I found some statistics on the growth of technology during the 1990's that I thought might be of interest to some folks here.

Stereo TV: In 1990, only 19% of households had a television with stereo sound, compared to 81% that didn't. By 1999, 63% of households had a TV with stereo sound compared to 37% that didn't.

VCR: In 1990, 68% of households owned a VCR, compared to 32% that didn't. By 1997, 89% of households owned a VCR, and by 1999, 91% owned one.

Camcorder: In 1990, only 10% of households owned a camcorder compared to 90% that didn't. In 1997, 26% of households owned a camcorder, and in 1999, 33% owned a camcorder.

Satellite Dish: In 1990, only 3% of households owned a satellite dish compared to 97% that didn't. 11% owned a satellite dish in 1997, and 13% owned a satellite dish in 1999.

DVD: In 1999, less than 7% of households owned a DVD player.

DVR: In 1999, less than 1% of households owned a DVR.

Computers: In 1990, only 15% of households owned a computer, compared to 85% of who didn't. In 1993, 22% of households owned a computer, compared to 78% who didn't. 36% of households owned a computer in 1997, and 42% of households owned a computer in 1998, which means that 58% still didn't.

Internet Access: In 1993, about 5% of households had internet access. In 1997, only 18% of households had internet access, compared to 82% that didn't. In 1998, 26% of households had internet access, compared to 74% that didn't. Also in 1998, only 19% of American children had internet access at their homes.

Cell Phones: In 1990, about 1% of Americans owned a cell phone. In 1993, about 5% of Americans owned cell phones. In 1995, about 11% of Americans owned cell phones compared to 89% who didn't. In 1998, about 23% of Americans owned cell phones, compared to 77% who didn't.

CD Player: In 1990, 19% of households owned a CD player, compared to 81% who didn't. In 1997, 49% of households owned a CD player. In 1999, 55% of households owned a CD player.

I thought these were some very intriguing stats. In 1999, over 50% of households still did not own a computer, only about 35% had internet access, only 33% owned a video camera, and only about 30% of Americans owned a cell phone. It shows that, while the late '90s may have been more high tech than the early '90s, they were actually not nearly as high tech as we thought they were at the time. ;D

These surprising facts are interesting. It just goes to show that the whole technology was overblown. It truly seems that this event didn't start to take place until sometime around in the 00s.

Oh and not to bring generations into this, but I think some Millennials and older folks over exaggerate how much technology was available in the 90s.

I wish I got to see just a bit of a glimpse of the pre-Intenret world (well, I went to third world countries where it was the case but... Not the same ;D), but I still got to see a massive tech revolution in the short amount of time I've been alive. It hasn't even been 20 years since 80% of the country didn't have Internet or a cellphone. :o

In 1998 I bought a new RCA 27" CRT television and I thought I was living like a king!  ::)

Oh and not to bring generations into this, but I think some Millennials and older folks over exaggerate how much technology was available in the 90s.


Not me. I've never bought the whole "modern technology started in the late 90s" narrative. It may have been rapidly ascending to the fore, but as these facts show, only a minority of Americans had ownership of computers and cell phones along with internet access as late as 1998!

I'm very interested in how these figures compare to those of the early 00s, specifically focusing on when a majority of the population owned cell phones and a majority of households had internet access. If I had to guess, I'd venture to say that this didn't happen until 2001/2002.

Not me. I've never bought the whole "modern technology started in the late 90s" narrative. It may have been rapidly ascending to the fore, but as these facts show, only a minority of Americans had ownership of computers and cell phones along with internet access as late as 1998!

I'm very interested in how these figures compare to those of the early 00s, specifically focusing on when a majority of the population owned cell phones and a majority of households had internet access. If I had to guess, I'd venture to say that this didn't happen until 2001/2002.


Majority of people didn't own a cellphone until 2003/2004, if my memory serves me right. Back then I used to go on CIA World Factbook and Nationstats and look up stats on random countries. I remember in 2004 Canada still had a cellular subscription rate of less than 50%, but there were some Asian and European countries where it was already 70%+ (but this double-counted people with multiple cellphones).

