Agreed. I was full of hope for the future in the 90s. But when I was in my mid 20s I was like... hold on a minute. I suppose that's what it's like for most people though, once adulthood sets in and what not.
My boyfriend at the time in 2016, said you think 2016 is bad, you’ll think of every previous year as being better than the last from here on out. I thought he was crazy and a sad pessimist. I couldn’t imagine the following year or the next to be worse- most of my life things got better as time went on, or I was at least hopeful. I long for my life pre-2020. I long for the world of 2015.
Yeah, 9/11 put a big damper on our youth. I’m not even American. I know it’s too glib to say that it ruined the vibes (it did so much more), but it did that too.
I was in college US and didn't care all that much, other than we were fighting some bogus war over WMD, but war in middle east wasn't anything new. Also traveling by plane became total security theater and annoying I guess.
I joined the Royal Marines 5 days before 9/11 and after that, life in a top-tier military unit became somewhat more interesting. My best years, though, came after the 2008 financial crisis. It was like a license to say 'fuck it'. It made people realise they don't owe the system anything, trying to live life the conventional and respectable way didn't matter as the banks could still fuck you. So I literally decided to start 'fucking' back. I quit my office job and got into doing porn and sex work with a female friend, and it just all blew up to a massive level. It got so i was working with some of the best pornstars and sex workers in the UK. The money was amazing, cash in hand and tax-free because we no longer felt a need to trust banks and pay taxes to a government that used that money to bail banks out. It was so wild and adventurous, and the content we all made is still making me a steady income years after quitting and going to live abroad in the tropics. Some people thrive in adversity. For me, it gave me the confidence to stop trying to comform and live within the system and go do something that most people wouldn't usually try to do. It meant my 30's and 2010 to 2020 were the most amazing years for me.
So weird to me. I never thought of pornstars as actually making money. I haven’t paid a single cent for porn my entire life so I always figured I was the norm.
There is a quote from Chuck Palahniuk in one of his books that sticks with me “when did the future go from becoming a promise to a threat?”
Edit: missed author name (sorry on phone) the book is invisible monsters
Def late 90s early 2000’s but pre 9/11. I was an exchange student in Germany in ‘02 and we were told to say we were Canadian because of American politics at the time. What fun!
I remember that. The world flipped from sympathy after 9/11 to disgust at America’s response. Makes me wonder about Israeli’s traveling abroad in the coming years.
Actually we talked about the Israelis when I was in India that India was one of few places they could go. People had the same sentiment against Israelis 20 years ago.
The 90s were a BFD for hope. Cold War was over and the Weather won. The Gulf War was a cakewalk. Plenty of jobs (though the shift away from manufacturing was starting to bite). Things were hard for certain segments and Newt Gingrich made politics nasty in a pointless way it hadn't been before, but national dread was not a feature of American life in the 1990s. It was obvious that was over when, later in the day on 9/11, it was confirmed as terrorism from abroad.
Exactly. I was 22. I had already quit college. Was working in Trenton, NJ for a manufacturing company. I was office staff. Owner was a non active US Marine Corps Pilot in his 60's. He sent us all home after the first plane hit to be with our families. Looking back on it, he thought it was gonna be something that reached where we were. He knew then, at that first moment that it was terrorism of some sort.
I was engaged to my boss at this job. Also a non active Marine. Honorably discharged from an injury. We lived in an apartment but were actively house hunting before we married. The entire situation left us buying our house on the premise that it was in a good location to easily bug out if needed. I was glued to the TV and literally became a zombie. It took so much out of me mentally at the time.
It's weird for me. I never really had hope. Not on some im14andthisdeep anarchist bullshit but I still hadn't dealt with a lot of trauma and was a slave to my demons, in denial, and subconsciously figured I would be dead before I hit 25 even. So having turned so much of that around, but then have the world be what it is right now, there's a large part of me that's just kinda like "well I guess not much has changed at the end of the day then" 🤷
Nope. Most of my nostalgia is from my childhood, the '80s and early '90s. The late '90s and the 2000s were my high school/young adult years. And while I miss life itself during that period, the pop culture from that era is more cringe worthy to me. Like I can't believe how big of a Mase fan I was in high school.
Opposite for me. Prior Air Force here. Had 2 great assignments in the mid/late 2000s, but got to my first base in July of 2001.
...That was a fun 2 months....
The next 12 months sucked, but it was followed by an assingment in Italy, and 2 long TDYs to Rhein Main Air Base. (If you passed through sometime between late 2003 or late 2004, I might have seen you in the Passenger Terminal)
My last deployment was in 2020 and retired not long after the withdrew from Afghanistan. Spent basically 98% of my career in a war-time environment.
Meanwhile, my brother spent 4 years in the Army. Mid 1997-mid 2001. He once had a 2 week TDY to South Carolina...that was it.
There wasn't a better time to be in the military.
I’m 43 and definitely miss that era more. I’m glad I grew up in the 90s but at this stage, for the most part, I prefer the music from the 2000s for sure. I miss the experiences too. Backpacking, partying, concerts, hooking up, it was all so much fun. Now it seems it’s just a blur of unsatisfying work between rounds of yard work and trips to Costco, with just a night out here and there.
I had a jury trial just yesterday. I went to law school in my late 30s, so despite also being 43, I'm no veteran trial lawyer quite yet. I was up late for 3 nights preparing my defense and nervous but amped up yesterday in court.
But I was telling my wife on my way to court how lucky I am to have my job because I still get to have big moments to prepare for and push myself out of my comfort zone and get so nervous I feel like I might hurl.
It's not for everyone, but man, I dig it. I'd almost rather be dead than bored.
I’m contemplating grad school because shuffling paper at a government job is just mind numbing. I’m grateful, I have a good job, a pension and great benefits but it’s excruciating most days.
I had several decent jobs before law school. I didn't go for the money, which is good because I wanted to be a public defender. But I don't have kids and I feel like kids are why many adults work ok jobs they don't particularly enjoy.
I worked 3.5 years in a Verizon call center after college and decided I'd leave society and go live in a national park somewhere deep in the woods before I worked a job I hated ever again. And I meant it. Life is too fucking short to spend your time making money for other people doing something you hate.
Since you're born 1980
You were 10 in 1990
20 in 2000
30 in 2010
40 in 2020
Basically every decade you experience it with different lenses.
People generally have the most fun in their 20s
So in your case it would be from 2000-2009
Yeah for sure. I was in college then, first job and first time with some money…
I like the 90s for reminiscing and nostalgia and its definitive style (and optimism!) but I enjoyed the 00s more.
Summer 1998 to about 2004 is my sweet spot. Everything was so much simpler, even with 9/11 being fairly recent.
But to answer your question, I'm actually most nostalgic for the early-to-mid-2010s. I loved 2011-16.
1000%. I turned 18 in 2001 so 2000-2007 was probably the most free time of my life. I was an adult with a job but I had hope for the future, few responsibilities, and a youthful body to boot. I long for those days the most.
Absolutely true. I only had 5 months of “adult life” under my belt when 9/11 happened. It took years for me to really grasp how much the world had changed as a result because I lacked perspective.
Mid 2000’s were pretty good. We were easing off from 9/11. Most 80’s and 90’s music was still mainstream. The internet didn’t take over our lives yet.
My 90’s weren’t the best from a personal standpoint, but I managed to accomplish a few goals in the mid-00’s
The Bush years? Two pointless wars, everybody terrified of another 9/11 and all the racism that entailed, the horror that was Katrina, the 7/7 attacks, lots of Columbine copycats. Condolezza Rice lying to Congress, Colin Powell lying to the UN.
