Whats your opinion

It felt more like the 90's. I don't think people give the 80's credit for being as advanced as it was. It truly is one of the greatest decades of all time! In the 80's we already had cable TV, VHS, CD's, Walkman's, clothing was a lot more casual, the PC and home gaming (thanks NES!).

No, I feel it was a decade all it's own. The toys and playthings were different, the fashion too. The cartoons were similar to 1970s cartoons though, only they were updated. It was fuuuun being a kid in the 80s! :D

I think being a kid was more similar to the 1970's.

So far I'm noticing; older guys like Howard think it was similar to the 70s and someone younger like Jordan thinks it was similar to the 90s. ;D

So far I'm noticing; older guys like Howard think it was similar to the 70s and someone younger like Jordan thinks it was similar to the 90s. ;D


cause growing up in the late 70's since I was about 5 years old in 1979, it was a good time cause it had more nostalgia.

It was a toughie, but I'd say the 1970s. You still had the Cold War going on, manners/etiquette of the '80s was a lot more courteous compared to the more informal '90s, VCRs/Cable/PCs were more advanced, but there was still no Internet yet, board games still had a level of depth that most video games couldn't accomplish and until the very end of the decade, such electronics were still seen as "toys", you still wrote letters rather than e-mailing them, both decades with very mainstream pop culture in that almost everyone listened to the same bands/songs, TV shows, wore the same fashions, movies (less alternative), Sesame Street of the '80s just as "classic" as that of the '70s, Dark Age Disney, suburbia, more stay-at-home mothers, and like I said with tech, more kids playing outside. I myself as a '90s kid spent a considerable amount of time indoors playing NES/SNES/Genesis/PC Games on floppy disk/early CD-ROM/other electronic toys such as the Precomputer 1000/2000.

It was a toughie, but I'd say the 1970s. You still had the Cold War going on, manners/etiquette of the '80s was a lot more courteous compared to the more informal '90s, VCRs/Cable/PCs were more advanced, but there was still no Internet yet, board games still had a level of depth that most video games couldn't accomplish and until the very end of the decade, such electronics were still seen as "toys", you still wrote letters rather than e-mailing them, both decades with very mainstream pop culture in that almost everyone listened to the same bands/songs, TV shows, wore the same fashions, movies (less alternative), Sesame Street of the '80s just as "classic" as that of the '70s, Dark Age Disney, suburbia, more stay-at-home mothers, and like I said with tech, more kids playing outside. I myself as a '90s kid spent a considerable amount of time indoors playing NES/SNES/Genesis/PC Games on floppy disk/early CD-ROM/other electronic toys such as the Precomputer 1000/2000.


We actually did have internet in the 80's just no WWW yet. Things like Usenet for example. It wasn't as widespread as it was in the 90's, though, especially with the rise of the WWW. The 80's was also a very raunchy decade. From what I remember, people cursed and swore a lot no matter where they were. It was also much, much less politically correct than it is today or even in the 90's. I disagree with the part about mainstream culture. I think the 80's were a time of a lot of variety especially starting in 1983-1985 when skateboarding really started to take off and alternative cultures became more of an open thing. 

We actually did have internet in the 80's just no WWW yet. Things like Usenet for example. It wasn't as widespread as it was in the 90's, though, especially with the rise of the WWW. The 80's was also a very raunchy decade. From what I remember, people cursed and swore a lot no matter where they were. It was also much, much less politically correct than it is today or even in the 90's. I disagree with the part about mainstream culture. I think the 80's were a time of a lot of variety especially starting in 1983-1985 when skateboarding really started to take off and alternative cultures became more of an open thing.


Even for much of the 90s, the Internet and Web weren't really widely used by most people. Even having a CD player or VCR wasn't a given in the early 90s. The Web wasn't even invented until the end of 1990 and even in 1992 there were only 50 websites, all of which were academic content. Online shopping with credit cards and personal webpages didn't start until late 1994 when HTTPS and Netscape came out.

It wasn't until AOL got big in 1995 that Internet access became commonplace outside of colleges, and not until the very late 90s that it was fully embraced. In 1996 the average Internet user only spent 30 minutes a month browsing the Web and only about a quarter of Americans were online. People still used a lot of pre-Web Internet technology like newsgroups and IM clients well into the 2000s, broadband really made the Internet become the all-pervasive force it is today and enabled the rise of YouTube and Myspace/Facebook.

Switching from analog dial up to broadband was the equivalent of going from two fuzzy channels in black and white over bunny ears to having HD cable in color.

Cell phones are interesting because they became commercially visible before Internet access did, but their adoption was much more gradual. In 1990 about 2 percent of Americans had very bulky, unreliable analog cell phones, mostly yuppie businessmen in major cities like New York and San Francisco.

By 1997 there were 55 million cell phones in use in the US, about 1 for every 5 people and maybe a third of households. However they were generally exclusively for making calls and not nearly as reliable as a landline. Minutes were not cheap and many people only used them for emergencies or to "check in" from what I recall. Texting wasn't a thing and there wasn't really a teenage cell phone culture.

