Every era has its own unique charm, but the '90s are especially loved by many. It was a time of Tamagotchis, boy bands, and, most importantly, a sense of carefree innocence and optimism that permeated everyday life.
So whether you want to relive the decade or are too young to remember it and want to learn more about those days, the subreddit r/90s is a great place to start. Its members regularly share nostalgic posts that instantly transport you back!
#1 Kids These Days Will Never Know The Struggle
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#2 Yeah Mon
Image credits: PinheadGoo
A big reason why the '90s continue being so popular could be the fact that the 21st century we live in has been quite mad.
Jacob Juhl, a nostalgia researcher at the University of Southampton in England, says "People become nostalgic in response to adversity or psychologically negative states,” because “Nostalgia helps restore people to a psychological equilibrium."
#3 Does Anyone Else Remember These From School?
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#4 Can I Get A Whoa Bundy?
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#5 Teal The Unofficial Color Of The 90s
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Juhl notes that scientists have induced nostalgia in the lab by prompting people to contemplate the vast and random universe as well as by simply pumping up the air conditioning and making them feel uncomfortably cold.
Researchers have also proved that nostalgia comforts us by making us feel connected to one another and to a shared past.
Since the '90s were the last moment before the internet splintered mass culture, the decade might be particularly good nostalgia fodder even for those who haven't experienced it.
#6 These Books Helped Me Learn About How To Take Of My Hamster When I Was 9
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#7 I Would Give Anything To Go Back
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#8 Does It?
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#9 Bobby Budnik Was The Real Hero The Resistance Needed
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This might seem a little counterintuitive. After all, psychologists have traditionally thought of nostalgia as being based on a person’s recollections of their own experiences.
But more recently, some, including philosopher Prof Felipe De Brigard at Duke University, have been suggesting that nostalgia is broader and includes our yearnings.
#10 What Was The Obsession With Making Every Plastic Electronic Transparent
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#11 Why Did Everybody Have These Speakers Back In The Day?
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#12 Nobody Knew
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#13 12/31/99
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De Brigard was inspired by research on memory that's shown it’s a creative process — when you recollect memories, it's not like you're looking up an archive of recordings of what happened, it's more like your brain creates a simulation of those past events.
#14 Why Is This So Accurate?
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#15 Might Be An Unpopular Opinion. I Always Thought Daria Was Better Than Beavis & Butthead
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#16 90s Wallet
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#17 Who Remembers
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In this way, De Brigard argues that nostalgia can be based on memories – simulations of pleasant past experiences – but doesn’t have to be. Given the role of imagination in memory, he believes it's not a huge leap to propose that nostalgia can also be based on imagined positive past experiences.
#18 Pound Puppies
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#19 These Leather Phone Cases
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#20 Who Loved It? Who Hated It?
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#21 My Wife Found This Picture Of Me In High School That Screams 90s
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Mass culture in the 21st century feels more like a grab bag of random events than a coherent narrative, notes Nick Gatewood, an Ohio-based rapper who goes by the name Vice Souletric and has toured the US with his nostalgia event, the Nu '90s Experience.
According to him, everything moves too fast now. By the time you’ve heard about something, there’s already a backlash. Because of this, no one is going to have a deep, personal connection to Pizza Rat, the hawk tuah girl, or other instant icons that disappear into oblivion in the blink of an eye.
But the '90s, with its slower pace and more enduring cultural trends, did offer a sense of shared experience and continuity that today's fragmented reality can no longer provide.
#22 Recognize These?
Image credits: kymilovechelle
#23 Kids Visiting The Library Be Like
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#24 This Is Deep
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#25 Subtle Signs All The Fun Ended After The '90s
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#26 The Lone Rangers
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#27 Dads In The 90s
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#28 My Neighborhood Bus Stop Gang
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#29 You Could See Whoever Wrote On It Before You
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#30 The Year Was 1997 And I Was 17 And Thought I Was Gonna Be A Rapper
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#31 From The 1991 Sears Fall Catalog
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#32 Remember When Pizza Huts Used To Be Sit-Down Restaurants? And Many Had An Arcade Section. I Used To Play Pac-Man In A Table-Style Arcade Console There. And I So Remember Those Red Cups! Now Most Pizza Huts Are Just A Take-Out Counter
Image credits: ExoGeniVI
#33 90s Fashion Just Hit So Differently
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#34 Power Up!!
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#35 90’s Cartoons Were The Best
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#36 Anyone Else Used To Watch This?
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#37 Anyone Else Have These?
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#38 I Miss The Inside Of Wendy’s
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#39 Who Remembers Beakman’s World? (1992)
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#40 We Didn't Even Have A Dog
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#41 Who Remembers This ? 1990’s Cable Black Box
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#42 Thought You Guys Would Like This — My Local Laundromat Is Stuck In The 90’s!
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#43 The Upstairs Of My Local Amc Theatre Is Trapped In 1997
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#44 The Boys Killing It On Summer Vacation Before High School, Circa 1996. We All Still Keep In Touch Regularly
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#45 Guys, Remember, Salute Your Shorts?
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#46 McDonald's Batman Forever Drink Glass Set
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#47 Who Can Still Feel The Burning Sensation In Their Throat After Drinking These At School Parties And Family Picnics?
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#48 I Can Smell This Pic
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#49 No Packed Lunch For School Was Complete Without These
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#50 These Were The 90's Kid's First Glimpse Into The Single Adult Life
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