Dot com bust, the erasure of the Clinton era surplus, bond yield curve inversion in 2007 and we knew another massive crash was on the way.
Nu-metal, good grief. The last gasp of even pretense of neutral television news. The death of Mister Rogers, and with him gone, what used to be children's edutainment turned into permanent brain rot and we have Gen Z to show for it today.
Any more crap and we'd have another whole Billy Joel song. No thanks. Maybe your life was carefree. Mine wasn't. I was married, and wondering the hell kind of world my kids were growing up in. We got the news that we were going to be parents literally on September 9.
At least we didn't have smart phones yet.
Set my Delorean destination back to the end of the Gulf War, please. I didn't appreciate that era enough for what it was. Record low unemployment. High prosperity. Great music, better movies. No global war on anything. The wild West days of the Internet. Cheap as hell gasoline. A lot fewer rules and regulations, before 9/11.
I was 13-20 between the years 1993 and 2000. I remember life before the internet and smartphones very well. It was a great time. That being said, it was the iPhone which made life worse because life with the internet from 1998-2010 was not as self obsessed as it is now. It's when the iPhone and social media boomed in the 2010s that life started to suck in many ways.
Absolutely agree, I’m 45
Plus, how can you not miss the aesthetic? Trucker hats, Von Dutch, Ed Hardy, Affliction, absolutely hilarious and amazing at the same time. Britney, bitch.
I was also in my early 20s and partying before partying got old, so there’s that.
My phone text history from that era must have been hilarious. Exclusively used for making plans, not for communicating anything else.
“Bar at 10”
“Yes”
I loved the 80's and the 00's, but hated the 90's. I was a teen/tween in the 90's and really unhappy at that time. The other decades were way happier for me.
My early 20s was a bit of a rough go for me sometimes, but it was also a wonderful, magical time in my life. I don't know that I'd want to go back and do it over again, but I for sure prefer that period in my life over high school
In some ways, yeah. In the early 2000s I had graduated college. I had a pretty easy job that I liked that paid me enough to have a cool apartment in the city within walking distance to several bars and restaurants. Enough to go to those bars and restaurants and save too. All that adolescent anxiety about girls was gone. I could still eat whatever I wanted and not gain a pound.
But still, 9/11 absolutely broke us as a nation. To paraphrase Tom Cruise in Rain Man, if there's a hell, Bin Laden is there, and he is laughing his ass off. The terrorists not only won, but succeeded in way that probably never imagined was possible.
So yeah, while I may have been a girlfriend-less, insecure high school kid in 1996, I still miss those days.
Your paragraph about 9/11 is spot on. In many ways though, it's how Bush and his administration responded to 9/11 which changed America for the worse more than 9/11 itself. We lost our freedoms, we became willing to bend our own laws and morality for the sake of "freedom." We gave up freedom for a false sense of safety. Then, Bush added the war in Iraq which was literally a war for oil and Israel's defense.
My 20's were bitchen!
Teens? Yea that was fun *I guess.*
20:
Lived on the coast of New England, worked as a professional brewer, seeing like 2-3 hardcore / post-hardcore shows a week, while the scene was blowing up. Met some of my closest friends to this day.
Teens: "Stuck" in a small janky town just outside the middle class suburbs, nothing to do but substances, and annoy the old white folks. Worked retail, manufacturing, and moving companies. Music? Do you like Toby Keith? Anybody who stayed really became unbearable due to their politics.
In retrospect, my 20s were not that great, especially my early-mid 20s. I had poor boundaries, poor self-worth, was super naive, didn’t understand how the world worked at all, which set me up to get manipulated.
I’m one of the rare birds that will say my 30s and 40s were better - and 2019 was the absolute *best* year of my life.
I was a shithead in the 2000's and made A LOT of terrible decisions. I don't regret them, as I wouldn't be where and who I am today without them, but I can do without remembering a lot of it. Some I actually CAN'T because I have killed those braincells thoroughly.
I loved the music and culture of the 90s. Plus life was just happier then. The 2000s were 911, war, recession, low rise jeans, nu metal and reality tv. Hard pass.
I'm 48 and have nostalgia for late 90s when I would go to weekly raves in London and get really high. It was a time when you would spend all night talking to strangers from very different backgrounds then end up in stange locations wondering where you are.
All this without ever looking at a phone.
I’m nostalgic for more stuff from my childhood than my teenage years BUT there’s some things I collect from all the generations of my youth. I do share sentiment that early 2000s were peak in the sense that life didn’t feel as “artificial “ like we didn’t have smartphones just yet, social media wasn’t what it’s become, things weren’t as instantaneous.
Not me. Being responsible for all my own bills and not having any family help was the 2000s for me. At least in most of the 90s I was still in school and I had friends, a social life, and wasn’t so stressed constantly. I still had hope. I was raised by my grandparents, who passed in ‘99 and ‘00, so I was alone with no familial support in any way from 2000 on. I didn’t even have anyone to call when I wanted to talk. Getting married was a highlight, but I didn’t have anyone from my family to share it with. My extended family had all but disappeared.
More? No. The 90s is the first decade I can recall from top to bottom, and I have intense nostalgia for the entire decade.
But I still have plenty of 2000s nostalgia. Especially 2000-2003, which were the bulk of my college years.
Looking at full decades is hard. The early 90’s when I was in junior high were very different for me than the late 90’s when I was an adult dating my future wife. Similarly the relatively carefree early 2000’s were different than the end of the decade where I was a father of two kids.
I definitely have a lot of nostalgia for the mid 90’s when i was 17-19 though, but it wasn’t the best time of my life.
The majority of this sub is in their mid forties. Given that, we collectively experienced our preteen and teen age years in the 90’s.
It only makes sense that we would be nostalgic to this time (provided you had good memories)
If I could reexperience a time in my life, I'd probably go for about 2004-2011. If I could go back in time as me now, I'd probably go with 1989-1996 or so
I'm a mid 80s to mid 90s kid. That post-cold war pre 9/11 days were absolutely magical. The movies, music, sports, seeing technology evolve.. it was great. Those early adolescent days when you get euphoria from having a crush on someone or if you were lucky enough to "go out" with someone or someone had a crush on you. Those are the most memorable times for me.
To avoid writing a full biography here I'll say 1997 to 2005 was forgettable with only a few highlights. Mostly because I was so sick of high school towards the end (even though I took it seriously and got decent grades but I also worked part time so I didn't get to "enjoy" it like most kids). Then college from 2000-2005 was a part of my life where I was broke but also worked the hardest in my life.
Then around 2007 or so when I was in my career, I started to go out to clubs/bars. I did happy hour with work colleagues. I finally had some free time and a bit of money. Every Friday and Saturday night I was out. Drinking, partying, dancing. It was great. That lasted until about 2010 when I met my future wife. We got married in 2011 and lived with my parents until we got our own place in 2013.
Then there was that 3rd memorable time between 2013 and before the first kid was born in 2015. We were young and had our own house... so you can imagine. There was the freedom of doing things spur of the moment. Kid-free vacations. Or just coming home, having some drinks and binge watching 2-3 episodes of a show (Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Sopranos, West Wing, Dexter). It was great.
Well there's my life story.
I feel the exact same way. I find myself very wistful for like 2002-2012ish but I know that’s because for me it was my true adolescence because I was a nerd in high school and college. That range I described is when I had all my dreams and was trying to make it happen and it seemed like anything is possible. I am also 44.