By 2002, 2003 pretty much every adult had a cell phone and some of them had decent Web interfaces and features that would make them arguably primitive smartphones. This is also when teenagers started to carry phones, I think 2005 is when 50 percent of American teenagers had cell phones so anyone born in the late 80s or later likely had one for at least part of high school. In the UK I believe they adopted cell phones a year or two earlier than we did.

Even for much of the 90s, the Internet and Web weren't really widely used by most people. Even having a CD player or VCR wasn't a given in the early 90s. The Web wasn't even invented until the end of 1990 and even in 1992 there were only 50 websites, all of which were academic content. Online shopping with credit cards and personal webpages didn't start until late 1994 when HTTPS and Netscape came out.

It wasn't until AOL got big in 1995 that Internet access became commonplace outside of colleges, and not until the very late 90s that it was fully embraced. In 1996 the average Internet user only spent 30 minutes a month browsing the Web and only about a quarter of Americans were online. People still used a lot of pre-Web Internet technology like newsgroups and IM clients well into the 2000s, broadband really made the Internet become the all-pervasive force it is today and enabled the rise of YouTube and Myspace/Facebook.

Switching from analog dial up to broadband was the equivalent of going from two fuzzy channels in black and white over bunny ears to having HD cable in color.

Cell phones are interesting because they became commercially visible before Internet access did, but their adoption was much more gradual. In 1990 about 2 percent of Americans had very bulky, unreliable analog cell phones, mostly yuppie businessmen in major cities like New York and San Francisco.

By 1997 there were 55 million cell phones in use in the US, about 1 for every 5 people and maybe a third of households. However they were generally exclusively for making calls and not nearly as reliable as a landline. Minutes were not cheap and many people only used them for emergencies or to "check in" from what I recall. Texting wasn't a thing and there wasn't really a teenage cell phone culture.

By 2002, 2003 pretty much every adult had a cell phone and some of them had decent Web interfaces and features that would make them arguably primitive smartphones. This is also when teenagers started to carry phones, I think 2005 is when 50 percent of American teenagers had cell phones so anyone born in the late 80s or later likely had one for at least part of high school. In the UK I believe they adopted cell phones a year or two earlier than we did.


I agree about the internet. It was a really gradual thing that didn't take off until 1995 but CD's and VCR's were already huge before 1990/1991 came around. I remember every one of my friends houses had VCR's. We always said that you couldn't get by without one. 1988-1993 is when the CD really started to overtake cassette. Around this time, your parents having a few CD's and a CD player as a part of their stereo decks wasn't uncommon. My family got internet in late 1996. I remember most people getting it sometime in 1996/1997 or 1998. Dial-Up was still the main internet connection people had until either 2003 or 2004.

Yes, Dial-Up was pretty slow but it wasn't that bad. In my opinion, at least.

My parents also bought their first cell phones in 1995. Before that, they had car phones. I think the most they'd use them for was when they'd go out shopping and I would call them and ask them to pick me up stuff (usually unnecessary stuff that would result in a "Jordan! Do you really need to eat all that junk!?") or for work related business. Texting was a thing and modern SMS messaging has been around since at least 1992 but it wasn't a big thing until 2004/2005 which came along with teenage cell phone culture. I think I got my first cell phone in 2005 or 2006. I still use a flip phone, too. I remember them becoming common by 2003 but even by 1995/1996, they weren't the rarity that they were in the 80's and early 90's.

My parents also bought their first cell phones in 1995. Before that, they had car phones. I think the most they'd use them for was when they'd go out shopping and I would call them and ask them to pick me up stuff (usually unnecessary stuff that would result in a "Jordan! Do you really need to eat all that junk!?") or for work related business. Texting was a thing and modern SMS messaging has been around since at least 1992 but it wasn't a big thing until 2004/2005 which came along with teenage cell phone culture. I think I got my first cell phone in 2005 or 2006. I still use a flip phone, too. I remember them becoming common by 2003 but even by 1995/1996, they weren't the rarity that they were in the 80's and early 90's.

I remember back in 1996 I was getting off the school bus and my mom was there talking on the phone and one of the adults on the bus said "is that a cell phone?"

manners/etiquette of the '80s was a lot more courteous compared to the more informal '90s,


Actually no, that's not true at all. Social interaction was already much more relaxed in the 1980's. Heck, it started in the '70s. Young people from the mid 20th century seem so different in their way of speaking and thinking compared to today, whereas the late 20th century is familiar and natural to us.

1960's-earlier: Hello, Sir.
1970's-onward: Hey man!

Yes, Dial-Up was pretty slow but it wasn't that bad. In my opinion, at least.

It just got annoying that someone had to use the phone while I was using dial-up.

No, I feel it was a decade all it's own.


I cosign with this statement. The eighties were the time of great Dan Aykroyd movies, using slang like "foxy" to describe women for the last time, and watching actors like Carroll O' Connor deviate from playing the role of Archie Bunker.

Closer to the '70s up until the late '80s.

It just got annoying that someone had to use the phone while I was using dial-up.


Oh yeah, that was pretty irritating. It'd take you hours to download a song and when you're at 99% then someone picks up the phone! That sucked!

