Support NeoGAF

[FunkMiller]

The world was certainly a lot more fun back then, so yes, you missed out. As others have said, modern technology has driven into silos, where we don't communicate properly with one another anymore. Of course there were issues back then - no period in history gets away with being perfect, but at least back then we spoke to each other face to face, we made the effort to meet, we enjoyed being in each other's company.

We also managed to confront those we disagreed with, and sometimes, an agreement or change of opinion would occur. We were probably braver as well. More able to deal with confrontation, and failure, and disappointment, because we weren't molly coddled so much by society and our peers. And we weren't stuck with our faces in screens, instead of looking up.

The music and movies were objectively better as well. There was more room for creativity. There wasn't the homogenisation of an industry with only a small number of big players.

I know every generation is supposed to look at the one that follows it, and complain that 'they had it better in their day' but I think this is the first case when it's actually true.

Gen Z had it far better than millennials or Gen Z. We had more fun, and we had a more balanced, understandable world, not dominated by cults of personality born from social media, and grotesque, out of control capitalism, fuelled by a very few companies.

 

[Mihos]

In the 80s it seemed like there was only one fat kid per school.

 

[Fools idol]

I grew up in England so the 90's was a good time. School sucked for the most part as my parents moved around a lot, I never had time to make friends and was always 'the new kid' which wasn't exactly fun. Outside of school though we had arcades which I spent my life in after school. They basically don't exist here anymore.

We also grew up with the SNES, Ps1, N64... the golden age of jRPG's. 90's tvshows. They can still be played now but going to midnight launches for the new jRPG's, or playing the imports on a chipped console with a scart lead was good fucking times that you had to be there to feel.

When games like FF7 and Resident evil 2 came out every kid was off school for days.

 

[Neff]

Really old fart reporting.

The biggest difference between now and then was that pre-internet your world was you, your family, your friends, and what you read in the paper or saw on TV. Now, your world is the world, for better or worse, with all the negativity and hostility which comes with immersing yourself in a united, global culture which can say anything it likes to literally everyone, anonymously if it wishes. In the old days we were protected from this negativity to an extent, and society was a little more innocent, naive, and optimistic as a result. People in the public eye were smarter, more reasonable, and more civil. Creativity and imagination in the entertainment industry was more fertile. We hung out more. We talked to each other more. We all just had a really good time for the most part, fueled by unique, fresh, impactful, shared experiences, rather than retreating into a private bubble while indifferently swiping through tabs and apps for a precious sip of anything noteworthy. A caveman existence relatively speaking, but Ignorance truly is bliss sometimes.

The quality of life upgrades the internet has provided have been invaluable, however, and as tempting as it might be to go back sometimes, I couldn't.

I still leave my mobile at home though.

 

[Madflavor]

I'll pepper off some additional reasons, because why not.

• We weren't nearly as divided and people in general were patriotic and loved their country. Republicans and Democrats still didn't like each other, but they we weren't frothing at the fucking mouth like we are now.
• We weren't shy about celebrating our culture and it's values. 4th of July, Halloween and Christmas were much bigger and more celebrated back in the 80s and 90s.
• We weren't dealing with inflation and unaffordable living nearly to the extent as we are now.
• The above three reasons meant people were happier in general.
• No social media. As Neff said, your world was mostly the small community you lived in. People just felt closer to each other.
• Mass Shootings were super super rare. You could go to a public place and not worry about some crazy fuck shooting you and your kids.
• Colleges were a place to get educated, party your ass off, and bang each other. Now they're indoctrination centers were you come out dumber than you were before, in absurd dept, and can't afford to live anywhere.

I mention these because people and myself have talked a lot about why gaming and the entertainment industries helped make the 80s and 90s so awesome. But the spirit of America was much stronger back then. It wasn't perfect obviously, but it was a helluva lot better than it was now. The generation who were born in the 80s and 90s are the last generation that remembers what life was like when you had more freedom to say and do what you want, and how happy and optimistic we used to be.

 

[sono]

People got out more. Much more.