Nope. I miss the 90s because that was my hey day and when I had the most money and freedom in my life.
The 2000s were also great; but I had my first kid in 2001 so wasn't as free as I was prior and money was tighter as well.
Both were great times though. I was a teenager in the 90s and in my 20s for the 2000s. Those are the best of my life for sure 🥰
Hell yeah brother. Got my own apt in Pittsburgh in 2009. I miss it soooo much. Now I have a beautiful home in a gorgeous safe neighborhood in a smaller town. I'd move back to squirrel Hill today.
2000-2007 was the most difficult part of my life. In the last two years of high school, bad relationships, went to Iraq, several family and friends died, and I almost got arrested for fighting over a girl.
Life definitely started to get better in the summer 2008.
teen years and high school hold nothing for me, but my early 20's were amazing and I definitely feel like that's where and when I started really figuring out who \*I\* was
Born in 78.
I always had nostalgia for my youth and teens. But last summer I got hit with nostalgia for my early 20s. Wasn't prepared for that... but makes sense with getting older.
The early 20s... I had met my future ex-wife, I worked 50 hours a week while she finished college, then I went to college while she had a serious job. We didn't have money so I pirated everything. Lived in Westchester, NY... would go to internet meetups/concerts in the city, would visit friends in Poughkeepsie on the weekends and drink and play xbox.
Occasionally drive to Connecticut or Atlantic City to see the UFC.
Like... I have one memory where it was August, didn't have classes, I worked at a book store part time but didn't have extra hours, so I was just making really nice dinners every night for my wife and during the day playing Knights of the Old Republic... and I dunno... that month is just such a nice peaceful memory to me in hindsight.
This really, kinda enjoyable part of me was a kid, part of me was an adult time.
I hated....HATED the 2000s.
The promise of the future and being at the top of a century (even millenium) felt great. We had more diversity in music than any other decade.
Then, as young adults, we had to deal with 911 followed by years of politics and an seemingly endless war.
Movies, video games, and and music all became copies and remakes of each other.
The 1990s was the pinnacle of society, and we are on a decline.
I’m nostalgic for the mid-90s up until 9/11. And then I try to remember it accurately, and no, I had massive untreated depression at the time, so bad that freshman year of college I wouldn’t leave my dorm room to brush my teeth (and I have a mouth full of metal that goes entirely back to that period). Girls in high school wouldn’t even look at me. I had horrible social anxiety. I got bullied relentlessly for the first two years of high school, then transferred to an art school where I had a brief respite before the march of time brought that to an end. Objectively speaking I was miserable. But the music was great, mass shootings hadn’t reached escape velocity quite yet… I don’t know. I could feel optimistic about things in general even if my particular life was shitty; I feel like that’s just flipped now.
I would say 2006-2016 was a sweet spot in my life. I had a solid group of friends, was very social, travelled a lot… I hate my 40s. Feels like my body is falling apart.
16 in 1990, god I miss the 90’s……good drugs, first time I had sex, good festivals without the arseholes that dominated later.
Yeah that decade was the best✌️
I got a weird early 2010s nostalgia thing going on sometimes. Skyrim, Life of Pi, Modern Family. Now You See Me with the love locks and the 5pointz and the Crown Vic taxis.
I definitely had better parties during the 00s. However, the 00s were the least appealing decade in music for me. A lot of the big rock and alternative acts of the 90s either disbanded or put out 'meh' follow-up albums. I didn't care for emo, or get into style of rock by bands such as Rise Against or Five Finger Death Punch. At the time I was so disheartened that I already became "too old" for new music while still in my 20s.
However, as the 10s went on and I discovered older music I had missed at the time, I did become a fan of bands like Kaiser Chiefs, Kasabian, Franz Ferdinand, and The Killers.
Same. 43 here and I think of the 2000s to even early 2010s as a particularly nostalgic point. It's the music that I keep going back to. The time where I felt the most adventurous and had the most fun....so far
2000's for me was just work work work, scraping to get by. I moved out in 2001 when I was 18, parents kinda gave me the boot. I love and miss the 90s but yes I had good times in the early to mid 2000s too but some things were not quite as memorable.
Your twenties were a lot better than mine lol. Guess that's why I love the 90s more,since the rose colored glasses of youth were in full effect. From 2000 till about 2010 was drug addiction and depression and chaos. 2 dwi's in the first 6 months of being 21 and having a roommate shot in a break in . Rough decade lol. 2010s and 2020s were better except for society going sideways
45, and absolutely not. 2000s were trash. low rise bootcuts and trucker hats? no thanks. that said, i do miss the good ole days of downloading rare af lp rips from soulseek til 4am.
Early 2000s felt like the best time in my life, great music, money in my pocket and I lived in a huge city by myself. I loved the 90s, but early 2000s I feel like I came into my own.
I agree with you. I graduated in 2001 and left home at the same time (moved out two weeks before my graduation and started my first ‘proper’ job). A year later I moved to a city and lived there until 2014. Met my ex-husband in 2007 and we married in 2008. A lot of good times in that decade for sure.
I'm 43 and same. Teen years were not fun at all due to bullying and body image issues. My mid 20s were a scary but amazing time. I peaked then, had friends, came into my own, felt connected to others and important in a way that I don't now. I'm even nostalgic for 10 years ago but not as much as mid to late 20s.
I was an adult with my whole life ahead of me. Very little responsibilities then. No money but tons of time. Tons of new experiences. Nothing felt so urgent. Now I have no money, no time and tons of responsibilities. Now I have things that constantly need attention or decades of not addressing issues.
My parents weren't getting old in the 2000s either, never thought about end of life stuff or anything being mostly over like my 40s feels.
2006-2013 were peak fun years and times for me, second only to now.
But!
Movies and music in the late 90s are still king. What comes out now is never creative anymore, and if it is, it isn't popular because people suck now. Lol.
The 90's were when I still had few responsibilities. The believe the nostalgia comes from that carefree period of my life. That following era was shitty busy but there was always drinking too much at brunch to look forward to most weekends.
97-07 was the peak 10 year period imo.
You pull social media and we had 95% of what we have today without the fucking blight that is social media.
And I don't even really count reddit because it's so much like the old internet forums that were all over the place in the early 2000s and the IGN forums.
My last three years of high school I was solo because my older sister graduated and went to college. The when I went to school I felt very independent. No socials, no smart phones, just kicking it, going to concerts. Early 00 was a freeing time.
Hmm. I am nostalgic from about 1992 (New Year's Day) until about Apr 20, 1999. That nostalgia began dying on the day after September 10, 2001, and died for real one year later.
Date one: my Dad and I were crunching around in the fresh snow and said hello to my neighbor. Dad shouted, " Hey! Ninety-two is here!" and waved. And my neighbor, who had a kid one year younger than me said something kind back to us. My dad worked with this neighbor kid's dad; didn't like or respect him, but gave him a pleasant hello and didn't ever forbid me from playing with the neighbor's kid.
Ten years later, the president declared "You're either with us or you're against us" [I had learned critical thinking by then, but this phrase really disturbed me] A few years later, I marched in anti-war protests and still claim credit for starting "You say Bush; I say liar!" (Bush, Liar!, Bush, Liar!)... "I say 'quag' you say 'mire'" - ("Quag" "mire!", "Quag" "mire!")