Those are some interesting statistics, everything back then seemed "old school" compared to what it is now. :o

I wish I got to see just a bit of a glimpse of the pre-Intenret world (well, I went to third world countries where it was the case but... Not the same ;D), but I still got to see a massive tech revolution in the short amount of time I've been alive. It hasn't even been 20 years since 80% of the country didn't have Internet or a cellphone. :o


That to me is the most important "Gen Y" characteristic. Not how much of the pre-internet world you remember, but how much of the tech revolution that occurred largely over the course of the '00s do you remember.

What happened in the mid-to-late '90s (with the release of Windows 95 and the Dot-Com bubble) was really just the tip of the iceberg for what would come in the '00s with the rise of broadband internet, smartphones, digital music downloads and online video streaming, and the beginnings of the collapse of video rental stores, physical album sales, and traditional media like television. Gen Y experienced this transition firsthand, while Gen Z has mostly grown up after it happened.


In 1998 I bought a new RCA 27" CRT television and I thought I was living like a king!  ::)


My parents bought a new Magnavox 26" CRT set in 1996 after their old TV finally blew up, and we thought it was the greatest thing ever. It was the first TV we'd ever had with a remote control, so I was just glad I wasn't going to have to get up and change the channel for them anymore while we were watching TV. ;D

Not me. I've never bought the whole "modern technology started in the late 90s" narrative. It may have been rapidly ascending to the fore, but as these facts show, only a minority of Americans had ownership of computers and cell phones along with internet access as late as 1998!

I'm very interested in how these figures compare to those of the early 00s, specifically focusing on when a majority of the population owned cell phones and a majority of households had internet access. If I had to guess, I'd venture to say that this didn't happen until 2001/2002.
That's good to hear. Looking at the social media topic, it had made think about how often people overestimate the availability of certain devices in the 90s and even the first of the 00s.

As for them in the early 2000s, I bet they had a higher usage although not as much compared to today.


That to me is the most important "Gen Y" characteristic. Not how much of the pre-internet world you remember, but how much of the tech revolution that occurred largely over the course of the '00s do you remember.

What happened in the mid-to-late '90s (with the release of Windows 95 and the Dot-Com bubble) was really just the tip of the iceberg for what would come in the '00s with the rise of broadband internet, smartphones, digital music downloads and online video streaming, and the beginnings of the collapse of video rental stores, physical album sales, and traditional media like television. Gen Y experienced this transition firsthand, while Gen Z has mostly grown up after it happened.
I totally agree! I say this will be a distinction between the Millennials and Zeds although the tech aspect is only one part. We all witnessed the tech revolution beginning with Windows 95, and ending it I believe  with the iPad over a 15 year period.

I wish I got to see just a bit of a glimpse of the pre-Intenret world (well, I went to third world countries where it was the case but... Not the same ;D), but I still got to see a massive tech revolution in the short amount of time I've been alive. It hasn't even been 20 years since 80% of the country didn't have Internet or a cellphone. :o


Also, I would add that even though you might not remember a time that was "pre-internet" for your family, there are many kids born in 1993 that did experience a pre-internet childhood. As I've said, I did not get the internet until 2000, so my entire childhood was "pre-internet", despite being born in the late '80s. Less than half of Americans had internet access until about 2001, so there certainly would've been a large number of 1993 born people that didn't have the internet until they were about 8 years old.

This topic has brought back a memory. Back in around 1995 or so, a work colleague claimed to have the Internet at home, all of us did not believe him, and we were all suspicious of what can be done on it.

This topic has brought back a memory. Back in around 1995 or so, a work colleague claimed to have the Internet at home, all of us did not believe him, and we were all suspicious of what can be done on it.


So did you eventually believe him? ???

So did you eventually believe him? ???
I left that job and my work colleagues before I could find out.

We got Internet in January 1995. Before that, we only had a TV and Sega Genesis, and a Windows 3.1! (I did have an SNES too!)

We had a computer in our house that was in the mid 90s. But we couldn't do much on it. It was really bulky probably from the late 80s early 90s. Well, we eventually got bored with it and put it aside. We couldn't even get internet access on that computer :o

We had a computer in our house that was in the mid 90s. But we couldn't do much on it. It was really bulky probably from the late 80s early 90s. Well, we eventually got bored with it and put it aside.
We couldn't even get internet access on that computer :o

Why not?

We couldn't even get internet access on that computer :o

Why not?



Well it was an older computer. We couldn't do much with it.