 

[Patrick S.]

I mean it was good from the perspective of everyone being more social and outside. But everybody forgets those long stretches of boredom. Scrolling channels trying to find something not awful, rereading books and comics or playing games on repeat cause you didn't have enough entertainment options

I had an Amiga for when I was at home. I wasn't ever bored.

 

[Nydius]

The biggest difference between now and then was that pre-internet your world was you, your family, your friends, and what you read in the paper or saw on TV.

I would add "your neighborhood" to this list as well.

One of the things I miss most from those days, and regularly lament about today, is how neighborly people were. Growing up, I knew everyone on my street and they knew us. Not all of us got along, of course, but most did and we'd watch out for each other. Some notable examples from my memory:

When I was in first grade, both my parents came down with pneumonia. One of my neighbors took me in for a week and let me stay in their guest room so my parents didn't have to worry about me. Meanwhile, other neighbors used to cook meals and go get my parents prescriptions from the nearby pharmacy for them.​

​

When anyone on the street would go on vacation, they'd tell someone and we'd take in their mail and watch their houses and/or pets for them. I spent quite a few times watching my neighbor's dachshund for them.​

​

Had a neighbor lose most of his house in a housefire (unattended dryer with a bad cord). We didn't need GoFundMe, we just showed up to help.​

​

When one of the guys on the street got laid off from the Newport News shipyard during a round of cuts and needed help repairing his car so he could look for work, several people in the neighborhood, including my dad, did the work of repairing the car for him.​

​

We discovered an elderly couple several houses down were no longer capable of mowing their own lawn so a bunch of us took turns mowing it for them.​

I moved out of the neighborhood during college in 1996, but moved back in 2003 -- different house, same street -- to be closer to my parents. My dad was reaching a point where he needed constant care. Even though many people had moved out, there was still a feeling of being neighborly. When my dad died in 2005, neighbors all showed up to see if my mom needed anything. But that attitude completely shifted by the late 2000s.

No one wants to be bothered anymore. Any time new people would move into the neighborhood, I'd try to visit and be welcoming but was almost always greeted with an attitude of "I don't know you, what do you want?". When I ended up moving out in 2020, I quite literally didn't know anyone on the street anymore. When we got the place we're in now, I made a concerted effort to try and meet my neighbors on the block between the two cross streets -- and they acted the same way. Only one guy on the whole street has been nice; He always checks on us any time he sees an ambulance here, and I've helped him out when his roommate was having car troubles. Beyond that, I couldn't tell you a damn thing about anyone else who lives on this street. I didn't learn that my across-the-street neighbor's wife died of COVID on New Years Day 2022 until over a year after the fact.

People have become insular and cynical as fuck with regards to letting anyone new in. They'd rather stick to their quasi-anonymous online social media bubbles. It's depressing as hell.

 

[Neff]

I would add "your neighborhood" to this list as well.

It depends on the type of place you live in but yeah, it's definitely something which has declined in the last few decades. I'm living in the same village I grew up in, and the days of half the street being invited to barbeques and picnics are over. You'll accept a parcel on someone's behalf while they're out, make small talk for a few minutes when they come back (if that), and that's pretty much it. All still nice and polite, but people just want to get on with their own shit. The world's a bigger place and we all have less in common now.

 

[TheInfamousKira]

Was born in 91. Great decade, though I'm sure a fair bit (personally speaking) of it can be chalked up to the freshness of life and the fact that it was during my formative years.

Silly things stand out to me. How it just feels different now, atmosphere wise. It's hard to replicate the feeling of a Summer afternoon hanging out at a local pizza shop with a frozen slushy while Third Eye Blind plays on the radio, on top 40.

Or going out with friends and Sword fighting with sticks underneath the overpass or in one of the concrete paved walking paths that cut through the hills of my hometown. Walking around at night during Summer thunderstorms when the weather got intense enough to black out the whole town.

Stupid, simple stuff that didn't cost a penny and still wouldn't today, but were I to go out and repeat these same activities, it'd just be hollow now. Ahhhh, nostalgia.

