This Viral Reddit Thread Proves Being A Teen In The ’90s Was Truly Radical

There’s a reason many people daydream about returning to the past and reliving their teenage years. Nostalgia feels good! Everything felt simpler when we were younger, even if it actually wasn’t. For some, rose-colored glasses help us forget how each decade was its own tumultuous, difficult time. And now, a viral Reddit thread is revisiting the best things about being a teen in the ‘90s, and it’s giving us all the feels (including the feeling that we’re all getting very, very old.)

Reddit user u/mhn_dee posted in the popular Reddit community Random Thoughts about how much they miss the simpler times of the ‘90s. “Being a teenager in the '90s was f--king amazing,” they wrote. Adding, “The music, the clothes, the TV, no phones, no internet, yet still feeling like you were living in the advanced future. I miss it.”

The so-called “random thought” sparked a big conversation, with more than 13,000 people chiming in to reveal what they miss about the ‘90s and reminiscing about those simpler times.

"I was only a kid in the ‘90s, but I miss being able to just vanish with a backpack full of food/books/toys for literally the entire day," Reddit user u/wine-plants-thrift wrote. "No one gave a crap, and you’d be home for dinner. All we did was go into the woods, build forts, and eat snacks."

u/sadsquee13 shared that they miss the simpler times, too. "Riding bikes to the creek, sleepovers, just being a kid. I think this is why a lot of us are depressed now because we don’t know how to navigate a world where there isn’t as much of that innocence and bliss," they wrote. "Just my opinion, though. I’m sure everyone will say you can still do that, but it isn’t the same."

One Redditor simply wrote: “Zima!” Yuck!

u/mrglum44 loved this time period, too, because there was a lot less to worry about. "The early 90s (and 80s) was a great time. Could crank call, eggs houses and do other fun 'kid' stuff without caller ID, cameras or worrying about getting shot/arrested when stepping on someone's property," they explained. "Good ole days for sure."

u/No_Character_8662 felt times were better without smartphones. "Everyone didn't have a camera in their pockets during our 'do stupid sh-t' time," they wrote. And u/tcatt1212 agreed, writing, "Having a camera in every pocket and a way to instantly blast a picture to the world fundamentally changed the way humans experience their lives. We went from interacting purely with the moment to contriving moments for spectacle."

It’s not like tech didn’t exist — it just wasn’t as immersive yet, like one Redditor, u/IckyhouseIckyhouse said: “We had enough technology to be ‘advanced’ but not too much that it took over our lives. Video games were awesome, but not so immersive you’d spend your whole weekend on them. Pagers and basic cell phones provided emergency protection, but weren’t worth spending all day on. It really was a great decade.”

But hold on, there are other generations that want to chime in. One Redditor said the ‘70s were even better than ‘90s, with all the same trappings but different clothes.

And of course, not every decade was good for every kid, as many of the Reddit comments on that very same viral thread attest to. There are problems in every decade that make childhood and teenager-dom harder to get through. But taking a trip down memory lane — with the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia — is still worth it from time to time.

You can read the full thread on Reddit.