Do people really think that today was better than the 1990s.

[OldSchool]

Although I'm sure not many of you remember them I can assure you the world was in better shape economically and it was much more optimistic.

[Eliza Snark]

To answer your question: Yes. A lot of people hold that opinion. I'm pretty impartial to the matter.

[OldSchool]

To answer your question: Yes. A lot of people hold that opinion. I'm pretty impartial to the matter.

Do explain how smaller cell phones make us better off

[Eliza Snark]

Do explain how smaller cell phones make us better off

I don't believe they do. It does save space in my bag though.

[OldSchool]

I don't believe they do. It does save space in my bag though.

They'd sure be nice if their signal wasn't so bad. House phones were much more reliable.

[Eliza Snark]

They'd sure be nice if their signal wasn't so bad. House phones were much more reliable.

The signal on any of the cell phones I've had these past few years has never given me any problems. I think smarter phones and social networking has made society a little more interconnected.

[OldSchool]

The signal on any of the cell phones I've had these past few years has never given me any problems. I think smarter phones and social networking has made society a little more interconnected.

How so? When I try to communicate with people nowadays they seem more hostile than they were in the early 2000s. They're constantly looking at their phones messaging on the facebook and ignoring anyone trying to say hi. Digital social networking cannot replace a good old fashioned hello. After all over 80% of communication is non-verbal.

[Eliza Snark]

How so? When I try to communicate with people nowadays they seem more hostile than they were in the early 2000s.

You were younger in the early 2000s, and in a different place in life. And interconnected doesn't necessarily mean we're all buddies- What I meant by that is that people share what's going on in their lives a lot more quickly and openly online now.

[OldSchool]

You were younger in the early 2000s, and in a different place in life. And interconnected doesn't necessarily mean we're all buddies- What I meant by that is that people share what's going on in their lives a lot more quickly and openly online now.

Usually that implies people telling each other about what coffee they had in the morning, hardly inspirational material that changes the world vastly for the better.
Regardless, by late 2004 I was already in Middle School and thus can notice a difference between how people acted then and now.

[Fractured Silhouette]

Get lost the 1990s were better. Porn is so much more improved now.

[Eliza Snark]

Get lost the 1990s were better. Porn is so much more improved now.

It's truly the pinnacle of the information superhighway. But in all seriousness, the internet has been a significant gamechanger between the 90s and 00's, and even more so nowadays.

[Mortal Coil]

Uh, hello. VT didn't exist in the 1990s. I rest my case.

[FreeFall]

I miss my snap bracelets now...but I'm pretty indifferent. I was too young in the 90's to really care what was going on. I don't think we're in a good place right now, but it's probably better in comparison of social issues of that decade. But I was too young to much care really, so I can't really say.

[rachin2u42]

better music??? not!!!

[Professional Russian]

better music??? not!!!

in my opinion music was better in the 90s...well i like the 60s 70s and 80s more but i do listen to the 90s and i hate most of todays music....ok i shoud say pop and rap i hate it i hate and i hate it...and wait for nice to come around he'll make a nice debate over this post.

[Iris]

Just this. (http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2011/oct/23/tdmain11-statistics-show-a-peaceful-world-ar-1402994/)

[Jean Poutine]

Although I'm sure not many of you remember them I can assure you the world was in better shape economically and it was much more optimistic.

I'm very probably older than you, if not much older than you.

As soon as I saw you thought the world was better economically I just knew you had to be bullshitting. The early 90s were extremely unstable economically, the price of everything shot up. Black Monday had just happened in '87 and it took Canada until 1995 to start to recover. Chrétien (the PM from '93 to 2003) was all giddy giddy when he managed to slash the budget deficit back to perfect fiscal balance and came on himself repeatedly when the recession ended and he was churning out huge surpluses. I remember having to pay everything double than in the US because the Canadian dollar was so weak as to be almost farcical. The people in Quebec were so poor that the government had to slash computer prices by 500$ around '98, when they started becoming what they are now, so people could afford them, while the prices were not markedly different than today's.

Optimistic? Gotta be shitting me. The Gulf War, Rwanda, Bosnia. The 90s are genocides and massacres in rapid succession. Rwanda was all the rage for years here, because the commander of the UN force was from Quebec. Everybody felt the world was going down the toilet. It was the only thing you could ever hear on the street. The world's fucked up. Some black dudes from a remote African country hacked a million of their fellow black dudes to death. Some white dudes from a remote Balkan country shot 100,000 of their fellow white dudes to death. I remember how scared people were because these things kept happening. The world was degenerating.

Instead of people yammering away on their cell phones or being hooked up to everybody they consider important enough to be hooked up to, people read newspapers or listened to tapes on their Walkmans. People still ignored each other to much the same extent. Nothing has changed.

90s music sucked immensely. Seriously. The 90s are home to some of the most terrible, camp songs ever. Today, production got much better, music is more diverse, more refined, that is, if you steeraway from the commercial pop trash. But commercial pop trash also existed in the 90s, to the exact same extent except perhaps even more terrible.

I remember _those_ years. Go back in your hole, OP. You're not cooler because you think you can remember what happened in the 90s.

[TheBigUnit]

exaclty, we think highly of the 90s cuz thts when we were babies our most innocent age etc, 90s werent really the best of times, we had a war in iraq, instability in the former yugoslavia etcetc, we often say shows in the 90s were much better, sure seinfeld will always be a classic and the fresh prince was amazing, i remember watching an episode of hey arnold and thought how stupid the show was, tht being said a lot of cartoons now are terrible also

[Skeptical Bear]

I'd say that when it comes down to any type of entertainment, the 90's had it good for me. I'm not that old, but I liked shows, movies, etc, way much better back then. The world itself wasn't so good though.

