Life in the 1990s vs. now

[Thomas White]

I was reflecting on how much has changed in the last 30ish years.

I'm almost 38. I grew up in the 1990s.

I remember a time when there was no mass Internet. Young people played Nintendo with their siblings and neighborhood friends in the same room, played outside together, and we knew everyone in our social circles through face to face contact. TV and newspapers could show us things around the world, but it was all at a safe distance. If anyone had any problems, they were settled face to face. Life was localized, tangible. Mass shootings were rare, and I never heard about any in schools until the end of the decade when Columbine and Kip Kinkel and Jonesboro happened.

Almost no one worried about their gender/birth sex. Girls who said they were boys were understood to be tomboys and would figure that out as they got older. Sensitive boys were artist types. This was fine, and it was only really extreme rarities like RuPaul who pushed the envelope as adults.

We all got our vaccines, and no one I knew worried about them causing autism or being part of government conspiracies. Our parents told us about the days of polio and how great vaccines were.

Police, teachers, and other authorities were respected. Occasionally there were bad apples, or bad departments like the LAPD, but police and teachers were seen as almost always good in society.

Church attendance was expected, meals were prayed over, the ten commandments were taught. Regarding gay people, it was love the sinner, hate the sin. Marriage was between men and women.

Sports was apolitical. Politics was something you didn't discuss much in polite company. If it was discussed, it had to be done respectfully. "Agree to disagree."

Racism was rare and something only Klan and skinhead types did. Systemic discrimination was seen as having ended in the 1960s, and we had become a racially tolerant society since then.

Sexism was also overcome. I was told I could have any job I wanted to do. I never felt discriminated against because I was female.

It seemed we were a prosperous, happy, optimistic nation. Occasionally bad things happened, and we saw them in the papers and evening news stories, but life was seen as mostly good.

There wasn't a mental health crisis. We were aware of anxiety and depression, but most people didn't have those at clinical levels. ADHD was a thing a few hyper boys at school had. Autism was a rare thing that nonverbal people had. When my sister thought I had it, my parents dismissed the idea because I was highly verbal.

I particularly remember the first part of the decade fondly. Toward the latter part, my parents got caught up in the Left Behind craze and thought the world was going to end in 2008. My brother then got addicted to the Internet and trying to find girls on it, and he committed suicide over a failed date with a girl online in 1997. Then of course stuff like Columbine started happening, 9/11 happened in 2001, etc.

Maybe I was young and naive, but things generally seemed better and more clear cut in the first part of the 1990s. We had occasional tragedies like the OK bombing and the LA riots, but it seems most people weren't living in constant fear then, hurling insults at strangers on the Internet, obsessing over gender and race and conspiracy theories, ranting about politics 24/7, or having many mental health crises.

We've progressed technologically, but I don't think American life is better now than it was then.

Agree or disagree? Have a different perspective on the 1990s or today's times?

Every generation says the same thing. We must not hide from progress.

 

[sunshineforJesus]

I remember those times growing up in the 80s and 90s and miss how simple life was back than.

 

[JuliusSneezer]

I remember those times growing up in the 80s and 90s and miss how simple life was back than.

Never understood the big deal about nostalgia when I was younger. Now I totally get it. For some at least, I believe that familiarity equals safety. We have the luxury of hindsight to see that what was a big deal then, kind of pales to some of the things happening today.

Isaiah 65:17 states that “The former things will not come to mind, nor will they be remembered.” Nostalgia will be replaced with the joy of eternity. This is the only way I can face the uncertainty of today. I know how tomorrow goes. If we didn’t have that, I’d be truly terrified. Thank God we at least have that.

Verse 18 goes on to say that the new Jerusalem is created to be a delight. We will be so caught up in how great and amazing His new creation is that our hearts will swell with joy and excitement. I am confident that this time will be so great, that we won’t even think about even the best of times in the past.

Almost there, folks. I look forward to walking these streets with each of you and experiencing every “delight” that it has to offer.