 

[DetectiveBananas]

What I appreciate most about that era:
1. The Freedom - No Cell Phones, Parents weren’t up our ass (be home by dinner), we spent so much time hanging out with our friends in the same physical space (friends house/arcade/mall/park)
2. The music variety and quality was great. Metal, Hip Hop, Pop, Rock, R&B! Always something great coming down the road. Everything wasn’t over sexualized yet. Records, Cassettes, and CDs gave you options.
3. The Arcades and Home Consoles were pretty damn fun. Blew our minds! (NES/Sega)
4. Our Mistakes weren’t going viral and used against us. Kids act immature and do lots of stupid things. Not really fair to be on blast for simply growing up.
5. Most people were a lot more respectful (in my area anyways). Didn’t have to worry about everything be a confrontational encounter. Have never seen people as angry and less friendly as I do in this day and age.
6. The fashion in the 80’s…..Ugh you can take the win for the 2000’s on that front. I’ve seen enough family albums and tv/movies to say thing’s definitely improved since.
All in all every decade has their Pros. Kids today have more access to information to learn sooo many things it’s mind boggling.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

A few things to add or support what people already said:

Schools and education: I dont know when it changed, but back when I did school in the 80s and 90s (including university), the vast majority of kids respected teachers and grades. And I went to your typical boring suburban schools with a mix of kids. It was no ghetto, but no ivy walls either with parents dropping off their kids in Cadillacs or Crown Victorias. Some people lived in decent neighbourhoods, some lived in those low income rental kinds of apartments. And a mix of ethnic backgrounds. It was your typical metro Toronto school of mostly whites, Indians and Chinese (Canada doesn't have a lot of Latino or Black people). Around that time you also got influxes of Sri Lanken refugees from Tamil Tiger wars or whatever it was. The big waves of Middle Eastern or South Asian people hadnt happened yet. I think that was more of a late 90s thing(?)

But everyone got along.

There was no divide of talking back, assaulting teachers, school shootings, protests or any other dumb shit. It was pretty simple. Go to school, teacher says do this or that assignment, hand it in and move on to the next grade. How hard can it be? Ya, here and there you got fights in the locker room or recess (I did that myself), but it was contained to the handful of combatants and not some countrywide news story about student assault and battery.

Loners: People now (even adults) seem so anti-social. Whether it's kids hanging out or adults coming back to the office post-covid, you can see how so many people now just want to stay home. Kids used to do street hockey all the time, bike to stores or walk to their friends place after school for a few hours. Then come home for dinner. For work, dont people just want to get out of the house? Meet coworkers? Have lunch with them? Dont you want to sit with colleagues working as a team and have fun? You cant do that being online at home and the only contact you have is an email or MS Teams chat log. Its like Hermitville.

But then the company does free BBQ day, virtually everyone shows up and eats together and it's like a party. So what it means is if there's no free shit, people dont give a shit and would rather stay at home. But offer them a free hamburger, hot dog and some luke warm cans of Pepsi that have been sitting in the sun and that is the magic bullet to get them out of the house? Talk about weird priorities.

I have lived in my suburban neighbhourhood for around 10 years and have never seen anywhere kids playing street hockey on someone's street. Not once. And we have homes with young kids. Or on weekends, we went to the nearby schools to do it as it was empty. Nada. School playground is empty. It doesn't take a lot of money to get a hockey stick and a pack of tennis balls or those got awful orange balls that sting. Hardly any kids bike too. The only activity I see are loner kids playing basketball on their driveway by themselves. It look pathetic. Not a lot of people growing up had basketball nets. And the few that did had their parents bolt it above their garage door (not the standalone nets you get now) which wasn't even convenient as all it took was one car in the driveway and you couldnt play. If we had modern day mobile basketball nets you could put up back in the 80s, we'd be playing it as much as street hockey.

 

[JimmyRustler]

Yep. I didnt forget. It was a positive thing in the end. Too much entertainment and immediate gratification is spreading our minds thin...very thin.

