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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only good years were the 60s and the 70s. Anyone who says otherwise and was alive then is lying.

Yea. The Vietnam War was awesome.

Check your privilege.

[Anonymous]

Graduated in 1990 and had my first child in 2000, so the 1990s were my peak adult years.

And mostly, they were great!
--Graduated from undergrad (where I paid half of my tuition) and grad school (where I paid all of it), with very little debt.
--Was able to get my first job easily, and then slide into another with no problem. Formed close bonds with co-workers since we were all in the office every day, with no headphones or telework to separate us.
--Bought a house in 1997 in North Arlington on two early-career non-profit salaries.
--Had a tiny cell phone that was used mainly in emergencies. I had to pay for each outgoing phone call. Could only text using the keypad. It felt like enough technology.
--Downtown DC felt safe enough to wander around alone during the day, and selected areas at night.
--Dial-up AOL chatrooms were the main "social media."
--More job opportunities for the middle-educated, middle-class. Lots of librarians, journalists, accountants, travel agents etc.

But--
--People were much less open about seeking help for mental health issues.
--Related to that, little help or understanding for special needs, unless the need was blatantly obvious. If you had something like ADHD or dyslexia, it wasn't diagnosed in most cases and you were expected to just fall in line with no help.
--On a less serious note, navigating to places was a hassle. A lot of times you were trying to find a place armed only with a paper map and someone's half-remembered directions ("turn left at the third stoplight. Sorry, fourth stoplight! Just before BP. Or maybe it's an Exxon?")
--Much harder to find reliable services. You had a phonebook and your neighbor, and that was about it. No ratings or websites to help you be an educated consumer.

[Anonymous]

Mid 50s here.

The 90s also featured US Air's weekly drops for cheap airfare for the weekend. I forgot what it was called. You'd get the email on a Tues or Wed and fly there on a Friday?

I took advantage of it for trips to Boston to go be wild with a guy I was semi-dating.

I finished grad school in 1993; had a job offer before May to start in July. At my office, there were lots of people between 22-25/26 and we'd all hit Samantha's and Mister Day's after work many nights, and def Thurs & Fri. Those were great days.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

MUCH less tolerant and kind.

Better music, IMO.

Simpler times, easier to be middle class. When work was over, you went home and work stayed at work.

Better to not have so much tech/social media.

[Anonymous]

OMG the music in the 90s was garbage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG the music in the 90s was garbage.

To this day I still can't stand grunge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Graduated in 1990 and had my first child in 2000, so the 1990s were my peak adult years.

And mostly, they were great!
--Graduated from undergrad (where I paid half of my tuition) and grad school (where I paid all of it), with very little debt.
--Was able to get my first job easily, and then slide into another with no problem. Formed close bonds with co-workers since we were all in the office every day, with no headphones or telework to separate us.
--Bought a house in 1997 in North Arlington on two early-career non-profit salaries.
--Had a tiny cell phone that was used mainly in emergencies. I had to pay for each outgoing phone call. Could only text using the keypad. It felt like enough technology.
--Downtown DC felt safe enough to wander around alone during the day, and selected areas at night.
--Dial-up AOL chatrooms were the main "social media."
--More job opportunities for the middle-educated, middle-class. Lots of librarians, journalists, accountants, travel agents etc.

But--
--People were much less open about seeking help for mental health issues.
--Related to that, little help or understanding for special needs, unless the need was blatantly obvious. If you had something like ADHD or dyslexia, it wasn't diagnosed in most cases and you were expected to just fall in line with no help.
--On a less serious note, navigating to places was a hassle. A lot of times you were trying to find a place armed only with a paper map and someone's half-remembered directions ("turn left at the third stoplight. Sorry, fourth stoplight! Just before BP. Or maybe it's an Exxon?")
--Much harder to find reliable services. You had a phonebook and your neighbor, and that was about it. No ratings or websites to help you be an educated consumer.

Please tell me you’re not saying that DC was safer in the 90s than today. That is patently untrue by virtually every measure. All that’s happened between then and now is you’ve gotten older and feel more vulnerable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only good years were the 60s and the 70s. Anyone who says otherwise and was alive then is lying.

Yea. The Vietnam War was awesome.

Check your privilege.

Plus no one had the ridiculous attitude above. "If anyone is miserable, everyone must be miserable. So it has been said and so it shall be."

Sorry about Vietnam. There were still a lot of great things about the 60s and 70s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Graduated in 1990 and had my first child in 2000, so the 1990s were my peak adult years.

And mostly, they were great!
--Graduated from undergrad (where I paid half of my tuition) and grad school (where I paid all of it), with very little debt.
--Was able to get my first job easily, and then slide into another with no problem. Formed close bonds with co-workers since we were all in the office every day, with no headphones or telework to separate us.
--Bought a house in 1997 in North Arlington on two early-career non-profit salaries.
--Had a tiny cell phone that was used mainly in emergencies. I had to pay for each outgoing phone call. Could only text using the keypad. It felt like enough technology.
--Downtown DC felt safe enough to wander around alone during the day, and selected areas at night.
--Dial-up AOL chatrooms were the main "social media."
--More job opportunities for the middle-educated, middle-class. Lots of librarians, journalists, accountants, travel agents etc.