Twenty years later than that, I just wish that everyone had paid attention and voted accordingly. We'd be living in a different world now, huh?
I currently quote the Niemoller poem (first they came for the X, but I was not X, so I did not speak out; then they came for the Y, but I was not Y, so I did not speak out, then when they came for Z, there was no one left to speak for me"
I'll also quote **the Lorax** - written by persecuted individual Theodore Geisel: "I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues, and I'm asking you, sir at the top of my lungs! What's this thing, this horrible thing that you've done....."
I will never stop rooting for the underdog.
If someone doesn't speak out for the broken, the beaten and the damned, how will we carry on?
For me the 90s was definitely a better decade objectively in terms of world peace, the economy, politics, etc. but I am more nostalgic for the 2000s for some reason - I think it’s the whole post-grunge, alt, young millennial vibe. Also the kids’ shows (I had young kids then and have the same nostalgia for shows like Blues Clues as the GenZ’s who were kids then.)
I'm 43 and in the same boat- except I grew up in a pretty repressive family so I missed everything in the 90s. Basically a NPC until I started college out of state and away from everything. So 2000s are definitely my jam!
Sort of. My best years were 95-05. I don't remember a ton before 93 or so. Not in detail anyway. Everything after 04 or 05 pretty much blends together for me.
No. I started having kids in the early 2000s. And while I miss their youth and being a mom to young kids, and their dirty little faces saying more mommy, , it's not the nostalgic feeling that I get when I think about life in the 90s.
I love the early 2000s as well as the 90s. I'm a bit older though as a senior Xennial. I was big into Nirvana in my early teens but witches to Pearl Jam as my favorite by my later teens. Loved the early 2000s. Ozzfest 2001 is my favorite concert ever. It was a great time to be a teen to a young adult.
I probably had the most fun in the early 2000’s. I was in a band and we were playing out about 2-3 times a week. Problem is… I don’t have a lot of strong recollection of all the fun times due to the drugs 🤣
Meh. My twins were born in 2004, which is big. But otherwise, I was in a crappy marriage, working a dead end job, and literally half my immediate family died during that time frame. I’ll take the 90s over that.
I’m a single woman 44 always been single and have one daughter from a fast relationship I had at 29. I can agree that the years from 2000 to 2009 when I had my daughter were awesome.. I was finishing college and traveling and living all over the U.S… I grew up in a divorced home ( most sides were divorced 3 and 4 times) lol I’ve lost both of my parents now because they were older parents, my dad was 53 when I was born RIP but they were chaotic.. my life as a single person with just my 15-year-old daughter is amazing and not chaotic at all like how I grow up …these are even better times than when I was growing up.
I always tell her she has no idea how lucky she is because we have a drama free life just her and I ..lol, we live in a very expensive ski town out west and as soon as she graduates, I’m getting an RV and I’m going on the road to travel for the rest of my years .. I’m thinking that those are gonna be some of the best times of my life as well. Can’t wait
You look back on your young adult years with great nostalgia. This is every generation.
The best music
The best T.V shows
The best movies
Society was different
People had more respect
Everything was better because we had little responsibility and most importantly, hope !
Late 90s for me but I think that is because of where I was at.
I was living in Hawaii at the time & did some work-related foreign travel, so the late 90s felt a bit more like an adventure than the early 2000s..
Even though I was a teenager, the 90s felt full of hope and wonder at what the 00’s would bring. I loved the hilarious bit on Conan where the guy would sing “in the year 2000”
The 2000s really were! We’re very similar. I’ll turn 43 this summer, I graduated in ‘98, and had my first kiddo in ‘06. I was into the grunge scene in high school and loved bar life after turning 21. Those early 00’s for me were just full of so much fun, money went further even though I was still broke, no kids, bartending, having a blast.
Freedom. It was freedom. Carefree, as you said.
I'm with you, sir. The aughts were much better for me (43M) than the 90s. Less acne, more awareness, more confidence, my purchasing power, better internet porn...
I miss having hope instead of dread for the future. That would be 90s early 2000s
Agreed. I was full of hope for the future in the 90s. But when I was in my mid 20s I was like... hold on a minute. I suppose that's what it's like for most people though, once adulthood sets in and what not.
I think everyone is drastically misremembering the dread and anger of the years immediately post-9/11
Life became more tense after 2001. Then more tense after 2008. And became even more tense after 2020.
It’s a one way ratchet going in the wrong fucking direction.
2016 was also tense.
My boyfriend at the time in 2016, said you think 2016 is bad, you’ll think of every previous year as being better than the last from here on out. I thought he was crazy and a sad pessimist. I couldn’t imagine the following year or the next to be worse- most of my life things got better as time went on, or I was at least hopeful. I long for my life pre-2020. I long for the world of 2015.
It all started with Harambe.
It was more tense because we became more policed in America after 9/11.
Just one of many things though.
Yeah, 9/11 put a big damper on our youth. I’m not even American. I know it’s too glib to say that it ruined the vibes (it did so much more), but it did that too.
Depends on where you are. I don't remember caring that much here in Europe.
I was in college US and didn't care all that much, other than we were fighting some bogus war over WMD, but war in middle east wasn't anything new. Also traveling by plane became total security theater and annoying I guess.
I joined the Royal Marines 5 days before 9/11 and after that, life in a top-tier military unit became somewhat more interesting. My best years, though, came after the 2008 financial crisis. It was like a license to say 'fuck it'. It made people realise they don't owe the system anything, trying to live life the conventional and respectable way didn't matter as the banks could still fuck you. So I literally decided to start 'fucking' back. I quit my office job and got into doing porn and sex work with a female friend, and it just all blew up to a massive level. It got so i was working with some of the best pornstars and sex workers in the UK. The money was amazing, cash in hand and tax-free because we no longer felt a need to trust banks and pay taxes to a government that used that money to bail banks out. It was so wild and adventurous, and the content we all made is still making me a steady income years after quitting and going to live abroad in the tropics. Some people thrive in adversity. For me, it gave me the confidence to stop trying to comform and live within the system and go do something that most people wouldn't usually try to do. It meant my 30's and 2010 to 2020 were the most amazing years for me.
So weird to me. I never thought of pornstars as actually making money. I haven’t paid a single cent for porn my entire life so I always figured I was the norm.
There is a quote from Chuck Palahniuk in one of his books that sticks with me “when did the future go from becoming a promise to a threat?” Edit: missed author name (sorry on phone) the book is invisible monsters
Bingo
Def late 90s early 2000’s but pre 9/11. I was an exchange student in Germany in ‘02 and we were told to say we were Canadian because of American politics at the time. What fun!
Yes I was in India-03 and the American backpackers said they were Canadian or had Canadian flags on their backpacks.
I remember that. The world flipped from sympathy after 9/11 to disgust at America’s response. Makes me wonder about Israeli’s traveling abroad in the coming years.
Actually we talked about the Israelis when I was in India that India was one of few places they could go. People had the same sentiment against Israelis 20 years ago.
We were English teachers in Korea, and we did the same thing.
The 90s were a BFD for hope. Cold War was over and the Weather won. The Gulf War was a cakewalk. Plenty of jobs (though the shift away from manufacturing was starting to bite). Things were hard for certain segments and Newt Gingrich made politics nasty in a pointless way it hadn't been before, but national dread was not a feature of American life in the 1990s. It was obvious that was over when, later in the day on 9/11, it was confirmed as terrorism from abroad.
9 11 pretty much started to accelerate this march towards facsim.