Pleasure/pain balance in our brain

I read a pretty good book about this once… Dopamine nation… Worth a read. Easy speaking, the more pleasure you get on daily basis, the harder it will become to get it in the future.

Going forward the biggest health issue will probably be depression as we are wearing our dopamine receptors thin.

Not that I’m one to talk. I have the same problem.

@topic: Life without smartphones was better. Mind you, not internet. If the internet would have stayed at home, social life would be much better today… for most that is.

 

[NekoFever]

I’m glad I grew up when I did. I was born in the mid-80s and I feel like that was a sweet spot, because the internet didn’t really take off until I was in high school so I got the wholly offline childhood, got to experience the Wild West internet before everything consolidated, and was an adult by the time social media and smartphones arrived.

And the 90s were good times in general — booming economy, town centres and malls were busy, great movies, arguably a golden age for games, and the small window of optimism between the end of the Cold War and the post-9/11 paranoid nightmare.

 

[01011001]

Oh I wont disagree on the keyboards. How about I change that to best variety of music decade. There was just so many bands doing different things and sounds and beats. Today it's all the same and okay for 2-3 weeks then goes away forever. There are no classics made anymore.

- runs and yells at a cloud

if you only listen to mainstream stuff sure...
as a metal head in europe the 90s were fucking amazing in terms of music.

Blind Guardian, UDO, Grave Digger, Dimmu Borgir, Pink Cream 69, Gamma Ray, Ayreon, Rage.
yeah some of them started in the 80s, but arguably released their best stuff in the 90s... well Ayreon's best stuff was in the 2000s...

 

[The Fartist]

I wouldn't worry about missing out on anything, you live in the now and it's amazing to be alive now, enjoy it. There is only now, and yesterday might as well be a Tolkien novel. But, yeah, the 80's and 90's where pretty awesome, just like now is awesome even with all the bullshit that's going on, but bullshit will always exist no matter what era.

Edit: ...and he's gone

 

[6502]

I think the biggest thing you can do to recapture the best of those days is to ditch your smart phone, only use internet on a PC and instead of watching the news - read books or watch old shows/movies and listen to music.

I noticed a huge swing in my mood ditching radio news for old music on my commute.

Modern media / technology has a huge effect on us we don't always appreciate.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I think the biggest thing you can do to recapture the best of those days is to ditch your smart phone, only use internet on a PC and instead of watching the news - read books or watch old shows/movies and listen to music.

I noticed a huge swing in my mood ditching radio news for old music on my commute.

Modern media / technology has a huge effect on us we don't always appreciate.

Agreed.

On TV, I almost only just watch old shows and sports. I listen to canned radio stations or my archaic collection of MP3s.

Most of my news comes from GAF threads or coworkers talking about stuff. Even for local things, my coworkers are like "you didn't know that?", Well, no I didn't. I dont listen to or care about what Trudeau said the other day. No, I didn't read up on the latest revised covid rules that would come out monthly back in 2020 and 2021. Pending the news, my coworkers are half freaking out. I'm like "whatever, I dont give a shit". Maybe you guys wouldnt be so hypersensitive if you just had fun watching a Raptors game on TSN.

Like right now, Ive had my TV on all night on hockey games for 3 weeks. And if there's none, I flip to whatever NBA playoff game is on. As a last resort I put on Blue Jays. Not hard to chill.

When I watch CP24, I just focus on the weather forecast and if I'm lucky enough to catch a segment of Hot Property. All the rest, who cares.

I spend 100x more time on reading sports, gaming and business stuff than the rest of news. Fun material. Not depression material.

 

[Jaybe]

Agreed.

On TV, I almost only just watch old shows and sports. I listen to canned radio stations or my archaic collection of MP3s.

