90s stuff you miss the most?

[curl-6]

Norris2k said:

curl-6 said:

No, it's not. That's just how it seems because we're getting older, more jaded, and more cynical.

We see the years of our youth through the lens of nostalgia and see any deviations from the way things were back then as inherently negative. The world has in many ways gotten better since the 90s; there have been breakthroughs in the treatment and prevention of many diseases, literacy rates for women have improved, infant mortality has decreased, global life expectancy has risen , etc.

That's right, but every positive light I read focus a lot on how things tremendously improved elsewhere. I mean it's really great that some countries got out of poverty, improved equality, but as far as my country is concerned, in my lifetime, things got worst regarding drugs, insecurity, unemployment, median salary, stress, climate and so many other things that can be measured (still, I'm not saying that nothing improved, but it pales in comparison).

I can tell you that my great mother when she was a 100 years old was clearly telling "things improved so much" because in her lifetime things went so much better regarding healthcare, heating system, water supply, wars, gender equality, buying power, goods... and the list could go on forever. If things improve around them, people get it. Nostalgia is slightly a lens, but certainly not a blindfold.

I was talking more in a global sense, so yeah, not every country/city/area has seen improvement.

As someone who lives in a first world country, (Australia) the difference is less pronounced here as stuff like polio, guinea worm, infant mortality, female illiteracy, extreme poverty, etc were already either very low or non-issues by the 90s.

Still, I feel like I've seen a number of positive changes; one of my uncles had Hepatitus C, which was incurable in the 90s, but he was recently cleared of it thanks to modern medicine. I also know people with HIV and cancer who have benefitted from the improved treatments that have become available this century. The last 11 years have also seen the introduction of the HPV vaccine.