My own personal line of demarcation where the mid 90s end and the late 90s begin is August 3rd, 1996. The entire year had been one of transition, but August 3rd marked or at least signified the turning point for me personally.
I'll explain why. That day, my father and I attended a family reunion of his mother's side of the family. I remember that day and night very well even to this day. It's the last time mid 90s glowsticks stick out in my memory as being a big part of a party; it's the last time I remember doing the Macarena. A cousin of my father had a new Astro Van with a TV in the back and I was mesmerized by the idea of a TV being in a car. That was the start of something like a new era in my head. Across town, my sister gave birth to her fourth child and final son by her first husband - they had broken up the previous December; thus ended his chapter in our family's story fully. My parents weren't speaking to her (she had lied and said she'd gotten an abortion when she really didn't) and we didn't see the kid until months later. When my parents stopped speaking to her, she was living in a shabby tiny apartment which she had lived in since 1994; by the time they resumed talking, she was living with her four kids at my grandmothers house, an arrangement that would last until 1998; so, another change, a transition around this time. Lastly, my father cut his hair in August; August 3rd 1996 is the last time (in the 1990s anyway) that he would be pictured with long hair; by the next dated picture of him from September 4th, he had a corporate haircut. It was in quite a few ways the end of an era. In April, my other sister had moved out to live with the man she'd eventually marry; In the fall of 1996, my third sister and my father would have a falling out. Due to family issues, I had only met her in 1994, and after 1996, I wouldn't see her again until 2001. In a way, my relationship with my third sister was a very "mid 90s" thing just by the years spent around her. My dad's bird, whom he had had since I was a child, died around January or February of 1996, another change in our lives.

After August, my family began seriously looking for houses in New Jersey. By October, my parents were contracted to buy one; and in early December, the deal was closed and we moved from New York - from an apartment we had been in since the spring of 1994 - to a house in New Jersey on January 1st, 1997. A new era had begun; almost every thing that had been a constant in 1994 was gone by the start of 1997.

My first dog, whom we had bought in 1993, would be killed by a car around April 1997; my two elder sisters would close out the decade by getting married in August 1998 and November 1999.

Well, if we're going simply by personal experience, then the mid-90s did not end for me until summer 1998, when I was introduced to Nintendo and entered kindergarten. In stark contrast to popular culture itself at the time, the first half of 1998 was almost completely indistinguishable from the second half of 1996 for me. I did experience a shift in my life around mid-1996, when I started playing computer games and began having more consistent memories, but things changed much more drastically in mid-1998.

I would say spring 1997 when we got a computer and my aunt got married and moved out of our house. That made me really sad.  :\'(

That's sad to hear about your dog and your bird though, and the kid/sister too. That's a very rough transition.

I would say spring 1997 when we got a computer and my aunt got married and moved out of our house. That made me really sad.  :\'(
It is always a sad occasion when someone moves out of a household, but who inherited her room?

I don't remember the mid 90s because I was born in 1995, but my parents personally feel the mid 90s ended in 1997, when Hanson, Aqua, and the Spice Girls exploded in popularity in the U.S. and wiped out the popular music from the early-mid 90s that they had liked.

It is always a sad occasion when someone moves out of a household, but who inherited her room?


Oh, she didn't have her own room. My family wasn't in the best financial position in the '90s. ;D My parents and my two little brothers (who were toddlers) slept in a room, and me, my grandma and my aunt slept in another room. When she moved out, she left an empty bed behind.  :\'(

Incidentally, my 'symbolic end' to the late 1990s was when we moved to a new house in the autumn of 1999: my parents now had their room, my grandma also got her own room, and me and my two brothers had to share a room.

If I split the 90's up into my personal life, we'd have four or five different eras. The closest eras that you could call "mid 90s" would have to be either around 1994 til June 1996 (after I discovered Dookie/Smash and started skateboarding but before I went to high school and started going to shows regularly) and July 1996 (when I went to my first Warped Tour) til mid 1999 (right before I started dating my now-wife).

If I split the 90's up into my personal life, we'd have four or five different eras. The closest eras that you could call "mid 90s" would have to be either around 1994 til June 1996 (after I discovered Dookie/Smash and started skateboarding but before I went to high school and started going to shows regularly) and July 1996 (when I went to my first Warped Tour) til mid 1999 (right before I started dating my now-wife).


How different was your first year of high school with the last?

How different was your first year of high school with the last?


Really not that different at all. Getting into a serious relationship was a big change for me in terms of what was going on in my life but school-wise nothing changed aside from school shooting paranoia (though, that started second half of my junior year, too).

The mid-90's started, for me, roughly around September 1993, when I started preschool. And ended, roughly, late 1997, when mice and roaches started infesting our house.

The mid-90's started, for me, roughly around September 1993, when I started preschool. And ended, roughly, late 1997, when mice and roaches started infesting our house.


That's scary as hell :o

I remember there was a flying roach in my room when I was 19. I didn't go to sleep until 3AM trying to kill/run away from it and ended up sleeping on the couch. The next day I saw it died by drowning in a glass of water.

Honestly, the "mid '90s" didn't really end for me until I started middle school in late 1998. There really weren't any major shifts during my childhood like some of you guys describe. It was pretty much unchanged from 1992-1998.

Late 1998.  The 1997-98 school year was more mid-90s for me while the 1998-99 school year was more late '90s.

Honestly, the "mid '90s" didn't really end for me until I started middle school in late 1998. There really weren't any major shifts during my childhood like some of you guys describe. It was pretty much unchanged from 1992-1998.


From what I remember, you started middle school, went on the Internet for the first time, and got an N64 in late 1998, right? #stalker

That's scary as hell :o

I remember there was a flying roach in my room when I was 19. I didn't go to sleep until 3AM trying to kill/run away from it and ended up sleeping on the couch. The next day I saw it died by drowning in a glass of water.


I'm going to pretend that roaches can't fly, for the sake of my own sanity. And pretend I didn't read anything you posted about cockroaches!  :(  :-X  :-X

Late 1998.  The 1997-98 school year was more mid-90s for me while the 1998-99 school year was more late '90s.


I think the 1997-1998 school year was the last of the "true 90s".

I think the 1997-1998 school year was the last of the "true 90s".


Based on the way I felt, the 1998-1999 school year felt pretty 90's. But 1999-2000 felt really different.

From what I remember, you started middle school, went on the Internet for the first time, and got an N64 in late 1998, right? #stalker


Wow, you remember more about me than I do about myself. ;D ;)

But, yeah, you're right. I started middle school in August 1998, went online for the first time in November 1998, and got my Nintendo 64 for Christmas 1998. Needless to say it was a pretty active time for me! :o

It actually kinda sucked during the 1997-98 school year because all my friends had PS1's and N64's by that point and they used to actually make fun of me because all I still had was my Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis as my primary consoles. Damn, you could get picked on for anything back in the '90s! :\'(

Wow, you remember more about me than I do about myself. ;D ;)

But, yeah, you're right. I started middle school in August 1998, went online for the first time in November 1998, and got my Nintendo 64 for Christmas 1998. Needless to say it was a pretty active time for me! :o

It actually kinda sucked during the 1997-98 school year because all my friends had PS1's and N64's by that point and they used to actually make fun of me because all I still had was my Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis as my primary consoles. Damn, you could get picked on for anything back in the '90s! :\'(


I still play PS1 (typically I would play Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon stuff).