The Truth About 90s High School: It Wasn’t All Fun
I noticed a weird trend going on online. I know that's a very broad statement, I mean most everything online is kinda weird. If not the thing then the intensity some people love and/or hate something is always lurking in the background of any fandom. Even if that fandom is just people who like shopping at a particular grocery store.
Anyway, as a young Gen Xer..or older Millennial..or perfectly aged Xennial, I was there in the 1990s. I don't know if it's just my kids and their algorithms, but they are fascinated by the decade. The music, the movies, TV - the whole vibe, as they say.
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So, they have been showing me these clips of old videos of kids in high school in the 90s. All these kids in very baggy, I mean VERY baggy clothes, laughing and smiling for the camera, telling jokes, goofing around and just having fun.
The general consensus on these videos is, "Dude, high school in the 90s was so fun!"
Why Nostalgia Makes the Past Look Better
I am here to tell all you young'uns to not believe the hype. The 1990s kinda sucked. There's two important lesson of nostalgia you need to keep in mind when watching these old clips of the Clinton-era.
The First Lesson of Nostalgia
This is my go-to comment whenever I run across some young movie or music enthusiast who says that everything made to day is crap and the olden time made the best stuff. No, nope, not even a little bit. Only the good stuff survives.
In 2025 it may seem like the 1990s were all Jurassic Park and Nirvana. But we only know about those things because they are good and have made it through the great historical pasta strainer.
Only the Best Stuff Survives
Sure, 1993 gave us Jurassic Park and Schindler's List. But if you were there, you'd had to deal with movies like Mr. Nanny, Look Who's Talking Now, and Weekend At Bernie's 2.
And sure, we had Nirvana and Dr Dre giving us decade defining albums, but the radio was also infested with things like "The River of Dreams" by Billy Joel and Peabo Bryson's Disney movie hits. And don't even get me started on Mariah Carey or Michael Bolton pumping out the softest, slowest, tedious songs for old people.
The Second Lesson of Nostalgia
This rule may be the one that is the hardest for people born in the 21st Century to get their minds around. But, the reason that the kids in those 90s high school videos look like they're having so much fun is that being recorded was a relatively rare and exciting thing. This was your ONE chance to show off for the camera. It may be the only time you interact with a video camera that year.
Why 90s Videos Look So Fun
Why would you record and save a boring regular day? It was just like today, kids eating lunch or talking and doing homework. Who in 1994 would want to watch that? There was a limited amount of video tape to record on, not the infinite digital cloud we have now. You want to capture and save the unusual not the mundane.
My kids, born in the digital era, have pictures and videos of their entire lives. So do their peers. They know what their voice sounded like at two, five, and fifteen years old. They can see how they smiled and crawled. Along with their entire family and friend group.
There is one known video of me from the 1990s and one from 2003. Literally just a few seconds of me in my teens then me in my 20s. All of the photos of me taken pre-digital cameras are collected in one photo album. If they aren't in one of the yearbooks I have, I don't remember what my friends from the time looked like. Or my house for that matter. So very few of my memories are supported by images or video. My life, my parents, siblings, entire school career exist mostly only in the minds of people who are rapidly aging.
Your Life Today Isn’t So Different
So, when you're scrolling and come across one of those "High School in the 90s was So Much Better" videos, remember, we only see the good stuff from the past. You're not seeing the boring, maybe traumatic, rest of the day for those kids. You are seeing them at a highlight of the day, maybe even week or month. Their day was more like yours today than you realize.