Growing up in the 90’s and growing up today

Probably this is a very common topic, but I decided to write about this because of a recent incident. 

So, I recently happened to meet a group of kids, all of them immersed in their cell phones, (read: phones much posher than what I own). I observed them for about 15 minutes, they hardly spoke to each other. One was busy using Whatsapp, while other was on Facebook and the other on YouTube and so on.

Looking at them, I remembered Albert Einstein’s famous quote.

“I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.”

I eventually started a conversation with them. We spoke about various topics…their schools, tuition, phones, interests, dislikes and so on. They started complaining about how tough they have it. They said they had to deal with tough choices in life. I was dumbfounded!

After having an encounter with those kids, I decided to write on how it was growing up back in the 90s and how it is today.

Firstly, I feel lucky because I got to see the both sides of the spectrum. - the world before the technology invasion and the world after. However, when I look at kids (who are very pampered, ) around, I sometimes feel sad for them because they will never know what it was like growing up in the 90s.

Our generation did not depend on Google for assignments or YouTube for entertainment. We didn’t stay indoors because there was nothing to do unless it was raining and even then, we would beg our parents to go out, at least to the porch.  

We were born in era where we did not have cell phones (They did exist, but was not common in a middle-class household) and Facebook and the internet. We did have video games (remember Contra, Duck hunt, Aladdin?) and Walkmans.

Though there was a TV at home, we did have a radios as well. And when either of the child had their board exams coming up, the television connection would be disconnected. 

In my house, the radio was on all the time. I clearly remember, when "Samprati varthaaaha shuyantham pravachakaaha... Baldaevananda Sagaraha" boomed the voice of the Sanskrit newscaster at 7:05 am on All India Radio, my mother would yell asking me to get ready for school. The Sanskrit news followed by the “School chale hum” song… nostalgic!

Yes, I definitely agree that today, kids face a lot of competition… often termed as a ‘healthy competition’. But, I strongly believe there is no such thing as ‘healthy’ competition. In a competitive culture, a child is told that they aren’t enough to be good. They must triumph over others. But the more they compete, the more they need to compete to feel good about themselves. But winning doesn’t build character; it just lets a child gloat temporarily.

Okay.. I’m getting diverted from the actual topic. I’ll write about this some other time. :P

So.. I understand that kids today have access to things which we did not have. They have more access to educational materials, larger social circles (social media), lesser likelihood of losing contact with existing contacts...blah blah blah. Although there are definite perks to their childhood, in my opinion no time period was better to grow up in than in the '90s.

The beautiful and fulfilled evenings when friends would come around and we would play video games (usually one player at a time because not many people had two joysticks, that was quite posh) for about an half an hour, then we would go outside to play or meet our friends on the common. This of course meant lots of time outside, running, jumping, climbing trees and of course GULLY CRICKET. I was pretty healthy and happy as I recall, and blissfully unaware of how lucky I was.

Birthday parties meant so much though it was typically a piece of cake, chips, coke and chocolate. Nowadays kids are hardly a part of the social gatherings. Even if they do, they are immersed in their cell phones.

On the whole, I think 1990's was one of the best decades to have grown up in because we had a taste of both the worlds. We were admonished and sometimes beaten, if we did something wrong. We were disciplined and taught to respect elders more than we acknowledge.

I do miss being a child! :(

P.S: I have surely missed out on many points like the floppy's, cassettes..etc. However, if you (my non-existent readers) are a 90s kid, you will surely know the amazing fun we had back then.

P.S2: I have nothing against Facebook, YouTube, or social media for that matter. 

P.S3: I don't think this article exactly talks about how proud I feel to be a 90s kid. But, honestly speaking, I'm very glad.