The 1990s was a decade filled with unique trends, technologies, and cultural phenomena, many of which have since faded into obscurity. However, there’s a growing nostalgia for these items, and we would love to see these 18 make a comeback.
Cereal Box Prizes
Once a staple of childhood breakfasts, these small toys or gadgets added an extra layer of excitement to cereal boxes. Sometimes they were POGS, decoder pens, or even whistles. Today, they are considered a choking hazard and no longer a prize for the lucky one who had it drop in their bowl.
Encarta Encyclopedia
In the ‘90s, we were still getting started with the wild west of the internet; we even had classes on how to properly do an internet search and still consulted real books often. A digital encyclopedia was new and exciting, and that quickly became a go-to source for information before the rise of online encyclopedias.
Teen Magazine Quizzes
We weren’t running around with computers in our pockets, so we often perused the magazine stands while our parents did their shopping. Teen magazines were the best way to see what our celebrity crush was up to, with centerfold posters of them, and get freebies. And we learned so much about ourselves from those multiple choice quizzes that Buzzfeed still can’t beat.
Zima
A clear malt beverage with a hint of citrus from Coors aimed to offer an alternative to beer. Coors was attempting to capitalize on the rise in diet culture, but Zima had the same alcoholic content and calories as a lager. When people wanted to mix up the flavor, they would just drop a Jolly Rancher in and wait for it to dissolve. Yum!
POGS
A playground game involving stacking and knocking down cardboard disks, whichever disks landed face up became the property of the one who threw the coin. Kids went wild for these simple toys, so much so that they couldn’t be kept on the shelf. The ultimate demise of POGS was also helped by the banning of the game in some schools, as the game was deemed to be too much like gambling.
Slap Bracelets
These fun fashion accessories wrapped around the wrist with a slap and came in a variety of colors and designs. They were a fad among teenagers and younger children in the early 1990s. The bracelet was banned in several schools following reports of injuries from worn-out or modified versions.
VH1’s Pop-Up Video
Pop-Up Video was a VH1 television show that showed music videos with “pop-up” bubbles or “info nuggets” with trivia and witticisms relating to the video. Before we could Google everything about our favorite artists and songs, this was our way of being in the know.
Saturday Morning Cartoons
As a weekly ritual for many children, we would get up in the morning while our parents did adult things and watch our favorite programs. Animaniacs and Tiny Toons made us laugh. Captain Planet helped us learn how to save the environment and The Magic School Bus taught us everything else.
Yo-Yos
From the very basic yo-yo to ones that helped you do tricks, the toy saw a surge in popularity. One example, Yomega, came out with the Phantom in the ‘90s; it featured Yomega’s trademarked “Brain,” an internal clutch mechanism that helps beginners by automatically causing the yo-yo to return.
Clear See-Through Electronic Devices
The clear trend of the ‘90s included transparent watches, staplers, calculators, handheld gaming devices like the Nintendo Game Boy, and computers such as Apple’s iMac G3. Transparent technology gave us a sense of control and understanding of the gadgets that were becoming a big part of our lives, even if we still didn’t understand them. With all the technology today, this would be a fun trend to revive.
Long Phone Calls on the Landline
People too often opt to send emails or texts for convenience when a phone call is more likely to produce the feelings of connectedness they crave. In this era of text messages and quick calls, the intimacy of long conversations could be refreshing, and the attachment to a landline could ground us in the moment instead of chatting on the run.
Applying for Jobs in Person
There was a time when we would walk into a business with our resumé or fill out an application. It gave us and the business a personal connection from the start and we knew to go out planning a great first impression for the day. Today, people apply online and have no personal connection until the day of an interview, if they get one.
Disposable Cameras
We still run into the occasional disposable camera as a fun touch at an event, especially weddings, but there was a time when film cameras were our only option. Instead of taking a million selfies that you can see and judge instantly, it would bring some excitement back if we had to wait to develop the roll.
Being Unreachable on Vacation
Before our cell phones were attached to our hips and people could always reach us via email, we could go away for a vacation and not have contact with our normal lives. Most of us would agree that one of the main purposes of a vacation is to take a break from life’s stressors. Turning our phones off or to airplane mode can help us come back from vacation feeling like, well, we had a vacation.
Memorizing Phone Numbers
“Digital amnesia” is the effect of technology dependence that inhibits one’s memory ability. In the ‘90s, we could recite our phone numbers, at least 20 of our closest friends’, and maybe the pizza place’s number without having to think too hard. Now, with all our contacts being stored in our cell phones, most of us don’t even know our partner’s number in case of an emergency.
Researching at Libraries
Libraries still exist, but in the ‘90s, we really used them. The depth and focus of library research offer a different learning experience than hopping on a computer or smartphone to quickly look up the answer to what we’re looking for.
Friday Nights at Blockbuster
It’s Friday night: you hop in the car with your parents and go pick out movies for the evening, usually one family-friendly and one your parents want to watch. There were even convenience phones in the store in case you had to check your decision with someone. On the way home, you’d pick up a pizza from the local pizza joint. The ritual of choosing physical media could bring back the communal aspect of watching movies that we lost with streaming services.
CRT Computer Monitors
For gaming enthusiasts, the unique properties of CRT monitors could offer a superior experience for certain games. “Despite their bulk, the vivid colors and low latency of a CRT can still make the right PC games look absolutely incredible today,” claims PC Gamer.
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