To think the 90s were happier?

[hoven]

I grew up in the 90s and when I think about growing up I felt a lot let anxious and things felt just more relaxed.

Fast forward to now I'm a parent and feel so stressed and think back to the things I used to do as a child such as going to events (with mum) and shopping centres etc fill me with dread and worry.

Is the because I'm a parent now or were things easier and less scary in the 90s?

I live in London and grew up in London

Cool Britannia was a good place. The late 90’s were full of optimism.

London in the 90s was cool. The fashion, the music the individuality. Everything is so homogenous now.

I was a tween/teen but had a weekend/holiday retail job which compared to now paid really well. I also could go on a night out for a tenner.

You are referring to times before Blair lost the battle of illegal immigration which ultimately has reshaped this country. The ideology of cradle to grave welfare was so desirable it brought mass migration putting a strain on public services, increased crime and the need for social housing and our welfare budget buckled. 30 years later we are over populated under funded and have massive unemployment but jobs nobody wants. Britain is sociologically broken. You are harking back to better times which we can never get back. It was safer more carefree and we would have families living with a parent at home and a single income. Children had better childhoods then.

Things haven't got more dangerous - child abductions/murders are no more common now than they have been for many decades.

I think certain things have got more dangerous. I think young boys are more likely to be mugged & a row will go further eg stabbings then it used too.

I think there was a lot less pressure because we didn't have social media and weren't constantly bombarded by what everyone else was doing. Times were still tight economically, there was a lot more discrimination, but our worlds were smaller without 24-hour news and the internet.

30 years later we are over populated under funded and have massive unemployment but jobs nobody wants.

We do not have massive unemployment & the increase in population is just as much to do with people living longer.

Underfunding hasn't been helped by austerity & the fact we didn't recover from the 08 crash.

International travel was really cheap too. I could fly to France for £25

God yeah! I remember the competition between Easyjet and BA Go - the fares were amazing and the taxes were nothing back then too. Oh, those were the days!

Agree, Social media has certainly I think been as much of a negative as a positive, if not more so.

Town centres were buzzing, you had to call for people to hang out or arrange a time and stick to it so less flakyness.

Joy of renting videos, books, going to the cinema.

Movie nights where teens just didn't sit on their own phone.

Though agree better for kids rights and minority groups now.

Cold war was over, economy massively on the up, London and the UK were really cool again for some reason, look at ginger spice's union jack dress and the way the whole country went nuts for bands from the North. It was a great time for pop music. House prices hadn't gone bananas yet but people were seeing greater spending power from wages. It was generally a happier time I think, be glad you were around to enjoy it as anyone younger than you won't have a clue what that feeling is like.

I think when you look back at the 90s life pre internet / social media era everyone lived in the 'real' world and that was simpler.

I think naturally when you look back at being a kid, life will always seem simpler in comparison to being an adult, just because you had less responsibilities than now as an adult. Someone was there to look after you opposed to you now being the parent with people to look after. That being said I feel like 90s childhood was much easier and simpler. I feel sad for the kids of today. So much pressure/comparison/ awareness of things due to the internet.

Me too. Things felt more optimistic. Britain felt more successful and connected. Politics weren't perfect, but it felt that more was done for ordinary people and as though the future would be better than the past.

I think Brexit and the division it brought with it, plus the pandemic and the economic situation currently have made the world a more fearful, divided, isolated and negative place.

be glad you were around to enjoy it as anyone younger than you won't have a clue what that feeling is like.

agree

I was an adult in the 90s. I found it was a much more optimistic time. There was a sense that the UK was on the up and things were improving for people. The Cool Britannia stuff was corny but there was a real sense that we were cool and looked up to for art and culture. To me society felt more aspirational and as if we could achieve the same level of wealth as our parents of the boomer generation. Things don't seem that way at all to me now.

I was 16 in 1996. I remember not being able to answer the front door because of debt collectors. A guy that used to work for my dad was pulled in for questioning regarding the Rachel Nichols murder. When I was 11 we all came down with carbon monoxide poisoning. A guy I went to school with was arrested for murder. The IRA were still a concern in the early 90s. I remember going to wait outside top of the pops as a teenager and had friends that followed Take That and East17 round airports ect when in hindsight I look at that slightly differently now.
I used to work in Butlins and the stuff that used to get said there I would hope you wouldn’t be able to get away with now. Sexual harassment was rife.

I agree @Northernlass99. It was an optimistic time and it was really fun - we had great music that the whole world was listening to - the UK felt like the place to be. Since Brexit and the pandemic and now what feels like endless economic gloom, this country feels depressing and hopeless. Our public services are in shambles, we have far too many people and not enough housing, the NHS is in crisis, care is in crisis, mortgage rates, energy prices and bills have all sky-rocketed to such a degree that many people who never thought they'd be struggling, are. It's just all a bit shit really!

Things felt more optimistic. Britain felt more successful and connected. Politics weren't perfect, but it felt that more was done for ordinary people and as though the future would be better than the past.

In the 80s???

Rose tinted specs and you were a kid
also some things were bad - bullying, racism, sexual harassment, discrimination- were all pretty standard and accepted
somethings do were better
but what you’re describing is a product of you being a kid back then and a mum now

@DrSbaitso We're talking about the 90s. 🤔

This thread is about the 90s @DrSbaitso

I was really very unhappy and mentally ill in the 90s if that helps? 😂

Read the hidden quotes. That conversation was about the 80s and 90s.

There are quite a few 90s nostalgia threads

I think some things are actually better now and I can see my dc are happy so hopefully they’ll look back and think the same (actually even more so)

I’m aware of my relative security compared to other places and appreciate that

It felt simpler and there wasn’t the pressure there is now - materially, educationally, aesthetically … there didn’t feel the constant sense of comparison. But might just be looking back with rose tinted spectacles.

But the music was way better 🤣