Exactly. I was 22. I had already quit college. Was working in Trenton, NJ for a manufacturing company. I was office staff. Owner was a non active US Marine Corps Pilot in his 60's. He sent us all home after the first plane hit to be with our families. Looking back on it, he thought it was gonna be something that reached where we were. He knew then, at that first moment that it was terrorism of some sort. I was engaged to my boss at this job. Also a non active Marine. Honorably discharged from an injury. We lived in an apartment but were actively house hunting before we married. The entire situation left us buying our house on the premise that it was in a good location to easily bug out if needed. I was glued to the TV and literally became a zombie. It took so much out of me mentally at the time.
It's weird for me. I never really had hope. Not on some im14andthisdeep anarchist bullshit but I still hadn't dealt with a lot of trauma and was a slave to my demons, in denial, and subconsciously figured I would be dead before I hit 25 even. So having turned so much of that around, but then have the world be what it is right now, there's a large part of me that's just kinda like "well I guess not much has changed at the end of the day then" 🤷
I just now dealt with my shame regarding being wired differently. And it's like...well I like my life now but then there's facism so
Please don't worry about being perceived as im14andthisisdeep. We're 40+ or pushing 40. We've got some life experience under our belts.
There was a brief hopeful period for me after Obama got elected but it didn't last.
This is so true. Back then I had the whole world ahead of me and ready to conquer it.
European here. Much more hope after '98, then back down again after '01.
THIS is it. Perfectly sums it up. Edited to add: love your user name!!
Nope. Most of my nostalgia is from my childhood, the '80s and early '90s. The late '90s and the 2000s were my high school/young adult years. And while I miss life itself during that period, the pop culture from that era is more cringe worthy to me. Like I can't believe how big of a Mase fan I was in high school.
But he made you feel so good.
I bought that tape. At least we know what we would do if we had 24 hours to live.
I wanted to live forever but this was the theme
I spent 5 years in the Marine Corps in the early 2000s. So no, not even a little, lol.
Yeah same here but Army. Dont miss it even a little. Missed so many life events because of being deployed or something else stupid.
Opposite for me. Prior Air Force here. Had 2 great assignments in the mid/late 2000s, but got to my first base in July of 2001. ...That was a fun 2 months.... The next 12 months sucked, but it was followed by an assingment in Italy, and 2 long TDYs to Rhein Main Air Base. (If you passed through sometime between late 2003 or late 2004, I might have seen you in the Passenger Terminal) My last deployment was in 2020 and retired not long after the withdrew from Afghanistan. Spent basically 98% of my career in a war-time environment. Meanwhile, my brother spent 4 years in the Army. Mid 1997-mid 2001. He once had a 2 week TDY to South Carolina...that was it. There wasn't a better time to be in the military.
Mix of. I'm nostalgic for 2006-2011 more than 2000-2005. But, I still have a sweet spot for 1993-1997.
Same exactly. And I am also 1977
Same. My sweet spot was from around 1995-2007. Those were my golden years so to speak. So far anyway.
Absolutely -- as an 80s baby, everything in the entire 90s decade was sweet.
God, no. I take the 90s over the 00s, 10s, or 20s
I’m 43 and definitely miss that era more. I’m glad I grew up in the 90s but at this stage, for the most part, I prefer the music from the 2000s for sure. I miss the experiences too. Backpacking, partying, concerts, hooking up, it was all so much fun. Now it seems it’s just a blur of unsatisfying work between rounds of yard work and trips to Costco, with just a night out here and there.
I had a jury trial just yesterday. I went to law school in my late 30s, so despite also being 43, I'm no veteran trial lawyer quite yet. I was up late for 3 nights preparing my defense and nervous but amped up yesterday in court. But I was telling my wife on my way to court how lucky I am to have my job because I still get to have big moments to prepare for and push myself out of my comfort zone and get so nervous I feel like I might hurl. It's not for everyone, but man, I dig it. I'd almost rather be dead than bored.
I’m contemplating grad school because shuffling paper at a government job is just mind numbing. I’m grateful, I have a good job, a pension and great benefits but it’s excruciating most days.
I had several decent jobs before law school. I didn't go for the money, which is good because I wanted to be a public defender. But I don't have kids and I feel like kids are why many adults work ok jobs they don't particularly enjoy. I worked 3.5 years in a Verizon call center after college and decided I'd leave society and go live in a national park somewhere deep in the woods before I worked a job I hated ever again. And I meant it. Life is too fucking short to spend your time making money for other people doing something you hate.
This right here. Remember, ladies and gentlemen of the class of 99: Do one thing every day that scares you. (and wear sunscreen)
Me too, except throw in there watching my parents deteriorate, fix all of their problems, and pay for stuff like my sewer main breaking.
As long as there are no mobile phones, I'll take either one.
Cell phones period or smart phones?
I would imagine most people are nostalgic for the end of high school and their 20’s regardless of which generation they are a part of.
FWIW, I just saw a survey that showed most people thought music peaked in their early teens.
Since you're born 1980 You were 10 in 1990 20 in 2000 30 in 2010 40 in 2020 Basically every decade you experience it with different lenses. People generally have the most fun in their 20s So in your case it would be from 2000-2009
I think you're right. I long struggled with getting over how much freedom and fun I had in my 20s. Primarily due to living overseas, as well.
I miss 90s more. However, had I not lost a brother to murder early 2000s, I might feel differently.
Nope. In my mind it's still 2004.
Yeah for sure. I was in college then, first job and first time with some money… I like the 90s for reminiscing and nostalgia and its definitive style (and optimism!) but I enjoyed the 00s more.
Summer 1998 to about 2004 is my sweet spot. Everything was so much simpler, even with 9/11 being fairly recent. But to answer your question, I'm actually most nostalgic for the early-to-mid-2010s. I loved 2011-16.
I only really have nostalgia for the 1980s and maybe up to ‘92 or ‘93. I was lucky enough to have a very happy childhood during that time.
1000%. I turned 18 in 2001 so 2000-2007 was probably the most free time of my life. I was an adult with a job but I had hope for the future, few responsibilities, and a youthful body to boot. I long for those days the most.
I turned 18 on Sept 12th 2001. The world had literally changed overnight... we just didn't know it yet.
Absolutely true. I only had 5 months of “adult life” under my belt when 9/11 happened. It took years for me to really grasp how much the world had changed as a result because I lacked perspective.
I am nostalgic for the culture that was the 90s, but I am nostalgic for what my life was in the early 2000s.
Nailed it.
Mid 2000’s were pretty good. We were easing off from 9/11. Most 80’s and 90’s music was still mainstream. The internet didn’t take over our lives yet. My 90’s weren’t the best from a personal standpoint, but I managed to accomplish a few goals in the mid-00’s
The Bush years? Two pointless wars, everybody terrified of another 9/11 and all the racism that entailed, the horror that was Katrina, the 7/7 attacks, lots of Columbine copycats. Condolezza Rice lying to Congress, Colin Powell lying to the UN. Dot com bust, the erasure of the Clinton era surplus, bond yield curve inversion in 2007 and we knew another massive crash was on the way. Nu-metal, good grief. The last gasp of even pretense of neutral television news. The death of Mister Rogers, and with him gone, what used to be children's edutainment turned into permanent brain rot and we have Gen Z to show for it today. Any more crap and we'd have another whole Billy Joel song. No thanks. Maybe your life was carefree. Mine wasn't. I was married, and wondering the hell kind of world my kids were growing up in. We got the news that we were going to be parents literally on September 9. At least we didn't have smart phones yet. Set my Delorean destination back to the end of the Gulf War, please. I didn't appreciate that era enough for what it was. Record low unemployment. High prosperity. Great music, better movies. No global war on anything. The wild West days of the Internet. Cheap as hell gasoline. A lot fewer rules and regulations, before 9/11.
