A lot has changed over the past 20 years. Most notably advances in technology have changed our society for better or worse. The 90’s, many Generation Y people will argue, was way better than todays world in terms of popular culture and technology. Now, one cannot denounce the evolutionary technological advances we’ve had over the past 2 decades, but the world certainly has changed. Whether it’s nostalgia bringing us back to the 90’s and we’re seeing all the stuff that used to be popular in a way better light then it actually was, you can never really know. Something that no one can argue with, however, is that the world has vastly changed in the past 20 years.

Technology

Long gone are the days when if you had a set of Walkie Talkies you were the coolest kid. You and your friend could each get one and tune it to the right frequency and off you were on a mission to infiltrate the kitchen for a bag of Gushers. This has been overruled by the invention of mobile phones, notably iPhones. More and more younger kids these days have iPhones, $600-700 pieces of technology. You can argue that this is a good thing which has integrated thousands of features into one device that would normally take dozens of devices to do the same thing, and this is true. However, the change from kids using Walkie Talkies or CD players to the iPhone, I think has affected kids more negatively than positively. Studies have shown that the development of social skills has declined over the years which is blamed on the advance of technology.

GameBoy Colors are now a thing of the past and have been replaced with the Nintendo 3DS. It used to be that playing your 8 bit games in a small variety of colors was cutting edge. Now the new Nintendo 3DS has 2 cameras, the capability of playing games in 3D, multiplayer wireless gaming, video playback, and the internet, just to name a few features. This astounding advancement in mobile gaming technology is huge and has been followed up with the PSVita and truly, the device that has taken over in terms of mobile gaming, the smartphone with the invention of the App Store. Pokemon Yellow Version has been surpassed by Angry Birds.

Music & Television

Television is still just as popular as ever and is a ritual for some people. Watching TV until the fall asleep every night. However, the content has changed significantly. Kids aren’t waking up every saturday morning to watch 4 hours of Loony Toons and Captain Planet. Now kids wake up and watch Yo Gabba Gabba or Go Diego Go. Toonami, perhaps the greatest television segment in the history of awesome television segments was taken off air in the early 2000’s. Many classic kids channels like Nick, Cartoonnetwork, and Disney channel have taken the turn for the worst.

Music and personality stars have changed. N’sync and the Backstreet Boys have been replaced with The Jonas Brothers, Justin Bieber, and most recently, One Direction. Whether that is an upgrade or a downgrade is for you to decide, however. Britney Spears has persisted through the decades to become a much older and forced Britney Spears version 2. Artists are becoming increasingly auto tuned and modified through artificial means. Pirating music is just as easy as ever after the downfall of Napster. Limewire and Frostwire have taken their place as well as many file sharing websites and torrents.

Games & Toys

Famous toys such as the Furbie and Easy Bake Ovens are long gone now and technology is starting to take over the entertainment of young kids. LEGOs however are still going strong, there is usually still an aisle or so dedicated to selling LEGOs at your local Walmart or Target superstore.

Miscellaneous Products

The ever popular soda that still garners a cult fan following today SURGE has been replaced by other drinks such as Red Bull. YooHoo, although still sold, is getting harder and harder to find in stores. Pokemon trading cards are still around today and enjoy limited success among the young audience. Long gone are the days of 151 Pokemon. 649 Pokemon now populate the epic world of limitless adventures and possibilities. Blockbuster has seen its decline and is in the final stretch of it’s life. The world of quick internet streaming and rentals has taken over with Netflix and Redbox.

The world has seen thousands of changes over the past 2 decades and whether they are for good or bad are for you to decide.

Thomas Chavez

Professional Staff Content Writer and Nostalgic 90’s Kid for RageHats.com