We
all remember the good, colorful 90s. Each of us
has his/her own associations connected with that time. Please join me and let’s
make a short travel back in time.
My
first thought when speaking about my childhood is obvious: music! But not SOME
music. THIS music:
(http://julieluongo.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/spicegirls.jpg)
(http://omgeemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/5wiLhlwJk0Qsif0.jpg)
Unquestioned queens and kings
of the scene of that time. We all know them, we all heard their songs, many of us collected posters from the Polish edition of
"Bravo" and "Popcorn", or wasted hours searching for
information in the German edition of the newspapers, which were only available
in Empik.
When
I was not ‘hunting’
in Empik, I spent time in the
backyard. Climbing trees or
garages was my everyday activity; yet, there
was one thing that was a unique challenge and a
social activity as well: Chinese jump rope.
(http://gfx.mmka.pl/newsph/449667/1311498.3.jpg)
Do
you know if it’s still popular? Nowadays I don’t see kids who jump
like me in my
childhood.
Anyway,
when the weather did not allow for backyard madness,
there was a lot to do at home. Any operation designed
to kill boredom in
the house was accompanied by some
equipment strapped to the belt:
(http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/gaming.gadgets/10/25/sony.retires.walkman.mashable/t1larg.sony.walkman.flickr.jpg)
Thanks
to this wonderful invention, which was the
walkman, I could have Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys always with me.
And
what about the school? There was enough time
for the enrichment of social
life. The most popular ways to do it was a very exciting exchange! Desired
goods:
Ring binding
inserts
(http://lilithrin.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/20fs0wn.jpg)
and stickers collected from Turbo chewing gums!
(http://gfx.mmka.pl/newsph/289794/300522.3.jpg)
I
was really busy when I was a child. Between all activities I listed above, I
had to take care of the virtual creature
– Tamagotchi.
(http://nvate.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Toys4.jpg)
As
far as I know you can still buy Tamagotchi but it is not so popular in the 21st
century. Bandai, a Japanese toy making and video game company wants to change
it and introduce a new, better version of this
iconic toy. You can find more details here:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Toys/tamagotchi-friends-rebooted-fall-2014/story?id=21020541.
And
the last but not least: technology. What was stealing
my time? The first symptoms of a virtual social life – IRC!
(http://slownikkomputerowy.pl/media/172972/klient_irc_635x454.jpg)
Most
of us have an account on Facebook,
I think everyone had an account on Gadu-Gadu, but which one of you had your nickname on
IRC?
What else do I
remember? The list is very long:
- round, colored chewing gum (http://gumyizelki.pl/uploads/norm_gumy_kulki_1.png)
- „Alf”, ”Beverly Hills, 90210”, „Married... with Children”,
- Video Home System (http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHS),
- MS-DOS and Windows 3.11 :)
And much, much more!
What about you? Do you remember the same
elements of the 90s? What is your first thought
when speaking about your childhood? What are you missing the most?
How about 2014? What is popular among children now?
It was a big pleasure to read this presentation and it’s topic made me smile immediately. Our childhood was full of great gadgets that stuck in my memory and of which I think with tenderness.
ReplyDeleteThe one that I cherished the most and is my best recollection are LEGO blocks. When I was a boy I loved to sit for hours putting together those, sometimes very precise, models and I enjoyed every small detail of it. Receiving a new pack of LEGO was making me the happiest man in the world! Gosh, I remember those moments! And even now, when I have some spare time, I assemble LEGO Technics. Of course, my dreams have grown up with me and those simple sets of blocks are not sufficient anymore. Recently, I long for blocks for "big boys", and surprisingly LEGO offers something like that. The latest model of Lego Mindstorms includes a computer system, a set of modular sensors and motors, and parts from the LEGO Technics.