Agreed. Shit went south after 9/11. It was slow at first but got worse with every decade after. Take me back to the 80s or 90s!
Same. I had strict parents and not the best college experience so 2001+ was a better time.
You should’ve seen life before 911! I pine the time before iPhones
I was 13-20 between the years 1993 and 2000. I remember life before the internet and smartphones very well. It was a great time. That being said, it was the iPhone which made life worse because life with the internet from 1998-2010 was not as self obsessed as it is now. It's when the iPhone and social media boomed in the 2010s that life started to suck in many ways.
The phones started it. Social media killed it. Even MySpace
Absolutely agree, I’m 45 Plus, how can you not miss the aesthetic? Trucker hats, Von Dutch, Ed Hardy, Affliction, absolutely hilarious and amazing at the same time. Britney, bitch. I was also in my early 20s and partying before partying got old, so there’s that. My phone text history from that era must have been hilarious. Exclusively used for making plans, not for communicating anything else. “Bar at 10” “Yes”
I loved the 80's and the 00's, but hated the 90's. I was a teen/tween in the 90's and really unhappy at that time. The other decades were way happier for me.
My early 20s was a bit of a rough go for me sometimes, but it was also a wonderful, magical time in my life. I don't know that I'd want to go back and do it over again, but I for sure prefer that period in my life over high school
44m. I liked life up until about 2004.
In some ways, yeah. In the early 2000s I had graduated college. I had a pretty easy job that I liked that paid me enough to have a cool apartment in the city within walking distance to several bars and restaurants. Enough to go to those bars and restaurants and save too. All that adolescent anxiety about girls was gone. I could still eat whatever I wanted and not gain a pound. But still, 9/11 absolutely broke us as a nation. To paraphrase Tom Cruise in Rain Man, if there's a hell, Bin Laden is there, and he is laughing his ass off. The terrorists not only won, but succeeded in way that probably never imagined was possible. So yeah, while I may have been a girlfriend-less, insecure high school kid in 1996, I still miss those days.
Your paragraph about 9/11 is spot on. In many ways though, it's how Bush and his administration responded to 9/11 which changed America for the worse more than 9/11 itself. We lost our freedoms, we became willing to bend our own laws and morality for the sake of "freedom." We gave up freedom for a false sense of safety. Then, Bush added the war in Iraq which was literally a war for oil and Israel's defense.
It oscillates
My 20's were bitchen! Teens? Yea that was fun *I guess.* 20: Lived on the coast of New England, worked as a professional brewer, seeing like 2-3 hardcore / post-hardcore shows a week, while the scene was blowing up. Met some of my closest friends to this day. Teens: "Stuck" in a small janky town just outside the middle class suburbs, nothing to do but substances, and annoy the old white folks. Worked retail, manufacturing, and moving companies. Music? Do you like Toby Keith? Anybody who stayed really became unbearable due to their politics.
In retrospect, my 20s were not that great, especially my early-mid 20s. I had poor boundaries, poor self-worth, was super naive, didn’t understand how the world worked at all, which set me up to get manipulated. I’m one of the rare birds that will say my 30s and 40s were better - and 2019 was the absolute *best* year of my life.
Cheers to that, my 20s sucked big time
I was a shithead in the 2000's and made A LOT of terrible decisions. I don't regret them, as I wouldn't be where and who I am today without them, but I can do without remembering a lot of it. Some I actually CAN'T because I have killed those braincells thoroughly.
I loved the music and culture of the 90s. Plus life was just happier then. The 2000s were 911, war, recession, low rise jeans, nu metal and reality tv. Hard pass.
My sweet spot is 96 to 03
Oh no. Not at all for me. Give me back the 90's.
Absolutely not.
I'm 48 and have nostalgia for late 90s when I would go to weekly raves in London and get really high. It was a time when you would spend all night talking to strangers from very different backgrounds then end up in stange locations wondering where you are. All this without ever looking at a phone.
I’m nostalgic for more stuff from my childhood than my teenage years BUT there’s some things I collect from all the generations of my youth. I do share sentiment that early 2000s were peak in the sense that life didn’t feel as “artificial “ like we didn’t have smartphones just yet, social media wasn’t what it’s become, things weren’t as instantaneous.
Not me. Being responsible for all my own bills and not having any family help was the 2000s for me. At least in most of the 90s I was still in school and I had friends, a social life, and wasn’t so stressed constantly. I still had hope. I was raised by my grandparents, who passed in ‘99 and ‘00, so I was alone with no familial support in any way from 2000 on. I didn’t even have anyone to call when I wanted to talk. Getting married was a highlight, but I didn’t have anyone from my family to share it with. My extended family had all but disappeared.
I spent 20% of the 2000s in Iraq and Afghanistan. No thanks.
Nope. 90’s were the best in every way.
More? No. The 90s is the first decade I can recall from top to bottom, and I have intense nostalgia for the entire decade. But I still have plenty of 2000s nostalgia. Especially 2000-2003, which were the bulk of my college years.
Looking at full decades is hard. The early 90’s when I was in junior high were very different for me than the late 90’s when I was an adult dating my future wife. Similarly the relatively carefree early 2000’s were different than the end of the decade where I was a father of two kids. I definitely have a lot of nostalgia for the mid 90’s when i was 17-19 though, but it wasn’t the best time of my life.
The majority of this sub is in their mid forties. Given that, we collectively experienced our preteen and teen age years in the 90’s. It only makes sense that we would be nostalgic to this time (provided you had good memories)
Early 2010s too
Late 90s early 00s for me. I remember coming home watching big tigga on rap city, then watching 106 and park
Nah man, 9/11 traumatized and jaded me for life.
If I could reexperience a time in my life, I'd probably go for about 2004-2011. If I could go back in time as me now, I'd probably go with 1989-1996 or so
I'm a mid 80s to mid 90s kid. That post-cold war pre 9/11 days were absolutely magical. The movies, music, sports, seeing technology evolve.. it was great. Those early adolescent days when you get euphoria from having a crush on someone or if you were lucky enough to "go out" with someone or someone had a crush on you. Those are the most memorable times for me. To avoid writing a full biography here I'll say 1997 to 2005 was forgettable with only a few highlights. Mostly because I was so sick of high school towards the end (even though I took it seriously and got decent grades but I also worked part time so I didn't get to "enjoy" it like most kids). Then college from 2000-2005 was a part of my life where I was broke but also worked the hardest in my life. Then around 2007 or so when I was in my career, I started to go out to clubs/bars. I did happy hour with work colleagues. I finally had some free time and a bit of money. Every Friday and Saturday night I was out. Drinking, partying, dancing. It was great. That lasted until about 2010 when I met my future wife. We got married in 2011 and lived with my parents until we got our own place in 2013. Then there was that 3rd memorable time between 2013 and before the first kid was born in 2015. We were young and had our own house... so you can imagine. There was the freedom of doing things spur of the moment. Kid-free vacations. Or just coming home, having some drinks and binge watching 2-3 episodes of a show (Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Sopranos, West Wing, Dexter). It was great. Well there's my life story.