 

[mama2one]

things weren't necessarily better in the past
it's just wasn't shared on FB & there wasn't 24/7 news

"stuff" still happened:

I knew people who had mental health issues & were hospitalized for depression & bipolar
classmate in 6th grade got pregnant
several neighbors I babysat for had problems such as pill addiction due to back pain & domestic violence
a neighbor was cheating on his wife
another neighbor had alcohol problems after he accidentally killed a kid when driving

things were shared by neighbors & I'd overhear mom telling dad "stuff"

 

[Skye1300]

Never understood the big deal about nostalgia when I was younger. Now I totally get it. For some at least, I believe that familiarity equals safety. We have the luxury of hindsight to see that what was a big deal then, kind of pales to some of the things happening today.

Isaiah 65:17 states that “The former things will not come to mind, nor will they be remembered.” Nostalgia will be replaced with the joy of eternity. This is the only way I can face the uncertainty of today. I know how tomorrow goes. If we didn’t have that, I’d be truly terrified. Thank God we at least have that.

Verse 18 goes on to say that the new Jerusalem is created to be a delight. We will be so caught up in how great and amazing His new creation is that our hearts will swell with joy and excitement. I am confident that this time will be so great, that we won’t even think about even the best of times in the past.

Almost there, folks. I look forward to walking these streets with each of you and experiencing every “delight” that it has to offer.

Amen! Yes, I think each generation says it because the world is, and has always been, getting progressively worse leading up to the arrival of the antichrist. You can't really see it except for how things change in your lifetime, but the next generation doesn't see the change till they get older when things get a little worse than in their time. And so on and so on.

 

[Skye1300]

things weren't necessarily better in the past
it's just wasn't shared on FB & there wasn't 24/7 news

"stuff" still happened:

I knew people who had mental health issues & were hospitalized for depression & bipolar
classmate in 6th grade got pregnant
several neighbors I babysat for had problems such as pill addiction due to back pain & domestic violence
a neighbor was cheating on his wife
another neighbor had alcohol problems after he accidentally killed a kid when driving

things were shared by neighbors & I'd overhear mom telling dad "stuff"

I don't think it's so much that things happening today never happened in the past, it's the frequency and degree to which it happens. Like bullying used to always happen since the beginning of time, but bullying today has gone to a whole other level with kids causing real serious hospitalization life threatening harm instead of just giving someone a black eye. It's the degree, intensity and frequency that it happens now. Teen pregnancies have always happened, but in the past it was rare and something to not be proud of. Today it has become so common that no one blinks an eye when you mention it with 1 woman having multiple unwed pregnancies by many different fathers and not even knowing who the father is. It wasn't like that in the past. Look at divorce rates. Divorce is as old a Jesus day, but today like more than 50% of marriages end in divorce. It hasn't always been that way. So in that sense, things are definitely getting worse with each generation. Mental illness always existed, but not in the high frequency it does today. Today something like 50% of people are on some kind of drugs for depression and or mental illness. That's crazy! Something is very wrong. A lot of it is technology induced. It comes from technology that didn't exist in the past like processed food, nano technology, pesticides etc. Not to mention the internet and social media! So the change is not just a perception or imagination, things are changing for the worse.

 

[mama2one]

Look at divorce rates. Divorce is as old a Jesus day, but today like more than 50% of marriages end in divorce. It hasn't always been that way. ]

Marriage, divorce, and remarriage in the 1990's - PubMed


^
"The increasing trend of divorce has meant that between the 1960s and 1980 the divorce rate doubled and reached the point where 1 out of 2 marriages was expected to end in divorce."

 

[sunshineforJesus]

Tonight I went on an I love the 80s group on facebook,and was enjoying listening to all the 80s music.

 

[Skye1300]

Tonight I went on an I love the 80s group on facebook,and was enjoying listening to all the 80s music.

Cool! I bet that was fun.