Except from LEGO, the second thing I remember from my childhood, is a game called "Wolf and Hare". It was produced by Russian digital games ElectronicsIM in the 80's, and it was based on the popular Soviet cartoon. The game had one very simple rule: chickens were shedding eggs and wolf had to catch them. This is how it should be played:
http://www.cda.pl/gry-online/12929d2/WILK-I-ZAJAC
What I also recall from the 80's is Pegasus - one of the first console that appeared in Poland. I do not forget the emotions that accompanied me when I passed subsequent levels in “Contra”, or when I defeated a dragon in “Mario Bros”... It was a great time for a little kid.
When I am comparing my childhood with contemporary times I make a conclusion that children are growing up faster than my generation, and they grow out of toys more rapidly. It is hard to say what is popular among children right now, because I do not especially follow the toy market. My son is only 10 months old and he is interested in everything except toys. He is playing mostly with cables from my computer and with a remote control, but I do not think that it could be a worldwide trend :-)
I forgot the most important thing: “Kuku Ruku” (Koukou Roukou) - the wafer with chocolate filling! For me it is as cult as “Turbo” or “Prince Polo”. It had a really fantastic taste and in each package were stickers to collect!
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgAGcq5AiZE
Piotr, thank you for nice words :)
DeleteI have to say that I also have sentiment for LEGO blocks. I had a chance to be in danish Legoland (http://www.legoland.dk/en/). It was a real pleasure to see this amazing place! I strongly recommend you to visit this amusement park if you will have a chance.
Thanks for mentioning games. My strongest association - Wolfenstein 3D (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfenstein_3D). Do you remember this game? :) I work with set-top-boxes and few months ago we had a realy simple project for Malaysian market. After we finished, developers showed us what they made during this project to make it more interesting during creating it - they launched Wolf 3D on this STB. It was incredible collision of times - old, classic game on completely new hardware (not being a traditional computer) and huge 50 inch smart TV.
Koukou Roukou? I completely forgot about it! Unfortunately I don't remember its taste anymore :(
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ReplyDeleteI was born in 1990, so I'm basically I'm a child of '90 - I was listening to Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls (I would also like to add Britney Spears), collecting ring binding inserts (I didn't even know why I was doing that!) and had a Tamagotchi as well (little Dinosaur named Dexter). I would add to that list Pokemon - games, anime, tazo (http://www.iceis.pl/tazo/tazo-pokemon,480px.jpg), cards... I was a Pokemaniac! To be honest I think I’m still one. Like Piotr mentioned - I also used to be a big fan of Lego. I still keep very big box with those and wait to have kids - then I will be able to play with Legos again and nobody will think that’s childish!
ReplyDeleteI also recall rushing home after school to watch the new episode of DragonBall on RTL7. At 16.15 life on my playground used to stop - every kid was sitting in front of their TV, watching Goku and Friends (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li62ZIx_71U) or Captain Tsubasa (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rNqKfwtulI), but it wasn’t that popular for my generation.
Speaking of cartoons – I felt in love with them, while I was watching Cartoon Network I was watching anime as well). It was even more worthy for me and my education, because I had only English Channel. At the beginning I was only watching the picture, but with passing time I was able to understand more and more words, so in some way it helped with my language skills.
Piotr mentioned "Wolf and Hare" – I don’t recall that game, but I wasted hours playing Heroes III (which recently celebrated 15th anniversary) and Baldur's Gate. Playing those together with friends with "hot seat” mode was priceless. But there is a memory that I'm sure everyone have - modems. It took forever to download 1 MB of data and it always disconnected when somebody called!!! And that sound... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsNaR6FRuO0
I hope that my children will have as much fun as I used to have. Nowadays, me and my friends are the only ones, who play football on the pitch. Playgrounds are empty, I see a few kids hanging of the trees and the thought that they prefer to spend their free time in front of TV or Computer, instead of socialising with other youngsters makes me really sad.
Jakub, I have to say I wasn't a fan of DragonBall and Pokemons. I was too busy watching Sailor Moon! :)
DeleteIt's sad what you are writing about children sitting in front of computer or TV but I'm afraid it's true. I remember I was doing verything to go out, the worst time was when I was sick and I had to staying at home. I think today children don't have such imagination as we had - it's easier to run a computer game and not need to be creative.