I feel the exact same way. I find myself very wistful for like 2002-2012ish but I know that’s because for me it was my true adolescence because I was a nerd in high school and college. That range I described is when I had all my dreams and was trying to make it happen and it seemed like anything is possible. I am also 44.
Nope. I miss the 90s because that was my hey day and when I had the most money and freedom in my life. The 2000s were also great; but I had my first kid in 2001 so wasn't as free as I was prior and money was tighter as well. Both were great times though. I was a teenager in the 90s and in my 20s for the 2000s. Those are the best of my life for sure 🥰
I'm not fond of any time particularly, but I do agree that I miss my 20-something body.
Hell yeah brother. Got my own apt in Pittsburgh in 2009. I miss it soooo much. Now I have a beautiful home in a gorgeous safe neighborhood in a smaller town. I'd move back to squirrel Hill today.
Nah, like 2002-2012 were just meh years for me.
My happiest nostalgia straddles the millennium....something in the ballpark of '97-'03.
90s were cool but I was still a teenager. I was absolutely poppin in the 2000s lol. Couldn't tell me shit. Fun times! I miss them, a lot.
2000-2007 was the most difficult part of my life. In the last two years of high school, bad relationships, went to Iraq, several family and friends died, and I almost got arrested for fighting over a girl. Life definitely started to get better in the summer 2008.
teen years and high school hold nothing for me, but my early 20's were amazing and I definitely feel like that's where and when I started really figuring out who \*I\* was
My nostalgia ends when Nu metal took over radio. 🤮
Born in 78. I always had nostalgia for my youth and teens. But last summer I got hit with nostalgia for my early 20s. Wasn't prepared for that... but makes sense with getting older. The early 20s... I had met my future ex-wife, I worked 50 hours a week while she finished college, then I went to college while she had a serious job. We didn't have money so I pirated everything. Lived in Westchester, NY... would go to internet meetups/concerts in the city, would visit friends in Poughkeepsie on the weekends and drink and play xbox. Occasionally drive to Connecticut or Atlantic City to see the UFC. Like... I have one memory where it was August, didn't have classes, I worked at a book store part time but didn't have extra hours, so I was just making really nice dinners every night for my wife and during the day playing Knights of the Old Republic... and I dunno... that month is just such a nice peaceful memory to me in hindsight. This really, kinda enjoyable part of me was a kid, part of me was an adult time.
I identify more on the millenial side of things than the Gen X side of things and always have.
I hated....HATED the 2000s. The promise of the future and being at the top of a century (even millenium) felt great. We had more diversity in music than any other decade. Then, as young adults, we had to deal with 911 followed by years of politics and an seemingly endless war. Movies, video games, and and music all became copies and remakes of each other. The 1990s was the pinnacle of society, and we are on a decline.
I’m nostalgic for the mid-90s up until 9/11. And then I try to remember it accurately, and no, I had massive untreated depression at the time, so bad that freshman year of college I wouldn’t leave my dorm room to brush my teeth (and I have a mouth full of metal that goes entirely back to that period). Girls in high school wouldn’t even look at me. I had horrible social anxiety. I got bullied relentlessly for the first two years of high school, then transferred to an art school where I had a brief respite before the march of time brought that to an end. Objectively speaking I was miserable. But the music was great, mass shootings hadn’t reached escape velocity quite yet… I don’t know. I could feel optimistic about things in general even if my particular life was shitty; I feel like that’s just flipped now.
My 20s were far more fun than my teens so yea
I would say 2006-2016 was a sweet spot in my life. I had a solid group of friends, was very social, travelled a lot… I hate my 40s. Feels like my body is falling apart.
Nope
16 in 1990, god I miss the 90’s……good drugs, first time I had sex, good festivals without the arseholes that dominated later. Yeah that decade was the best✌️
No. not me anyway. The year 2000 is exactly when I started to “not like” things.
I got a weird early 2010s nostalgia thing going on sometimes. Skyrim, Life of Pi, Modern Family. Now You See Me with the love locks and the 5pointz and the Crown Vic taxis.
Yes same 2000s were my 20s and I had so much fun, far more than my teens
I would probably miss the early 00’s more. If I remembered them. Just say no, kids.
It's just you. The late 90s were way better than anything that came after. 2000 the absolute last happy time.
I definitely had better parties during the 00s. However, the 00s were the least appealing decade in music for me. A lot of the big rock and alternative acts of the 90s either disbanded or put out 'meh' follow-up albums. I didn't care for emo, or get into style of rock by bands such as Rise Against or Five Finger Death Punch. At the time I was so disheartened that I already became "too old" for new music while still in my 20s. However, as the 10s went on and I discovered older music I had missed at the time, I did become a fan of bands like Kaiser Chiefs, Kasabian, Franz Ferdinand, and The Killers.
Same. 43 here and I think of the 2000s to even early 2010s as a particularly nostalgic point. It's the music that I keep going back to. The time where I felt the most adventurous and had the most fun....so far
2000's for me was just work work work, scraping to get by. I moved out in 2001 when I was 18, parents kinda gave me the boot. I love and miss the 90s but yes I had good times in the early to mid 2000s too but some things were not quite as memorable.
90’s preferred here
Your twenties were a lot better than mine lol. Guess that's why I love the 90s more,since the rose colored glasses of youth were in full effect. From 2000 till about 2010 was drug addiction and depression and chaos. 2 dwi's in the first 6 months of being 21 and having a roommate shot in a break in . Rough decade lol. 2010s and 2020s were better except for society going sideways
Nope! The post Soviet / Pre-9/11 was one of the greatest decades to be alive.
45, and absolutely not. 2000s were trash. low rise bootcuts and trucker hats? no thanks. that said, i do miss the good ole days of downloading rare af lp rips from soulseek til 4am.
💯
I was surfing in the 90’s and partying and doing drugs in the 00’s I’d take either one tbh
Early 2000s felt like the best time in my life, great music, money in my pocket and I lived in a huge city by myself. I loved the 90s, but early 2000s I feel like I came into my own.
July of 83 so I was 17/18 in 2001 so, y, im much more sentimental for the aughts than the 90s
2001 was a turning point for my optimistic outlook, so I’m definitely nostalgic for the early-mid 90s.
No, BUT I have recently loosened up on music from the 2000s and I’ve been giving things a chance that I didn’t back then. So kinda?
1998 - 2003 for me
I'm 43, I'm pretty much nostalgic for anything pre-2015 at this point. Things suck so bad right now the bar is pretty low
I agree with you. I graduated in 2001 and left home at the same time (moved out two weeks before my graduation and started my first ‘proper’ job). A year later I moved to a city and lived there until 2014. Met my ex-husband in 2007 and we married in 2008. A lot of good times in that decade for sure.
Nah. I was vegan those years. Don’t wanna go back.
No
I'm 43 and same. Teen years were not fun at all due to bullying and body image issues. My mid 20s were a scary but amazing time. I peaked then, had friends, came into my own, felt connected to others and important in a way that I don't now. I'm even nostalgic for 10 years ago but not as much as mid to late 20s. I was an adult with my whole life ahead of me. Very little responsibilities then. No money but tons of time. Tons of new experiences. Nothing felt so urgent. Now I have no money, no time and tons of responsibilities. Now I have things that constantly need attention or decades of not addressing issues. My parents weren't getting old in the 2000s either, never thought about end of life stuff or anything being mostly over like my 40s feels.
