For the third time that day I heard the Jonas Brothers’ CD resonating out of my 10-year-old sister’s iHome speakers. Nick Jonas’ nasally voice was testing my patience so I dusted off my old *Nsync CD to show my sister what a real boy band sounds like. She did not agree. But then again she didn’t grow up in the 90s.
As soon as “Tearin Up My Heart” played an entire inventory of memories from the 1990s flooded my mind: baking in my Easy-Bake Oven playing Sonic the Hedgehog on my Sega Genesis and riding my Power Wheels Jeep with my brother. These memories made me awfully nostalgic about the 90s.
Thinking about my neon pink and green 90s childhood I came to realize how much today’s younger generation contrasts from mine – and not in a good way. Today’s kids have lost the simple frivolity that was so prominent in the 90s.
If “Hannah Montana” is the new “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” or “High School Musical” the new “Saved by the Bell” then this generation is greatly deprived of good television.
Even today I crave those Saturday mornings occupied with cartoons such as “Doug Pepper Ann Pinky and the Brain” and “Recess.” There was nothing I looked forward to more than watching the weekly escapades of T.J. Spinelli Vince Mikey Gus and Gretchen.
Today though it seems as if these innocent and light-hearted adventures from the 90s have been replaced by materialism. For example “High School Musical” stars good-looking teenagers that characterize high school as an idealistic love story where it seems homework does not exist. Perfect hair perfect skin and perfect romance hardly characterized my high school experience yet this is how today’s kids will expect their teen years to be.
In retrospect I have come to realize that the animated cartoon characters from my favorite shows were more authentic than the live-action ones on television today.
The role models of the 21st century are not much in which to aspire. Take Britney Spears for example. When she first became famous while most of us were in elementary school she had a sweet persona innocent disposition and actually wore clothes on her CD covers and in her music videos. Sometime after the turn of the millennium her lyrics became much more risqué she got married a couple times and after having two kids decided to make music videos and lyrics so racy that foreign countries banned them. Spears is not exactly someone worth admiring.
Also kids today have developed a sort of cognitive allergy to inexpensive toys and are only happy when playing on their Wii listening to their iPod or riding their electric scooter. No longer are Slinkys Etch-A-Sketches Yomega yo-yos Pokémon cards or Pogs enough to entertain kids. My summer days were always dedicated to four-square competitions Skip-It tournaments and a game of baseball with the neighborhood kids – Wii not included.
When I look back to the 90s I remember trying so hard to endure an entire Mega Warhead but it was just way too sour. I remember yelling out “It’s morphin’ time!” when I was the Pink Power Ranger for Halloween. I remember watching the Disney classics in theaters and I remember asking my mom to feed my Tamagotchi while I was at school. I remember performing the “Circle circle dot dot and now I got the cootie shot” procedure whenever a boy touched me. Most of all I remember running around barefoot playing in mud stomping in puddles and simply enjoying being a kid.
Today we have Facebook cell phones wireless Internet and many more mostly useless luxuries that are slowing gnawing away at childhood. These creature comforts seem to reach kids at increasingly younger ages. It would be best for all generations to remember the childhood values of simplicity and light-heartedness. Remember that life is not a “High School Musical” but rather a game of hopscotch: all you have to do is jump over the obstacles.
