The ’90s Weren’t As Perfect As You Think: Gen Xers Reveal Shocking Truths Behind the Decade’s Glow-Up Myth.
Ah, the 1990s—a decade often painted as a blissful idyll where the Cold War thawed and the internet’s baby steps promised a brave new world. But hold up—was it really all dial-up music and flannel shirts, or just the neon-lit highlights picked out by nostalgia’s angle grinder? Behind the scenes, beneath the peace and prosperity clichés, the ‘90s were chock-full of contradictions—battles for civil rights, technological growing pains that would test even the most patient of souls, and dramatic headlines that still echo today. Curious what Gen Xers—the original digital experimenters and cultural skeptics—say about the decade everyone loves to romanticize? Spoiler alert: it’s not all Nirvana and rollerblades. Ready to shuffle through their memories, myths, and modest confessions? Buckle up, because the ‘90s might just surprise you. LEARN MORE
With the end of the Cold War and the spread of the internet, the 1990s is often remembered as a time of peace and prosperity. However, the decade was not without violence and tragedy, including the Rodney King beating and subsequent L.A. Riots, and the bombing of the World Trade Center.
So to get a more accurate view of this iconic era, Reddit user IndieSyndicate made a post on the subreddit ‘Gen X,’ asking it’s members to share the common misconceptions about it. Born between 1965 and 1980, the cohort stepped up to the task and shared their diverse perspectives and experiences, shedding light on the often oversimplified mainstream narratives.
Image credits: IndieSyndicate
The 90s was the dial up era and transition from dot matrix printers to ink jet. That modem squealing sound sums it up. We had technology, but it required patience and we were so grateful to have it, nobody complained. You lose the Internet for 10 minutes these days and people act like they’re going to lose their minds.
I will describe the usage of computers on university campuses in 1996.
“checking your email” meant walking across campus *in the snow* and sitting down in front of a gigantic metal box and starting up an email program. “notifications” did not exist at this time. Even medical doctors used pagers.
Nobody seems to talk about all the maroon and hunter-green wallpaper strips that were added to the top of the walls in houses.
Maroon and hunter-green everywhere. From cars to vacuums and beyond.
Oh, and the prevalence of People magazine. I see stuff about Readers Digest, but People magazine is not really talked about.
I also don’t think people really understand just how much people smoked then either. Smoking in the car with your kids in it, at McDonalds, at school, etc.
That everyone loved Curt Cobain and/or Nirvana or that he/they even “spoke” for a generation.
Some of the most popular music artists of the ‘90s were also the most popular music artists of the ‘80s, like: Michael Jackson, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, LL Cool J, Aerosmith, Guns N Roses, Bon Jovi, George Michael, Paula Abdul, and Salt N Pepa.
That the early 1990’s were really bleak economically. Nearly everyone I knew, including people with Ivy League degrees, were working good service or retail just trying to get by. The Information Age felt so distant in 1992 – it wouldn’t explode until another five years. Rodney King, the LA riots, OJ Simpson trial – these were big signs that we were a long way from racial harmony. Everyone older than us was screaming about family values, while we elected a known womanizer president, and a Speaker of the House who was impeaching the president while getting blow jobs from a woman who would become his third wife. We now had a known sexual harasser on the Supreme Court – gender equality wasn’t that great, either. The Balkans were destroying themselves. Rwanda genocide barely made the papers. Yitzak Rabin is assassinated. Middle East terrorism starts. There was a lot of global uncertainty. At home, Waco, the Oklahoma City bombing, Columbine, the Olympic bomber – these show deep divides brewing. Matthew Shepherd, whole communities still dying of AIDS, Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell – we have a long way to go for gay rights. But by 1995, the economy starts to heat up. By 1998 it’s exploding. Then the dot com bubble burst. All of these things set into motion the new and continuing problems that continue to dominate our lives today. Don’t get me wrong – the 1990’s were an amazing decade. Despite all of these things, there was a lot of hope, and the feeling that we could be part of a world that could still do amazing things and we were going to get to see them, participate in them, prosper under it. GenXers were, more than anything, YOUNG. That feeling of youth is what a lot of people miss when they remember the 90’s. Just as there was neon in the 1980’s, there was prosperity and feelings of possibility in the 90’s. But it wasn’t the norm, and it wasn’t for everyone. We felt great, sleeping on futons at 25, but little we know we were destined to back problems in our 40’s because of them.
I think one idea that’s misrepresented is that we were already online, all the time.
I mean, I was STOKED when I got into the dorm with LAN connections in 1993, but I was an outlier. Lots of kids at my college barely understood using computers, much less anything internet-related beyond maybe an AOL/AIM. Obviously this was an evolution of ten very fast moving years.