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ReplyDeleteI was also born in 1990 (I used to call it "the actual date of christmas" in the 90's).I watched MacGyver and tried to create machine gun from paperclip and baloons. Actualy, I made quite a nice sling.
ReplyDeleteIt was a nice period of time but I don't think NOWADAYS kids are doing something wrong. We have different times, so kids are doing diffrent staff. There's nothing wrong with that apart from 12-years-old kids looking like little dirty pigs, eating crisps.
Mikołaj, I'm sorry but I don't agree with you at all. I think kids are doing very wrong, because very often... they do nothing.
DeleteNot long ago I've visited my old school. 14-year old interrupted his conversation with a teacher, because he had to check his e-mail on a smartphone.
DeleteQuestion 1:
Is it normal?
Question 2:
Why do most kids have mobile phones at school (I'm putting an impact on the word "most")
Question 3:
What was so important, that he had to check that mail. Message from Farmville?
Question 1: I think it's starting to be normal these days and I can't understand it, could someone explain this please?!
DeleteQuestion 2: The only way I can explain myself this situation are worried parents who have the technology today (but it doesn't explain why such kid have a better smartphone than me, not to speak of e.g. my boss)
Question 3: No comment. Just no. O_o
I'm worried of having a child...
@Agnieszka, @Jakub Oh, come on! Children always live in their own worlds, that are hard to understand by adults. Stop being so judgemental!
DeleteAnd to your question "why do most kids have mobile phones at school" - because they got them from their parents, who want to easily control them. Definitely not the kids' fault!
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Delete@Ludwik Trammer You're absolutely right! It's very important for you, as a family, and your safety to be able to conrol each other. Control in a good way. That's why we all should use appropriate smartphone apps. I would like to recomend the best one I know which is http://www.gdziejestdziecko.pl/ app. Try it!
Delete@Ludwik @ Mikolaj In my oppinion parents haven`t got any time for children. The most of parents doesn`t know anything about own child. If parents doesn`t spend any time with children they will never understand them. So perfect idea "control" chidren by mobile phone becouse it is only way to spend time with them.
DeleteDo you think that all conversation with child by text message is it a good idea?
Same as you I am 24, born in 90's and the same things have fulfilled my dreams on these days :-) Maybe not really Backstreet Boys or Spice Girls... but i was more like a fan of good rap music. I can remember when the Eminem was the shizzle and I listened alot to his music. This is how I became a huge fan of music in general and started making music. Because of my best friend's dad, who played guitar in a small town, local rock band, I fell in love with six stringed electric guitar and its harshy sound. But before I bought my first guitar, I used to create alot of hip hop music with my best friend, using the old software called Hip Hop eJay, you can still find the project and see how it's really evolved in some proffesional music maker : http://www.ejay.com/us/ . The program was really easy to use, just drag and drop blocks, put on the timeline from prepared music samples and there was no way to create some bad sounding music and that was the point. For the young kids, without any knowledge about how to make music, theory or anything like that, it was a pure fun to hear something "interesting" just after few drag and drops. Beside music, I was a very active kid in a sport field. Basketball, Football, Skateboard, Free Running etc. there was always some good healthy or not really safe things to do :-) As Piotr and Jakub mentioned LEGO, cartoons, that was awesome, I have to say i don't regret a single minute from my childhood :-) I believe you guys also ! Ps I really have to say that also very important and developing was the fact that I worked as a child, I was a companion for my dad in his work travels which included selling vegetables all over the country. I can't say, nowadays kids do these kind of things.
ReplyDeleteThat was a nice reminder of how I used to spent my free time! What I would add is that since computers were not so popular and I didn't have one until times of Pentium 60 my young social life had been quite satisfying. Nowadays, kids just sit there in front of their PC's (or even tablets) and watch funny cat pictures on the internet (just like me doing it now). Before the computer era we used to spend time amongst friends from my neighborhood playing football and baseball. We were really keen on sport, girls were cheerleading local teams and boys were playing all various football games all day long. Baseball on the other hand was quite risky to play. Our field was located in between two 10-floor buildings, so everyone feared that we would break windows with well struck ball. We had luck (or no skills?) and nothing bad has ever happened. However sometimes we had to fight for our sport equipment and protect it against older boys because at that time one of my friends had a special model of a baseball bat that was very rare in Poland. This was even before baseball bats became forbidden by our law. By the way fun fact : forbidden baseball bats are only the ones which are not 100% original made of aluminum. The one that we played with, was some cheap fake made of wood. Of course I also remember well all the things which you've mentioned and also guys in their comments, especially cartoon network in English, dragon ball and IRC which I've used to chat with some older folks playing Diablo 2 online.