Most of my news comes from GAF threads or coworkers talking about stuff. Even for local things, my coworkers are like "you didn't know that?", Well, no I didn't. I dont listen to or care about what Trudeau said the other day. No, I didn't read up on the latest revised covid rules that would come out monthly back in 2020 and 2021. Pending the news, my coworkers are half freaking out. I'm like "whatever, I dont give a shit". Maybe you guys wouldnt be so hypersensitive if you just had fun watching a Raptors game on TSN.

When I watch CP24, I just focus on the weather forecast and if I'm lucky enough to catch a segment of Hot Property. All the rest, who cares.

I spend 100x more time on reading sports, gaming and business stuff than the rest of news. Fun material. Not depression material.

I’m the same with regard to news. It’s mostly depressing / negative or presented in a way to get a reaction. I consider CP24 the ‘crime channel’. There’s rarely anything terrible with gaming, sports, business, or entertainment news in the grand scheme of things.

 

[ReBurn]

I loved the 80's. So much happened during that decade. Some of my favorite gadgets were born then.

It was so nice to not be as connected, either. When you left home you were gone. Nobody could call you or message you when you weren't home. They had to wait for you to get home. These days every thinks they're entitled to instant access to you.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I’m the same with regard to news. It’s mostly depressing / negative or presented in a way to get a reaction. I consider CP24 the ‘crime channel’. There’s rarely anything terrible with gaming, sports, business, or entertainment news in the grand scheme of things.

And after their crime reports, you get endless car accident and highway delay news bites. Oh look at that, would you have guessed? Front page. Collision with bus article.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

Dont look now. Youre missing out on the 20s!

You dont realize what a decade was until its over and 5 years passed

 

[Nydius]

It was so nice to not be as connected, either. When you left home you were gone. Nobody could call you or message you when you weren't home. They had to wait for you to get home. These days every thinks they're entitled to instant access to you.

Carrying quarters just in case we needed a payphone.

Easy access to these monstrosities were the beginning of the end. Getting constantly buzzed by your friends adding "911" codes to their number over absolutely silly shit. Or getting a "911" from my parents only to drop everything and call them, worried about a possible emergency, just so they could ask me inane things like "hey, do you remember where your father put his toolbox?"

 

[ForAcademicPurposes]

Fuck yeah, dude. That was a magical time for pop culture and sports. I feel blessed having lived through that era.

 

[Dark Star]

I was born mid 90s but I still remember the way things were at least from a kid perspective. Goosebumps was GOAT. Renting VHS tapes from blockbuster. Saturday morning cartoons and just limited entertainment/tech was the best. things moved at a slower pace and boredom felt normal.

I enjoyed the simplicity of the 90s.the lack of internet and limited social media was a good thing. People spent more time reading books, listening to CDs, replaying NES and Sega games. and doing fun stuff outside.

Now we have too many options, Spotify, YouTube, multiplayer games, Netflix and other streaming services, literally thousands of tv shows, movies, etc at your finger tips. It’s honestly extremely overwhelming.

I wish I was born way earlier. Like 1975. Then I could experice the 80s and 90s proper as an adult.

 

[AJUMP23]

Why did this OP get banned?

 

[Dr. Claus]

Why did this OP get banned?

Insults, antagonizing, generally acting like a 12 year old COD player.

 

[AJUMP23]

Insults, antagonizing, generally acting like a 12 year old COD player.

Thanks. He acted like the child he was. The 80s didn’t want him.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

A couple beauties from back in the day when you'd flip the channels during late night skin flicks going to commercial break.

 

[Tams]

OP, I hope you can live some of the glory of the 80s and 90s wherever you have gone.

Go out and live that life!

 

[ahtlas7]

Who knew this would turn into one of those

Threads.

 

[FatallyYours]

OP, I hope you can live some of the glory of the 80s and 90s wherever you have gone.

Go out and live that life!

According to his strange topics he created, he's a bum (jobless?), with a job hes been doing for 4 years that he hates and wants to leave with the internets help.

He barely goes outside but wanted help survivng a plane journey which he loved and goes to the gym every day.

He's hunting for a life partner on dating apps.

He was born in 99 but can "remember the early 2000's"

I'd say that he was probably just a weird troll looking for... something?