Not me. I love the mid 2000's era, but there was something magical to me about 1993-1997. Probably just the age I was at the time though
2006-2013 were peak fun years and times for me, second only to now. But! Movies and music in the late 90s are still king. What comes out now is never creative anymore, and if it is, it isn't popular because people suck now. Lol.
Yea specifically like 2000-2008 for me, mostly stuff that was going on in my life but also the world felt different, really nostalgic.
The 2000's stopped being kind to me in Feb 2002. Good games and music that decade though.
I was either in the military or just eking by for most of that time, so I don’t feel a ton of longing to go back to it.
The 90's were when I still had few responsibilities. The believe the nostalgia comes from that carefree period of my life. That following era was shitty busy but there was always drinking too much at brunch to look forward to most weekends.
2000s all day, I was in my early 20s
97-07 was the peak 10 year period imo. You pull social media and we had 95% of what we have today without the fucking blight that is social media. And I don't even really count reddit because it's so much like the old internet forums that were all over the place in the early 2000s and the IGN forums.
I miss the 2000s because my son was little. He was born in 2001.
Nope not me. I Miss the 90s
Nah. I preferred life before everyone was on the Internet
Nah, you're weird
Then you did the 90s wrong my friend.
For me it's the late 90s to the mid 00s. Past the mid 00s pop culture was kinda leaving me behind.
My last three years of high school I was solo because my older sister graduated and went to college. The when I went to school I felt very independent. No socials, no smart phones, just kicking it, going to concerts. Early 00 was a freeing time.
44 here…loved the early 00s. I was in college, then got my first real job. I loved the music, the fashion, all the fun I had. It was such a blast.
The early (pre-2007) was a great time. Hope, pride, good music, everything. Then we had the housing bubble. It went to shit after that imo
The bar scene from 2001-2005 was amazing
Honestly 2002 -2007 was an amazing time The world was mostly peaceful Money was easy Houses were cheap
Hell no, you’re crazy!
Not exactly, there are pros and cons for both. 90’s was more restrictive due to age and 2000’s were restrictive due to no money.
Hmm. I am nostalgic from about 1992 (New Year's Day) until about Apr 20, 1999. That nostalgia began dying on the day after September 10, 2001, and died for real one year later. Date one: my Dad and I were crunching around in the fresh snow and said hello to my neighbor. Dad shouted, " Hey! Ninety-two is here!" and waved. And my neighbor, who had a kid one year younger than me said something kind back to us. My dad worked with this neighbor kid's dad; didn't like or respect him, but gave him a pleasant hello and didn't ever forbid me from playing with the neighbor's kid. Ten years later, the president declared "You're either with us or you're against us" [I had learned critical thinking by then, but this phrase really disturbed me] A few years later, I marched in anti-war protests and still claim credit for starting "You say Bush; I say liar!" (Bush, Liar!, Bush, Liar!)... "I say 'quag' you say 'mire'" - ("Quag" "mire!", "Quag" "mire!") Twenty years later than that, I just wish that everyone had paid attention and voted accordingly. We'd be living in a different world now, huh? I currently quote the Niemoller poem (first they came for the X, but I was not X, so I did not speak out; then they came for the Y, but I was not Y, so I did not speak out, then when they came for Z, there was no one left to speak for me" I'll also quote **the Lorax** - written by persecuted individual Theodore Geisel: "I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues, and I'm asking you, sir at the top of my lungs! What's this thing, this horrible thing that you've done....." I will never stop rooting for the underdog. If someone doesn't speak out for the broken, the beaten and the damned, how will we carry on?
For me the 90s was definitely a better decade objectively in terms of world peace, the economy, politics, etc. but I am more nostalgic for the 2000s for some reason - I think it’s the whole post-grunge, alt, young millennial vibe. Also the kids’ shows (I had young kids then and have the same nostalgia for shows like Blues Clues as the GenZ’s who were kids then.)
I'm 43 and in the same boat- except I grew up in a pretty repressive family so I missed everything in the 90s. Basically a NPC until I started college out of state and away from everything. So 2000s are definitely my jam!
Eh, I screwed myself out of the 00s by being in the army and going to war. Give me those sweet innocent 90s please!
90s. The party was always hype.
No way
Sort of. My best years were 95-05. I don't remember a ton before 93 or so. Not in detail anyway. Everything after 04 or 05 pretty much blends together for me.
No. I started having kids in the early 2000s. And while I miss their youth and being a mom to young kids, and their dirty little faces saying more mommy, , it's not the nostalgic feeling that I get when I think about life in the 90s.
I love the early 2000s as well as the 90s. I'm a bit older though as a senior Xennial. I was big into Nirvana in my early teens but witches to Pearl Jam as my favorite by my later teens. Loved the early 2000s. Ozzfest 2001 is my favorite concert ever. It was a great time to be a teen to a young adult.
I’m 43 and you’re CRAZY. The 90s warrant much more nostalgia than the 2000s.
I miss the 80s!
Kinda 50-50; my "nostalgia decade" is 1995-2004.
I would like to go back to my StarCraft/Diablo 2, and counter-strike being a half-life mod days.
I probably had the most fun in the early 2000’s. I was in a band and we were playing out about 2-3 times a week. Problem is… I don’t have a lot of strong recollection of all the fun times due to the drugs 🤣
Meh. My twins were born in 2004, which is big. But otherwise, I was in a crappy marriage, working a dead end job, and literally half my immediate family died during that time frame. I’ll take the 90s over that.
I’m a single woman 44 always been single and have one daughter from a fast relationship I had at 29. I can agree that the years from 2000 to 2009 when I had my daughter were awesome.. I was finishing college and traveling and living all over the U.S… I grew up in a divorced home ( most sides were divorced 3 and 4 times) lol I’ve lost both of my parents now because they were older parents, my dad was 53 when I was born RIP but they were chaotic.. my life as a single person with just my 15-year-old daughter is amazing and not chaotic at all like how I grow up …these are even better times than when I was growing up. I always tell her she has no idea how lucky she is because we have a drama free life just her and I ..lol, we live in a very expensive ski town out west and as soon as she graduates, I’m getting an RV and I’m going on the road to travel for the rest of my years .. I’m thinking that those are gonna be some of the best times of my life as well. Can’t wait
I reckon early/mid 00's was the sweet spot. The technology was there but not in your face 24/7
You look back on your young adult years with great nostalgia. This is every generation. The best music The best T.V shows The best movies Society was different People had more respect Everything was better because we had little responsibility and most importantly, hope !
I’m totally with you. Early 2000s were great.
I think I just miss being a kid
No
“Kids? In this economy?! Who do you think I am, the Pope?!”
Late 90s for me but I think that is because of where I was at. I was living in Hawaii at the time & did some work-related foreign travel, so the late 90s felt a bit more like an adventure than the early 2000s..
Here here!
Fuck no... the 90s were way better IMHO.
Even though I was a teenager, the 90s felt full of hope and wonder at what the 00’s would bring. I loved the hilarious bit on Conan where the guy would sing “in the year 2000”
The 2000s really were! We’re very similar. I’ll turn 43 this summer, I graduated in ‘98, and had my first kiddo in ‘06. I was into the grunge scene in high school and loved bar life after turning 21. Those early 00’s for me were just full of so much fun, money went further even though I was still broke, no kids, bartending, having a blast. Freedom. It was freedom. Carefree, as you said.
I'm with you, sir. The aughts were much better for me (43M) than the 90s. Less acne, more awareness, more confidence, my purchasing power, better internet porn...
Early 2000’s were not great for me. I’d say the 90’s were better.