ReplyDeletePaweł, Diablo 2 was during times of IRC? I was sure that Diablo is younger, that IRC already "died" when Diablo was so popular.
DeleteIt is true that it was not so popular anymore, but it was a "place" where biggest, most experienced players and people who ran online stores with in-game items were making decisions influencing whole community, like fixing prices of items and setting up so called "world events" :)
DeleteAnd how it looks like today? I'm not a game player so have no idea by what IRC is replaced in this matter? :)
DeleteI'm not playing computer games anymore, but actually I think a lot of this people are still out there on IRC channels :)
DeleteEnjoyable topic which opens a new semester.
ReplyDeleteI have similar memories as you Agnieszka. Just like you wrote - the list is very, very long. What first came to my mind - honestly admit that I'm lost, because I think a few things at the same time;).
Starting from fables - The Lion King - an undeniable hit of childhood. TV series that have already been mentioned in the comments, but it’s impossible to omission them - as I once wrote Captain Tsubasa was my big idol. Every day after the episode I had to play the football. As we played with my colleagues we tried to imitate on the field a lot of tricks from the episodes. Another memories associated with Pokémon. Collecting tazoos, stickers. Total madness. From those times I also remember such cartoons as Inspector Gadget or Jim Button.
At school or in the backyard girls always gave diaries - tens, often more than one hundred questions about my and my family personal data, plans for the future (in primary school), feelings and affection. For this everything - nice envelope, poems, drawings, quotes -the more the better. I was rather minimalist in this regard. ;) Of course everyone from the class had to enter into such diary or otherwise notebook called ‘Złote myśli’. In hindsight I wonder what happened with those treasuries trove of knowledge after completing school ...?
Game from childhood (beyond all from the backyard) was mainly pegasus - Mario Bros, Pacman, and sweets, well, I will not be original if mention Turbo chewing gums, but I will add ‘Andruty’ from me.
Full house, MacGyver, Hercules, Xena, Power Rangers, Police Academy it's a little bit later period.
What is popular among children now? Nowadays probably computer games and TV are a sources of entertainment for many children. In spite this, in the summer I often see children who rides a bike, roller skates or skateboards. They also play in ‘podchody’ (on the sidewalks full of arrows drawn in chalk). Nearby school sports field open late into the evening is always filled by football players.
"Złote myśli" - I had few such books because this idea was evaluating all the time. I was moving a lot since I finished high school and I was forced to get rid of some things so I don't have these books anymore. Which makes me sad today, because it could be very interesting to read it now ;)
DeleteAnd to be honest - today, when the Internet is so popular there is a lot of discussions regarding personal data. And then? "Złote myśli" were even better than facebook today! Questions about addresses, names, firends, phone numbers, parents occupations, etc. And everything in our back packs. GIODO would not be satisfied ;)
Exactly like you I was grown in '90. I remember all that things! I spend a lot of my childhood in the backyar where I was playing with the skipping rope. I had yo-yo, Tamagotchi and walkman.
ReplyDeleteI also remember great TV series like Xena and Hercules.
Then day without new bruise was lost.
It was a great time.
Nowadays I see that children have less freedom. They cannot go outside without they parents, because people are talking that parents aren't bring up them.
Two days ago I saw on my friend's facebook wall pix of her daughter who is in the playground with helmet. This is ridiculous.
I don’t blame kids that they prefer their mobile phones than skipping ropes. Personally, I think that this is parents fault.
