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

[Anonymous]

I'm 59. My four year degree was 4k a year - for everything.
My husband bought a house before we were married for 55k. That was 40 years ago. We were able to save, have four babies in a row with me as a SAHM for 10 years.
The biggest thing that happened in college was the Challenger disaster.
Husband was called to duty in the Gulf War but his unit didn't go.
Raised our kids in the 90s, early 00 and they had a wonderful childhood.
College was beginning to get more expensive for them but we told them early they'd have to pay half themselves. Two (girls) got athletic scholarships, one joined Army and finished, one went to Community College to start and finished with four year at State University. All gainfully employed and happy and no debt.

[Anonymous]

70’s through the 90’s were awesome!

[Anonymous]

Hella good

[Anonymous]

They used to send you these CDs in the mail and you could access the internet for $19.95 per month.

Now we all pay for it in multiple ways — home wifi, cell phone plans, etc.

The music was generally better too. The movies as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I came out of college in 1997. I was a designer, and my salary was $65k. I lived alone in a nice one bedroom in NYC where, if lying on my bed, I could see the Chrysler Building. I had a weekly housecleaning and laundry service. I dined at the finest restaurants and partied at the best clubs. On weekends my friends and I flew to the Caribbean, London and Paris. To sustain that lifestyle now, I think I'd need a salary of $250,000.

I remember flights to London for like $150 and 89 cent gas

[Anonymous]

They were nearly perfect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not as good as the 80s.

I think the 80s and 90s were pretty similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They used to send you these CDs in the mail and you could access the internet for $19.95 per month.

Now we all pay for it in multiple ways — home wifi, cell phone plans, etc.

The music was generally better too. The movies as well.

Yeah Hollywood turned Hollyweird and ruined everything and have no new ideas anymore.

Independent film and music is where it is at.

[Anonymous]

The 1990’s media was very very white. It felt like every movie, every sitcom was almost 100% white which felt very othering if you didn’t fit that mold.

There were good things like the beginning of social media and internet. I have fond memories of chatting with friends on AOL instant messenger on my huge desktop computer at home.

Researching anything about different places was pretty difficult. We pretty much had encyclopedias and whatever books you could find in the library. The rest of the world felt far away and very different. Travel was a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The 1990’s media was very very white. It felt like every movie, every sitcom was almost 100% white which felt very othering if you didn’t fit that mold.

There were good things like the beginning of social media and internet. I have fond memories of chatting with friends on AOL instant messenger on my huge desktop computer at home.

Researching anything about different places was pretty difficult. We pretty much had encyclopedias and whatever books you could find in the library. The rest of the world felt far away and very different. Travel was a big deal.

So?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The 1990’s media was very very white. It felt like every movie, every sitcom was almost 100% white which felt very othering if you didn’t fit that mold.

There were good things like the beginning of social media and internet. I have fond memories of chatting with friends on AOL instant messenger on my huge desktop computer at home.

Researching anything about different places was pretty difficult. We pretty much had encyclopedias and whatever books you could find in the library. The rest of the world felt far away and very different. Travel was a big deal.

So?

What do you mean?

This is what the 1990’s were like.

[Anonymous]

As someone who hasn’t really fully embraced technology, I will say that a lot of it is awesome. In the 90’s:

- there were no computer navigators. If you wanted to go somewhere, you had to get directions from someone or you had to look it up on a map. If we were going long distances, we would go to a travel agent and get a triptik.

- There was no way to communicate with anyone if you weren’t near a phone. If your mom came to pick up up at the wrong side of the soccer field, she had no idea where you were. If your car broke down on the side of the road, you couldn’t call anyone. You had to fix it yourself or wait for a stranger to help you out.

- When people moved away, you more or less never saw or heard from them again. You didn’t know when they got married or had a baby or anything at all.

- You had to do a ton of stuff in person that you can do online now. A lot of this stuff was only open during the work day, and you had to work in person during that time. (There was also no good way to know what documents you had to bring to the DMV when you took 1/2 day off work to go!)

I know this isn’t as serious as some of the other things we are talking about, but technology is good in a lot of ways!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The 1990’s media was very very white. It felt like every movie, every sitcom was almost 100% white which felt very othering if you didn’t fit that mold.

There were good things like the beginning of social media and internet. I have fond memories of chatting with friends on AOL instant messenger on my huge desktop computer at home.

Researching anything about different places was pretty difficult. We pretty much had encyclopedias and whatever books you could find in the library. The rest of the world felt far away and very different. Travel was a big deal.

I don't think that at all about sitcoms. Cosby Show and Different World ended in the early 90s, but I watched a lot of Family Matters, Fresh Prince, Sister Sister and Moesha in middle school and high school. I do think it's true that shows were either White or Black -- there wasn't a lot of diversity within each show. Asians definitely weren't represented.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel the 1990s were more optimistic overall than now. It started off a bit stressful with the economy, but then it was a relatively calm time for the US and there was prosperity. I didn't worry about finding a job, there was an expectation that going to college meant you were going to be fine.

There was more synergy with the music and trends of the period. It seemed like it was easier to follow what was going on.

It was great not having smartphones and social media and relationships were more organic.

It was harder to be a minority back then and also LGBTQ. You had to blend in with the main culture to survive.

you really think its easier today to be a minority?? I was one both times and see my kids. you still have to blend in to the main culture- having ramen places and tacos readily available haven't improved our lives - they've improved white lives- we already had tacos and ramen.

Love this response.

[Anonymous]

I think what is showing up on this thread is that the 90s were still pretty good for MC/UMC white folks, but the Reagan-era unraveling of the social safety net, defunding of public education, late stage capitalism, and general increased conservatism was eating away at gains realized by BIPOC and poor/working class folks.

As a child of the 80s, I can remember a much better America. More diverse, more social mobility, generally more positive. But the canaries in the coal mine in the 90s were the folks whose advances were the most fragile, and it is only now that the rest of us have begun feeling the impact.