a movie. The only copy of Empire Strikes Back was in French."
2."Paying $15 for a CD. On the other hand, though, I miss the excitement of getting a new CD and how invested you would be in your music collection. Those are definitely related: if it costs more, you're more invested in it. But, still, $15 definitely feels like a lot of money for one CD."
"Sometimes the whole album would suck except for that one song or perhaps two songs. I remember feeling soooo outraged for buying a CD, listening to the whole thing, reading the little CD insert, and the album was just kinda meh or 'mid' as the kids say. Without any kind of preview of a new album, it really felt like a gamble spending that much on something with a guaranteed return of one or two songs, you know."
"Dropping $20 on a CD, then discovering it doesn't have the song from the radio that you liked...or it does, but the rest of the album sucks."
3."Dial-up internet"
"This is the answer. I might be nostalgic for a few seconds hearing that dial-up, but who would want to go back to that?"
4."Driving to my job to get my paycheck and then having to drive to the bank before it closed. I'd always get to the bank at 4:50 p.m., and there would always be some elderly lady in front of me needing her account balance explained to her. Never failed, lol."
5."As a Black woman, having my hair straightened because that's just what was done. I love the freedom of wearing my hair in its natural state without having chemically straightened hair be the only acceptable way."
6."Blowing on NES cartridges to get them to work."
"That used to be so grim 😂. I used to have to spend more time blowing into the game than actually playing it."
"The worst was when someone would kick the NES when you were hours into a game, and it would set the reset — lights flashing."
7."I don't miss not having the internet. In the early '90s, before the internet, my world was so small. If it didn't exist in my little town, it might as well have never existed — music, books, films, diversity, hobbies, and so much more. I love having virtually any song ever made at my fingertips. I love being able to look up any subject I come across and learn about it."
"The ease of finding information, and just being able to look up anything that interests me is magnificent. Not having to go to the library, maybe having to order a book, just to find something out."
8."Listening to the radio waiting for your favorite song to come on so you can record it on a tape...only for the DJ to cut in at the end and ruin the whole recording."
"Or the DJ would not stop talking and ruin the first part of the song."
9."Long road trips. They are definitely better now that we are able to be entertained. I mean 100 miles of nothing."
"I always brought a few books. That helped."—TheOriginalMulk
10."Pay phones. You never knew if it worked or how recently someone peed on it. They were also magnets for people looking for bum change or cigarettes. Speaking of change, you better make sure you had some yourself, or you were SOL. No one had cellphones, so you were calling their home phone hoping they were nearby and [would] pickup. Also, just the availability of them was a hassle. They were everywhere but also somehow never where you need one. They could also get backed up, forming lines/queues."
"That said, I feel a bit sad when I’m in/at older convenience stores, theaters, malls, or airports and see areas that clearly once held a series of public phone booths/stalls but now sit empty. Sometimes, the stalls are awkwardly still there, no phone, serving no purpose. These are even fading away as more time passes.
I’m feeling old now. I think it’s time for my afternoon nap. 😴"
"I’m at a wedding right now in a pretty old building. There’s a half-circle wall here where there definitely used to be a line of pay phones. Definitely made me feel like a sad old lady."
11."Long-distance phone calls and their ridiculous charges — even if you just called a town 30 miles away. Plus, the constant commercials on TV for long distance phone providers!"
"Long-distance charges. Paying dollars per minute for international calls."
12."Probably a hot take, but physical media. Not having to carry a CD collection in the car, not having a cabinet full of VHS tapes, and not having a tower of jewel cases for computer games is convenient. (Yes, I know there’s no guarantee digital media will be accessible at all times, but it’s convenient when it works, which, in my experience, is always.)"
13."When ordering anything through the mail, it could take anywhere from four weeks to six months. You had no way of knowing if there were any updates or when it might show up. If you had relatives overseas and I wanted to send you a Christmas present, yeah, that was going to take hundreds of dollars and four months at least. Plus, when it arrived, it was typically torn apart by customs."
14."All the smoking in public areas. I remember several times growing up when my family had to wait an hour-plus at a restaurant because the only free seats were in the smoking area."
"Ugh, same. Smoking in public and smoking around children seemed to be much more normalized then. I never smoked but always smelled like it.
I remember my great-grandma's house being cloudy because she chain-smoked inside regardless of who was around. My dad was also a chain smoker. He didn't smoke inside the house (only because my mom refused to allow it) but always smoked in the car.
I also remember waiting a long time for non-smoking seats at restaurants. In high school, I worked in a restaurant that had a smoking section, and I avoided working in it whenever possible, but even when I worked on the opposite side, I always came home smelling like smoke. My mom and her husband constantly accused me of smoking because I always smelled like cigarettes. In college, going to bars, I came home absolutely reeking of smoke. It permeated my hair, skin, and clothes. I often had to wash my hair and clothes twice to get the smell out.
I definitely do not miss constantly being around and smelling like other people's cigarettes."
15."Everyone sharing one phone/phone number in the house."
16."Everyone loves how the lack of phones let people be disconnected. But, I hated being totally in the dark when someone was late picking me up for something or meeting me somewhere."
"I feel you. I think today’s fantasy of disconnecting is a grass-is-greener situation. It’s certainly helpful to not always be online or reachable, but it’s not fun to be totally removed either. Waiting for your parents to pick you up from anywhere was so boring."
17.And lastly, "Paying per MINUTE of internet usage was insane."
You can read the original thread on Reddit.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