Ewa, I also don't think it is a kids fault. BUT you have written very important thing "I saw on my friend's facebook wall pix of her daughter" - no comment about the helmet, what I want to say is - nowadays parents are our friends! Or brothers and sisters. I'm asking:what happened? They were growing up with us on the same backyards and with the same or similar ways of spending time. Why their children have helmets?!
DeleteOh my God it is so nice to talk about all that stuff from the past. Of course I wanted to one of the Spice Girls, I dont remember which one though:P. I pretened with my girlfriends that we are them - we dressed up and pretended to sing. I even had a whole book abour the band and it was like a treasure for me. Tamagotchi was another great thing back in my childhood, I wans't so good with keeing it alive but I loved it anyway. Jump rope, walkman…That was something. Speaking about the schol we did exachnge Ring binding inserts, it was so exciting.
ReplyDeleteWe didn't have that variety of stuff to play with but we managed just all right, didn't we guys?:P
I have similar memories to @MariuszSz - I loved watching disney movies, they were the best at the time, I also wrote a lot of "Złote myśli" it as so great to get notes from the boy I liked hahahah. I wonder if I still have those notebooks somewhere. I must definately search for them! Thanks for reminding me about it:D
Izabela, regarding pretending to sing... did you have in your school Mini Playback Show? I'm still wondering if there is someone who has pictures from this show in my primary school :)
DeleteMy childhood is connected with many things. Most of them have been already mentioned in comments, as Dragon Ball, Lego, Backstreet Boys, Pokemon. Most of the time I spent though with my freinds riding a bike or climbing trees. I was into computer games as well. Commandos, Warcraft 2, Dune 2000, Heroes M&M 3, Age of Empires and mentioned earlier – Baldur's Gate.
ReplyDeleteI remember short episode in my young life, when my family was moving to Warsaw and for over 2 months I didn't have computer and knew no friends from new school at the time. That was the moment when I started watching... Discovery Channel. Yeah. And then I went the Engineering/IT way... :)
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ReplyDeleteGreat topic right here, an encyclopedia of our childhood activities (seems like a vast majority of this blog's participants were born in the 1990 radius).
ReplyDeleteAs an 'IT guy', almost all of the games and video consoles, mentioned in the earlier posts, played a significant part in my childhood (and a nightmare for my parents, who thought they had bought this new awesome PC mainly for themselves), I was also into board games, with Magic The Gathering as the main focus. I used to go scouting for the booster packs at Empik with my brother and spent a lot of money for a couple of cards - after a few trips we decided that we can manufacture them ourselves :)
The prices of food were awesome - if I had taken 5 zlotys to school, that was a luxury and i could buy LOTS of "Andruty's", ultra-cheap lemonade and a handful of chewing gums for all-day consumption. Feels like a boss, considering todays' hamburger for 6 Zlotys in PJWSTK cantine :)
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ReplyDeleteI definitely collected ring binding inserts! I think everybody was doing that, but nobody knows why ;) I also collected stickers. That was before Pokemons and commercialisation of the act of collecting ;)
ReplyDeleteI also had Tamagotchi. I got my Tamagotchi and my (real) dog more or less at the same time and I remember that Tamagotchi was much more expensive than the dog!
I was never really into IRC (thought I remember discovering the atrocious Microsoft Comic Chat IRC client (look it up! It was ridiculous!) when I was about 13, and trying to talk to people, unintentionally annoying them.
There is however another chat system linked to my childhood. Polchat.pl. Between the ages of 14 and 15 I headed the biggest Polish Harry Potter Chatroom in Poland ;) It's a long, complicated story, described by my friend Marcin here (in Polish). I met a lot of friends there, including Marcin who to this day is one of my closest friends.
Being called 90's kid is now in a fashion which has my support. Since 2008 when I began studying on university when I began to meet new people one of common area to talk was childhood games, movies, music etc.
ReplyDeleteOne of the first thoughts that come to my mind when I move to my childhood are the music stars of that era. Due to the fact in those days there was no Internet access, knowledge about our idols we had to take from newspapers. One of them was Bravo Girl and Popcorn. In addition to the dose of the information contained, there were also various other sections such as humour, photostories, the problems of teenagers and of course - posters.