 

[KrakenIPA]

Good thread, we have got some old heads up in here! I was born in 1981 and there was pickup football and bikes and water-gun fights until the sun went down. At that point you would walk back home to get some dinner and try to avoid an ass-whoopin from the pops. If you got bad grades then you would get whooped up on, but sometimes that would happen if you got good grades.

Neighborhoods were so different back then, it was like if you were 10 and sent out of the house you had all of the block to explore (as long as you check in), I swear my folks were just sending us kids into that Lord of the Flies hellscape to catch a break for 5 minutes. One false step and you catch a beating, either in the neighborhood or in the house.

We watched each other's backs, though. I remember seeing Transformers, G.I. Joe, and T.M.N.T. cartoons for the first time and thinking to myself that it was pretty much the pinnacle of video entertainment. Playing a game on the NES and/or SNES was an escape from the hurt. Ah, memories!

 

[Dirk Benedict]

I'll pepper off some additional reasons, because why not.

• We weren't nearly as divided and people in general were patriotic and loved their country. Republicans and Democrats still didn't like each other, but they we weren't frothing at the fucking mouth like we are now.
• We weren't shy about celebrating our culture and it's values. 4th of July, Halloween and Christmas were much bigger and more celebrated back in the 80s and 90s.
• We weren't dealing with inflation and unaffordable living nearly to the extent as we are now.
• The above three reasons meant people were happier in general.
• No social media. As Neff said, your world was mostly the small community you lived in. People just felt closer to each other.
• Mass Shootings were super super rare. You could go to a public place and not worry about some crazy fuck shooting you and your kids.
• Colleges were a place to get educated, party your ass off, and bang each other. Now they're indoctrination centers were you come out dumber than you were before, in absurd dept, and can't afford to live anywhere.

I mention these because people and myself have talked a lot about why gaming and the entertainment industries helped make the 80s and 90s so awesome. But the spirit of America was much stronger back then. It wasn't perfect obviously, but it was a helluva lot better than it was now. The generation who were born in the 80s and 90s are the last generation that remembers what life was like when you had more freedom to say and do what you want, and how happy and optimistic we used to be.

In the 80s we also had Block Parties, still, in America. WHat was a Block Party? It could crop up at any time, but mainly happened for me, during 4th of July and sometimes on New Years Eve.
Been out of work for 3 hours and im a little lit so here is what the basics of a Block Party is or was... (more chill during my time) everyone had tables in front of their houses or ice chests, everyone visited their neighbors, ate food, drank, talked... it was amazing, truly... and I still hold onto the memories.

 

[Neff]

Life without smartphones was better. Mind you, not internet. If the internet would have stayed at home, social life would be much better today… for most that is.

The late '90s and the early/mid '00s was the sweet spot of the internet so far. The novelty and freedom of it was thrilling, and generally speaking most of the people you encountered were nerds on PCs, so they were a bit more articulate, interesting and fun to talk to. That's not to say there wasn't already a shitload of bile from day one, it was there for sure, but there was a palpable difference between early and modern internet- it was a tool only and not a weapon.

 

[jufonuk]

I have fond memories of the early nineties. Late 80’s and the 2000’s
I was 13 when the 90’s started.
Felt like I had the rise of the sega/Nintendo era.
Internet coming into being.
Mobile phone
HD TV etc

I don’t felt like I missed out as I think I’m in the right place to enjoy them now.

 

[WhamBamThankYouMaam]

Growing up during the 80s was just amazing. It really felt incredible most of the time.

 

[Fools idol]

not having the internet and constant social media and news bombardment can not be understated. There is no wonder so many people are fucked up and depressed nowadays.

 

[Fools idol]

 

[JimmyRustler]

The late '90s and the early/mid '00s was the sweet spot of the internet so far. The novelty and freedom of it was thrilling, and generally speaking most of the people you encountered were nerds on PCs, so they were a bit more articulate, interesting and fun to talk to. That's not to say there wasn't already a shitload of bile from day one, it was there for sure, but there was a palpable difference between early and modern internet- it was a tool only and not a weapon.

iPhone (1st generation)​

First released: June 29, 2007
-------------------------------------

The sweet spot ended right around here. The internet should have stayed AT THE PC AT HOME.