But--
--People were much less open about seeking help for mental health issues.
--Related to that, little help or understanding for special needs, unless the need was blatantly obvious. If you had something like ADHD or dyslexia, it wasn't diagnosed in most cases and you were expected to just fall in line with no help.
--On a less serious note, navigating to places was a hassle. A lot of times you were trying to find a place armed only with a paper map and someone's half-remembered directions ("turn left at the third stoplight. Sorry, fourth stoplight! Just before BP. Or maybe it's an Exxon?")
--Much harder to find reliable services. You had a phonebook and your neighbor, and that was about it. No ratings or websites to help you be an educated consumer.

Please tell me you’re not saying that DC was safer in the 90s than today. That is patently untrue by virtually every measure. All that’s happened between then and now is you’ve gotten older and feel more vulnerable.

DC was referred to worldwide as The Murder Capitol in the 90s. Drug turf wars made it really violent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only good years were the 60s and the 70s. Anyone who says otherwise and was alive then is lying.

Yea. The Vietnam War was awesome.

Check your privilege.

Plus no one had the ridiculous attitude above. "If anyone is miserable, everyone must be miserable. So it has been said and so it shall be."

Sorry about Vietnam. There were still a lot of great things about the 60s and 70s.

Tell that to the hundreds of thousands of young men who were forced to fight and the tens of thousands who died. The 60s especially but also the 70s were among the most turbulent in our nation’s history. You’re glamorizing it because you were in a position of privilege. I’m sure everyone you knew got a college deferment.

[Anonymous]

Early 90s were tough. I remember a lot of my friends' dads got laid off because they had jobs in defense contracting - tons of engineers and computer programmers losing their jobs. We would spend the daytime during the summer at my babysitter's house - she was friends with my mom and had kids the same age as us. I remember the dad and his computer programmer buddies hanging out, drinking beers, and building computers because they were all laid off. I was maybe 10 years old and they'd let me play with their HAM radio (had a 70' tall antenna in their suburban backyard!) or show us how to get online - this was back in '92. I remember a few of them moving to the Midwest from California to chase work.

Late 90s I was in HS. It was amazing. Gas was like $1.29/gallon in California. My mom inherited a 1971 Chevy Nova in mint condition from her great aunt who recently died. I got that when I turned 16, drove my friends everywhere. Growing up in SoCal and tons of friends had classic cars from the 60s and early 70s as their daily drivers - Mustangs, Chevelles, El Caminos, Camaros, classic pickup trucks, etc. It was literally just like American Graffiti. We'd go to punk shows or raves spread via phone number - you'd call, get directions or an address, then look up the route in the Thomas Guide.

It was bananas.

[Anonymous]

The 1960s??

It was good that so much change came out of the civil rights marches, sit ins, peaceful demonstrations but...
many lives were lost, black people shot, beaten, hosed...
Thank god for the brave people who marched for equal rights.
Oh and in 1970, the Kent State murder of innocent college students by the National Guard. Hmm, funny how history has a way of repeating itself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Asking specifically X-ennials, Gen X, and Boomers, who were wage-earning, taxpaying adults during the 1990s - so no rose-colored childhood glasses. I'm also specifically asking those who grew up in the United States, I wouldn't ask people who grew up in Rwanda or Bosnia or Chechnya this question.

Were the 90s actually better, economically, culturally, technologically (as in we had the right amount of technology - not too much?) Were things actually better then, or is it really only a matter of millennials thinking their childhood was the good old days. Also, a possible counterpoint is that we have progressed since then on LGBTQ and racial issues, for the most part, so the 90s nostalgia might be very concentrated among white, middle class, suburban millennials. What I think I'm really getting at besides the whole "is nostalgia real" question is, was it actually easier back then to work a steady job and afford things, and were we healthier as a society before smartphones and AI.

Bonus points if you are old enough to vouch for the 80s as well.

I think the music in the 80s and 90s was better, but every middle aged or old person thinks their high school and college music is better than anything new. TV was worse in the 80s and 90s. I love having streaming. The internet was better -- less corporate, less dominated by bots and troll farms. Politics was better. 911 and hadn't happened yet and we were basking in the end of the Cold War. We were divided politically, but it was a lot less strident and crazy. Nobody thought Roe would actually ever be overturned. We thought we'd keep working on civil rights issues and make progress. The job market was pretty good and things felt more affordable.

[Anonymous]

90s were wonderful but I'm in my mid-fifties. Had a good job and loved living in DC. Though you didn't go past 16th Street in NW in those days. Going to the old 9:30 club or the Insect Club was taking risk enough. Loved dancing at Fifteen Minutes (lines that bathroom were so long we would go over the Mayflower and then come back avoiding the prostitutes on the way), early day Heaven, the Bayou and going to all those tiny movie theaters all over. Zorba's was cheap for starting the night out - not like today.

Still had Marion Barry and weeks when they just did not pick up the garbage. Parking was still insane but the ticketed like crazy back then.

Discrimination and harassment were real. It was just an accepted thing that you had to watch it with certain supervisors/clients. Had to wear suits that were skirts and panty hose. Ugh.

Music was great - the early days of the HFestival were wonderful. Loved Nirvana but grunge did ruin alternative music.

So glad we didn't have phones! I remember that I used to give people lessons on how to drive Rock Creek because no one could figure it out.