Oh yeah, that was pretty irritating. It'd take you hours to download a song and when you're at 99% then someone picks up the phone! That sucked!


and then they would say "get off the damn phone". ;D

and then they would say "get off the damn phone". ;D


Oh man, I remember that well! My sister would always hog up the phone to talk to her friends so there would be days when I'd hardly get computer time.

Closer to the '70s up until the late '80s.


Shirts, like the one seen below, were commonly worn as late as 1989 by young men.

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/that70sshow/images/9/9a/Eric_Forman.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130421211040

Oh man, I remember that well! My sister would always hog up the phone to talk to her friends so there would be days when I'd hardly get computer time.


Did you get computer time? ???

Shirts, like the one seen below, were commonly worn as late as 1989 by young men.

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/that70sshow/images/9/9a/Eric_Forman.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130421211040


Shirt's like that were worn way into the early 2000's. Here is a photo from around 2003:

http://33.media.tumblr.com/2662598539b24191fcd41d8bff72b692/tumblr_inline_n81nd4WKft1qzxlbn.jpg

Here's a still from the 2002 movie Van Wilder. The shirt is not exactly the same but it's of a similar style:
https://i.gyazo.com/b46f257a595e79eb45b5c8a492faa686.png

Not to mention Steve from Blues Clues who never changed his shirt from his time on the show (1996-2002):
http://www.nosleeptilcollege.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/steveBurns.jpg


Did you get computer time? ???


Yeah, sometimes. Especially when she wasn't home. But then the problem of my parents holding up the phone line would pop up!

Yeah, sometimes. Especially when she wasn't home. But then the problem of my parents holding up the phone line would pop up!

I know the feeling, it would take them hours to get off the phone. ::)

I know the feeling, it would take them hours to get off the phone. ::)


And nowadays everyone has their own smartphone!

And nowadays everyone has their own smartphone!


Which makes it easier now for computers cause they run on routers.

Which makes it easier now for computers cause they run on routers.


The Dial-Up sound was the worst. I would wake up my parents at 3 AM because of that damn modem!

The Dial-Up sound was the worst. I would wake up my parents at 3 AM because of that damn modem!


I hated that sound too, it was like chalk on a chalkboard.  :P

I hated that sound too, it was like chalk on a chalkboard.  :P


Haha, it sure was! I didn't know this until later but the modems actually came with volume settings! :o

Haha, it sure was! I didn't know this until later but the modems actually came with volume settings! :o


But there was no way to turn the volume off.

But there was no way to turn the volume off.


Yeah, there was no escaping that awful sound...  :\'(

Yeah, there was no escaping that awful sound...  :\'(


Would you rather go back to dial-up or high speed internet now?

Would you rather go back to dial-up or high speed internet now?


If someone told me "Jordan! You can go back in time to the late 90's and early 00's but you must suffer through dial-up again!" I'd do it. I don't know if dial-up is compatible with today's internet and all it's features, though.

My family got internet in late 1996. I remember most people getting it sometime in 1996/1997 or 1998. Dial-Up was still the main internet connection people had until either 2003 or 2004.

Yes, Dial-Up was pretty slow but it wasn't that bad. In my opinion, at least.



Dial-up was alright in the late '90s when the Internet was designed for it.  It really started to become a hassle around 2003 when more and more major websites started expecting users to have broadband.

As for the original question, I think being an '80s kid was a unique experience that is hard to compare to the '70s or the '90s.  If I had to pick one, I would say its more like the '90s but it was still very different.

Dial-up was alright in the late '90s when the Internet was designed for it.  It really started to become a hassle around 2003 when more and more major websites started expecting users to have broadband.


Yep. 2003 is when Broadband really started to take off and having Dial-Up wasn't really a good option anymore.

I don't know if dial-up is compatible with today's internet and all it's features, though.

I really don't think so. ???

I really don't think so. ???


Yeah, especially with all the new HTML and flash setting today's internet has. Would be too much for Dial-Up to handle.

So far I'm noticing; older guys like Howard think it was similar to the 70s and someone younger like Jordan thinks it was similar to the 90s. ;D


It looked more and more like the first seven months of the year 1990 with each passing year of the 1980s. 

While living in the Reagan years, we were moving further and further away from the start of '78 (when there was not as much early '90s culture moving in) to the beginning of the '90s. The actors, comedians, musicians, and inventions who got their start in the 1970s were all either enjoying their heyday or losing steam in the '80s. The spirit of 1978 was very much alive in the years that followed, 1979 to 1989, but it wasn't 1978 anymore.

The '80s went like this:

1978 - First year of the '80s/very early '80s

'79/'80 - The rest of very early '80s

1981 - Start of the Reagan '80s / early '80s

'82/'83 - Mini transition from the end of '80 to 1984 continues in this time.

1984 - The mid '80s began in this year

1985/'86 - Extension to '84

1987 - Opening year of the late '80s

'88/ '89 - The years when we were getting even closer to 1990

I hope that helps a little bit, EAZY-EMAN 1995. If you need any further clarification, I will be more than happy to try to afford it to you.  ;)