For those 45+, how good were the 1990s, actually?

[Anonymous]

Oh and one of the best tv shows ever made - northern exposure.
People actually talked about change and progress and helping each other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I liked the 90s, because people still entertained and engaged with one another, no smart phones. The internet was a thing but hadn’t taken over. There were still cultural differences between towns and cities and that made people/places more interesting.
Best of all, no euro- so travel in Europe was literally dirt cheap. Franc, drachma, escudo, etc. Gas was ridiculously cheap.
however, people were racist and sexist and got away with it. The sexual harassment at work was real and little to nothing done about it. So many highschool and college girls raped and not much done about it. Sad.

+1 there was no FOMO, no selfies, no endless navel gazing, no photographing your food, much less narcissism, less anxiety about what you didn’t have or weren’t achieving. People were content to just hang out and pay attention to each other.

[Anonymous]

I'm in my early 40s and finished HS in 2000. IMO yes the 90s were peak in so many ways. All the conveniences of modern life, relative peace and feeling like things were improving globally (countries coming up), economy doing great. Yes I recognize not everyone was benefitting but I'm not white and my parents were immigrants so there was a wide swath of people "doing well" in that era.

We had enough technology but our attention spans, social lives, family life had not been destroyed by phones. I watched primetime sitcoms like Seinfeld and TGIF with my parents.

[Anonymous]

90s were like peak America. Things have really gone downhill since 9/11.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in my early 40s and finished HS in 2000. IMO yes the 90s were peak in so many ways. All the conveniences of modern life, relative peace and feeling like things were improving globally (countries coming up), economy doing great. Yes I recognize not everyone was benefitting but I'm not white and my parents were immigrants so there was a wide swath of people "doing well" in that era.

We had enough technology but our attention spans, social lives, family life had not been destroyed by phones. I watched primetime sitcoms like Seinfeld and TGIF with my parents.

Same age and had the same feeling. That period when email and internet were introduced to households but before the invention of Facebook (and subsequent social media). You had access to a lot of information, but you were not making permanent digital footprints that would stay with you forever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I liked the 90s, because people still entertained and engaged with one another, no smart phones. The internet was a thing but hadn’t taken over. There were still cultural differences between towns and cities and that made people/places more interesting.
Best of all, no euro- so travel in Europe was literally dirt cheap. Franc, drachma, escudo, etc. Gas was ridiculously cheap.
however, people were racist and sexist and got away with it. The sexual harassment at work was real and little to nothing done about it. So many highschool and college girls raped and not much done about it. Sad.

+1 there was no FOMO, no selfies, no endless navel gazing, no photographing your food, much less narcissism, less anxiety about what you didn’t have or weren’t achieving. People were content to just hang out and pay attention to each other.

Yep. Mid 50’s here and I agree with a lot of this. I didn’t experience sexual harassment but I definitely think things that were still considered normal practice then would be absolutely not acceptable today, rightfully so. I very much agree that people engaged with each other regularly and looking back it was downright refreshing that there was no social media for everyone to obsess over. People were actually engaged in the moment rather than worrying about what to post or feel the need to post every little thing in their lives.

[Anonymous]

Just popping in to say anacostia and navy yard were pretty horrifying in the 90s. Anyone remember? Different world. So much better now

[Anonymous]

Mid 50s here.

Health insurance - people would get caught in loopholes changing jobs. Policy holder would change jobs, new jobs insurance required a physical and blood work, something would be detected, insurance wouldn’t cover it because they considered it a pre existing condition , person would just die from treatable cancer. Happened frequently.

LGBTQ - many, in fact most, in the closet in white collar professional environments. Not legal to marry, adopt, often lost custody of kids in previous heterosexual marriage.

Harassment- if you were attractive you would be frequently hit on by superiors, peers, and clients. Had to dodge them politely, swiftly and with a smile to avoid repercussions. Big Law partners famous for screaming at male or female associates for whatever.

[Anonymous]

Everything changed after 2010. Blame it on social media and smart phones.

[Anonymous]

I immigrated to the US in the late 90s from....Bosnia (I know why you mentioned it, of course) and always felt like I couldn't believe how good things were before 9/11 happened. It's like something shifted after that day and we have never been able to get back on track.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just popping in to say anacostia and navy yard were pretty horrifying in the 90s. Anyone remember? Different world. So much better now

Yes, as a xennial/gen-x teen I spent many unauthorized nights here, when it was Capitol Ballroom: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation_(nightclub)

I loved the 90s because we had access but not overavailability. Things still felt precious, like you had to discover them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mid 50s here.

Health insurance - people would get caught in loopholes changing jobs. Policy holder would change jobs, new jobs insurance required a physical and blood work, something would be detected, insurance wouldn’t cover it because they considered it a pre existing condition , person would just die from treatable cancer. Happened frequently.

LGBTQ - many, in fact most, in the closet in white collar professional environments. Not legal to marry, adopt, often lost custody of kids in previous heterosexual marriage.

Harassment- if you were attractive you would be frequently hit on by superiors, peers, and clients. Had to dodge them politely, swiftly and with a smile to avoid repercussions. Big Law partners famous for screaming at male or female associates for whatever.

+1. Health insurance is much more available to some populations after the affordable Care act. It was really really hard to get health insurance in the 90s unless you got it from your job.

You want to start your own business? How do you get health insurance? It was virtually impossible. I knew so many people that just did not have it and were completely financially exposed because of it. There were not any options.

[Anonymous]

90s were peak for us (Boomers born 1950 and 1952). Making good money, had computers and Palm Pilots but no 24/7 work availability, travel wasn't a hassle and the riff raff weren't overvisiting places, no vacation rentals so restaurants did well where we visited, people didn't take all their kids and dogs everywhere. We had a nice but not ott house, airbags in the car.
80s were pretty good too if your job was recession proof.

[Anonymous]

About the same. People want to glamerize it but it had similar issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I immigrated to the US in the late 90s from....Bosnia (I know why you mentioned it, of course) and always felt like I couldn't believe how good things were before 9/11 happened. It's like something shifted after that day and we have never been able to get back on track.

I was in NYC on that day, so it was up close and in my face, but I’ve felt like that was the death of so much collective optimism, and the void was replaced by so much cynicism and paranoia.

Then came smartphones and social media, which at first felt like progress, but it eventually only served to make us far more cynical and disconnected.

Then came Covid, and that was really the final blow to any feeling of “we’re in this life thing together.” What a sorry state we’re in now.