Changing Perspectives

Nostalgia is defined as, “a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one’s life.”  

Recently, it seems as though the people my age (15-17) are looking back on their childhoods with extremely high esteem, glorifying the fact that they are “90’s kids.” Does nostalgia and hindsight alter our perspective of previous events?

Using the example of the 90’s, most of the generation of “90’s kids” believe they are the last kids to not have a cell phone until seventh grade, or to watch cartoons in the morning instead of MTV reality shows.  It seems like since their childhood, everything’s been on the downturn, because Disney Channel doesn’t show Lizzie McGuire, but Shake It Up, and Nickelodeon shows Victorious instead of The Amanda Show.  

There have been numerous posts online about how the television aimed at pre-teens and children these days show nothing but girls pining for a boyfriend, and adults acting irresponsibly when in charge of young people.  The argument is that 90’s and late 00’s television taught lessons, and set a good example for kids. They tackled the real issues: I remember one episode of Lizzie McGuire showing the dangers of anorexia and body image.

How true is this, that 90’s television was really better?  That kids these days aren’t innocent anymore, but overexposed to shows that teach promiscuity rather than morale?

The people saying such things are 15 to about 22 years old. A lot of this talk is probably due to nostalgia; we’re all growing up and changing at different checkpoints in our lives. We’re yearning for a past that promised safety and control, because now, everything is unsettled and nothing is defined in our lives.  In doing this, we’re warping the truth.

The truth is, there have always been every generation’s share of “bad.” The 80’s kids probably felt that the new 90’s generation had bad music, and what happened to rock and roll?  Who is Slim Shady?  Change is evident.  

As the world changed from television being the highest entertainment medium, to the Internet and online social networking, of course there’d be criticism. The people glorifying themselves as 90’s kids are really just upset that they don’t have that childhood anymore; they don’t see other kids enjoying what they had.

We can’t tell if the television shows today or the Internet are for the better, or for the worse. It’s too early to say that.  Kids from the 90’s are noticing the change in the up and coming generations, and are worried about it; these are the kids that’ll be running the country alongside us?  The nostalgia is setting in, and it’s causing an outbreak of criticism and generalizations for “kids these days.”

In hindsight, the 90’s were the best time to be a kid. During the 90’s, it was probably thought that the 80’s were the best time to be a kid. Change brings about nostalgia, and nostalgia alters our perspective. It makes things out to be greater than they were.

Jaclyn Onufrey is a sophomore at .