ReplyDeleteSoap operas – those are the second thing I remember. The one, in front of which the whole family sat is obviously Esmeralda, where we could follow the fate of a blind girl struggling with life's problems. I also remember the visit of the main actress playing Esmeralda - Leticia Calderón, which only confirms the popularity of the show..
Things I still hold from the past are obviously caps, Tazos, phone cards – I have a big collection of those. Treats that come to my mind is very sour gum Shock, Magic Stars chocolates, Snack and Frugo with its puffing cap.
As a child I used to spend all my free time playing the gum, hide and seek, stalking, "truth or dare" and Chinese jump rope, that's what I miss the most. Nowadays, unfortunately, most of the time kids spend their time playing computers. Popular heroines for girls are Hanna Montanna, Violetta and Monster High.
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ReplyDeleteThere's a life truth that spreads the internet, that I really like, and that in my opinion is a good conclusion on the topic of a „bad” new generation. The world changed dramatically in a very short time. We cannot prevent kids in school having phones - this technology is all around us and it’s just impossible to exclude it from a part of our lives.
ReplyDeleteWhat we can do is to try to stimulate our children brains and try not to spoil them. As it was mentioned before - kids in primary school don’t need to have expensive new smartphones. A phone that lets them call their parents when they leave the school to get home would be enough. Playing computer games is something that we also used to make in our spare time (don’t forget Atari, Commodore 64, Pegasus), but that shouldn’t be the only after school activity. It is far more beneficial when children brain uses imagination, e.g. when playing outside with other kids. This is something that will impact their future lives, and all parents should consider adding more creative ways to spend free time to their children schedule.
a post of nostalgia :) it always collects a lot of comments.
ReplyDeletecourse I remember and share all those memories, I've been listening to these music and was using these things.
Now, when I think about that time, the following anecdote comes to my mind: "An old lady been asked why she is saying that she wants a return of an USSR ? - Because back then I was young and pretty and my back was not hurting".
Same with us, the older we are the more positive we think about our childhood years.
Of course I remember that time. I've been collecting stickers :) I`ve got big album with my stickers and it was occupied the most of the space in my backpack.
ReplyDeleteBut most of my free time i spend with my friends outside the home. We wos playing ball riding a bicycle. And i had roll I've always been battered by them.
That was a great time :)
Now I don't see any children on playgrounds. Kids spend all of their time at home, on computer games, with their friends talk only by facebook or text message. For them is more important to get the next lvl in the game than meeting friends. Is it normal? In my opinion no! In my opinion we are educate society which doesn't distinguish between the real world and the game.
I was also born in 1990, in addition to children's day :)
ReplyDeleteAgnieszka, I had very similar childhood to your which was filled walkman, stickers collected, Tamagotchi... but
what I most remember from my chilhood is a primarily fun outdoor.
When I was kid there no such day in which I don't ride a bike. When my oldest brother got a bike in his first communion, I spent more time on bike than he.
When my legs grew tired I change a fun and practiced climbing feats in the trees. I never fell, but often scratched.
As I had no strength I let go kite.
That was my whole chilhood.
I think it' was a very active and healthy period.
Thanks for this presentation! It made me think on my own childhood, which brought really pleasant memories. I share your point of view that today children spend time in quite a different way than I and my friends did. When I was a few years old twe had no computers (luckily!). I used to choose playing outside than watching TV. I remember spending a lot of time outside, playing ball or hide and seek.
ReplyDeleteBTW, did you use to make tattoos from Donald bubble gum as well?
http://www.alejakomiksu.com/gfx/artykuly/dogory.jpg
I also remember watching fairy tales (cut in slides) on a projector.
http://0.s.dziennik.pl/pliki/2853000/2853185-ania.jpg
I still have it at home and I sometimes turn it on to watch old photographs.
I'm really happy that I had a chance to have a childhood I spent having fun with my friends from the neighbourhood, playing ball on the pitch and not worrying anything.