[Sugaree]

OP, unless you were born BEFORE 1997, you don't know shit about the 90s. At all. I remember the 90s as a major disaster, just like Forseti. I don't specifically remember the economic situation, but I DO remember parts of Bosnia, Rwanda, and plenty of other things. No one was optimistic, they were scared shitless from all these atrocities going on day in and day out. You can't tell me with a straight face that the 90s were better than the current day. And if you're going to cite that music or television or movies were better, don't bother coming back into this thread.

[upurmomsass]

Yep, wotrl was wae beta in da 90's econicomaly

[OldSchool]

I'm very probably older than you, if not much older than you.

As soon as I saw you thought the world was better economically I just knew you had to be bullshitting. The early 90s were extremely unstable economically, the price of everything shot up. Black Monday had just happened in '87 and it took Canada until 1995 to start to recover. Chrétien (the PM from '93 to 2003) was all giddy giddy when he managed to slash the budget deficit back to perfect fiscal balance and came on himself repeatedly when the recession ended and he was churning out huge surpluses. I remember having to pay everything double than in the US because the Canadian dollar was so weak as to be almost farcical. The people in Quebec were so poor that the government had to slash computer prices by 500$ around '98, when they started becoming what they are now, so people could afford them, while the prices were not markedly different than today's.

Optimistic? Gotta be shitting me. The Gulf War, Rwanda, Bosnia. The 90s are genocides and massacres in rapid succession. Rwanda was all the rage for years here, because the commander of the UN force was from Quebec. Everybody felt the world was going down the toilet. It was the only thing you could ever hear on the street. The world's fucked up. Some black dudes from a remote African country hacked a million of their fellow black dudes to death. Some white dudes from a remote Balkan country shot 100,000 of their fellow white dudes to death. I remember how scared people were because these things kept happening. The world was degenerating.

Instead of people yammering away on their cell phones or being hooked up to everybody they consider important enough to be hooked up to, people read newspapers or listened to tapes on their Walkmans. People still ignored each other to much the same extent. Nothing has changed.

90s music sucked immensely. Seriously. The 90s are home to some of the most terrible, camp songs ever. Today, production got much better, music is more diverse, more refined, that is, if you steeraway from the commercial pop trash. But commercial pop trash also existed in the 90s, to the exact same extent except perhaps even more terrible.

I remember _those_ years. Go back in your hole, OP. You're not cooler because you think you can remember what happened in the 90s.

22? I'm about 1 year younger than you, whooptie doo, that 1 year makes an enormous difference.

[Jean Poutine]

22? I'm about 1 year younger than you, whooptie doo, that 1 year makes an enormous difference.

Apparently because you know jack shit about the 90s.

[OldSchool]

Apparently because you know jack shit about the 90s.

Just because you dress like Lady Gaga and rock out to your Beaver songs on your ipod doesn't mean they're talented. If you look how screwed are now you'd agree the 1990s were better. For one, our economy is PERMANENTLY damaged. Technology and the financial collapse has basically left The First World with McDonalds service jobs (along with other non-offshorable jobs). Unless you like working at McDonalds, we're in pretty bad shape.
At least the Great Depression had the 1950s occur after it. We're at the end of the line. NOTHING like that will ever happen again. The golden days are over. Long over, even the 1990s weren't all that great compared to earlier times.

[Jean Poutine]

Just because you dress like Lady Gaga and rock out to your Beaver songs on your ipod doesn't mean they're talented. If you look how screwed are now you'd agree the 1990s were better. For one, our economy is PERMANENTLY damaged. Technology and the financial collapse has basically left The First World with McDonalds service jobs (along with other non-offshorable jobs). Unless you like working at McDonalds, we're in pretty bad shape.
At least the Great Depression had the 1950s occur after it. We're at the end of the line. NOTHING like that will ever happen again. The golden days are over. Long over, even the 1990s weren't all that great compared to earlier times.

The appreciation of talent is subjective. Van Gogh painted flaming turds to his contemporaries and became famous only some time after his death. For every Lady Gaga or One Direction now, there was a Hanson or NSYNC in the 90s. PS : no 2010s band is present on my computer.

Please stop talking about the economy. It was terrible in the 90s and it is terrible now.

As a corollary, the tertiary job market in Canada is amazing and even historically overrepresentated fields like law lack enough professionals to fill the demand. R&D spending is highest in Quebec and the EU. There is no lack of skilled jobs.

[OldSchool]

The appreciation of talent is subjective. Van Gogh painted flaming turds to his contemporaries and became famous only some time after his death. For every Lady Gaga or One Direction now, there was a Hanson or NSYNC in the 90s.

Please stop talking about the economy. It was terrible in the 90s and it is terrible now. As a corollary, the tertiary job market in Canada is amazing and even historically overrepresentated fields like law lack enough professionals to fill the demand.

Yeah right. There's so many lawyer you could swim in there. Maybe oil sands work. YUMMY WHO LOVES PHYSICAL LABOR!

Nonetheless, NSYNC is better than the beaver, and I hate NSYNC.

[Jean Poutine]

Yeah right. There's so many lawyer you could swim in there. Maybe oil sands work. YUMMY WHO LOVES PHYSICAL LABOR!

You must be trolling me. I'm swimming in legal jobs.