 

[Tams]

According to his strange topics he created, he's a bum (jobless?), with a job hes been doing for 4 years that he hates and wants to leave with the internets help.

He barely goes outside but wanted help survivng a plane journey which he loved and goes to the gym every day.

He's hunting for a life partner on dating apps.

He was born in 99 but can "remember the early 2000's"

I'd say that he was probably just a weird troll looking for... something?

My reply was very tongue in cheek.

If he's real: good luck batman!
If he's a troll: you entertained us well enough.

 

[Punished Miku]

80s is clouded by nostalgia more than perhaps any other decade. Hope you like listening to Bon Jovi and Whitesnake. Hope you like watching Full House and Perfect Strangers as "event" TV. Get ready for a trip to the best restaurant in town, Pizza Hut, where your food tastes like an ashtray since everyone in there is smoking. Get ready for more conformity and group think than at any time since the 1950s. If you want to get really rowdy, you can pick up a hard hitting Bud Light, the best beer available - and rewind your grainy porn video that cost you $50.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Neighborhoods were so different back then, it was like if you were 10 and sent out of the house you had all of the block to explore (as long as you check in), I swear my folks were just sending us kids into that Lord of the Flies hellscape to catch a break for 5 minutes. One false step and you catch a beating, either in the neighborhood or in the house.

I got my first bike I think at 5. Training wheels and all. It was a white and blue bike from Sears.

I dont remember exactly when it happened, but I guess at some point my mom and dad said go around the block by yourself. Or maybe as a kid I egged them to let me do it. Not sure. And when youre that young even a modest sized neighbourhood block feels gigantic. I even remember going clockwise. And this happened at age 5 or 6 because at age 7 I got a newer bigger black bike in grade 2.

If that was modern day, most parents would be ape shitting beside their kid as if every bush has a kidnapper ready to pounce.

And the funny thing is if you read crime reports, crime has been trending down for decades, which I think has leveled off the past 10 years or so. But a big drop from the 70s and 80s. Yet people are more protective. Media does that to people's minds.

 

[thefool]

Probably not the 90's because people were already kinda seclusive.
But these two are the generations that were there for the technological transition and access to information.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

I was born in the early 80s, family emigrated to NYC in the mid/late 80s. Despite some of the inherently terrible shit, I'm grateful I got to grow up here in the 80s and 90s. I'm also a massive music nerd and the bands I got to see in venues I should've never been in is insane in hindsight.

 

[Pilgrimzero]

80s was awesome. Great movies and tv and music. The rise of Nintendo and what it meant to a kid is something no other Gen will ever know. You think Mario is big now… at the start he was everywhere. Even cereal.

90s was also great. Some great new music etc. but the 80s was something special.

Everything has been homogenized now and that’s sad

Not to mention Capitalism has now ruined everything. I’m sorry for the planet and it’s mess you and later gens are going to inherit

 

[StreetsofBeige]

You think Mario is big now… at the start he was everywhere. Even cereal.

Back in the cartridge days, Canada would often get games after the US. Not a year later like some European versions, but it could be months.

When Super Mario 3 came out, some independent stores would get copies from Buffalo and resell them here. A NES game back then was somewhere around $60-70 CDN. I remember stores selling them like scalpers for $150 CDN. Same with the first EA NHL game. I know because my bro and I bought it for $95. A month later it came out to all stores at the normal price of I think $60.

 

[TheZink]

In the 80s it seemed like there was only one fat kid per school.

that was me but I lost all the weight and married the home coming queen.

 

[drganon]

As someone now in his 30s, growing up in the 90s was pretty cool. Lots of cool stuff not around anymore like citra.

 

[AJUMP23]

If you were born in 99 you missed out. it is like you we permabanned from experiencing the best decade.