If there's anything that Generation X is known for, it's for being the best generation of angsty teenagers. Sure, Baby Boomers had their hippie streak, but everything they've done since has been so chronically uncool it's basically ruined their generational reputation. Millennials are, for the most part, kind of try-hards. They were not particularly known for being rebellious youths on all but one front: teen pregnancy. Nobody did pregnancy pacts like Millennials, and as a member of Gen Z , I r…

Remember how EVERYONE and their mothers drank Slimfast Shakes...

Who would win in a fight: the crazy Honeycombs mascot or someone who just ate an Airhead in those old school commericals?

Generation X is the most frequently forgotten generation whenever Generations discourse comes up. Now, all everybody cares about is Baby Boomers, Millenials, and Gen Z, and their various quirks and Gen X is so often ignored. And honestly? That's probably for the best. Generation X used to be the “kids these days” who served as the punching bag for complaints about how the youth are bad now. I will give Gen X credit for having the angstiest “disaffected kids” media. Clerks , Reality Bites , Trai…

Was it that great?

RIP AOL chat rooms

As a millennial born in the late 1980's, I had the pleasure of witnessing some major cultural shifts, the most prominent being the advent of the Internet. While my early childhood was internet-free, as I got older I was introduced to both the wonders and horrors of the world wide web. And at first, I had to use dial-up internet to enjoy them. The haunting sound of dial-up internet booting up (and the anticipation that came with it) is just one of the many joys kids these days will never underst…

The way people who never lived through the 80s see that era represented in media is quite inaccurate. If I didn't know any better, I would think that in the 80s, everyone was wearing neon, leggings, tutus, and headbands at all times. In fact, I would've thought that attire was socially mandated. Luckily for me, I have been obsessed with the movie Heathers (1989) since I was 14 years old, so I'm quite acquainted with how boxy, and ugly 80s clothes could be. And don't even get me started on 80s h…

2023 here we come!

Memories

I'll take dino nuggets over Turkey any day!

Nostalgia works in interesting ways. Typically, we see media and culture going through the 20-year nostalgia cycle , where iconography and media from 20 years ago come back into style. We saw it in the 90s with shows like That 70s Show, and we saw it in the 70s with movies like Grease . We're even seeing it now with early 2000s fashion coming back for Gen Z. Nostalgia comes in different cycles, and it seems to be coming quicker than ever. I'm even starting to see nostalgia for 2012 popping up l…

The nostalgia is strong with the people of the Internet. We're guilty of it, too. It's hard to escape the articles about millennials , ‘90s kids memes, and the nostalgic pictures of bygone products and customs that are constantly being shared on social media. While we miss Altoids sours as much as the next geriatric millennial, the incessant wistfulness is getting old. Instead of crying about the products of capitalism we used to enjoy, today we’re going to take a weird walk down a different me…

What does it truly mean to be a 90s kid? I'd say there are two competing definitions that will likely always be at odds with each other. The first “90s kids” are the people who truly spent a bulk of their childhood in that decade; essentially, people born in the 80s. The other group of 90s kids are those born in the 1990s. I am just barely in that latter group of 90s kids, being born in the literal last year of the 1990s.

No generation can mock us because we have accepted the cringe—NOW, WE ARE UNSTOPPABLE!

Ugh, as IF.