Let me first preface this by saying, yes, this is purely from an American perspective, and from the perspective of one who was born in 1990.

It just seems like, after you get past the period of racial tension that characterized the early 1990s, the mid-late 1990s seem to be overall this relaxed, if bored, period of just general prosperity and hopefulness about the future. Americans didn't seem to be as divided as they are now. People didn't seem as opinionated and Facebook didn't give everyone with a brain cell a platform to grandstand. My mental association of the 90s is like a lazy, happy, boring but contented summer day - if that makes sense. It wasn't exciting or a party like the 1980s. It wasn't dark and embittered like the present. It might've been boring, especially for teens who looked back to the 60s and 70s with awe, but in retrospect, it just seems like a gilded age of sorts - all the problems of the 60s and 70s faded into the background, and all the issues of today (social justice stuff, etc) was yet to be born - a period akin to the 50s - a complacent, happy time.

I look at my own life. I have one of the most dysfunctional families in existence but the 90s were a period of general peace where old issues were papered over because there was me, a baby, there were my sisters kids, all babies - this brought a calm ceasefire of sorts. Even though those issues lay under the surface, for the moment - for that era - they were overlooked or not spoken about. A quiet peace, basically. Not? No one in my family talks to each other. There is no family. The togetherness that existed in the 90s is broken beyond repair.

It just seems like, if the color of these times is ever deepening shades of grey (meaning bleakness) going to black and outright hostility, the 90s were in general a bright and colorful time. Perhaps those cheerful colors and those happy moments and that carefree attitude was masking a lot of problems underneath but for a while, everything was alright. Simpler.

Let me first preface this by saying, yes, this is purely from an American perspective, and from the perspective of one who was born in 1990.

It just seems like, after you get past the period of racial tension that characterized the early 1990s, the mid-late 1990s seem to be overall this relaxed, if bored, period of just general prosperity and hopefulness about the future. Americans didn't seem to be as divided as they are now. People didn't seem as opinionated and Facebook didn't give everyone with a brain cell a platform to grandstand. My mental association of the 90s is like a lazy, happy, boring but contented summer day - if that makes sense. It wasn't exciting or a party like the 1980s. It wasn't dark and embittered like the present. It might've been boring, especially for teens who looked back to the 60s and 70s with awe, but in retrospect, it just seems like a gilded age of sorts - all the problems of the 60s and 70s faded into the background, and all the issues of today (social justice stuff, etc) was yet to be born - a period akin to the 50s - a complacent, happy time.

I look at my own life. I have one of the most dysfunctional families in existence but the 90s were a period of general peace where old issues were papered over because there was me, a baby, there were my sisters kids, all babies - this brought a calm ceasefire of sorts. Even though those issues lay under the surface, for the moment - for that era - they were overlooked or not spoken about. A quiet peace, basically. Not? No one in my family talks to each other. There is no family. The togetherness that existed in the 90s is broken beyond repair.

It just seems like, if the color of these times is ever deepening shades of grey (meaning bleakness) going to black and outright hostility, the 90s were in general a bright and colorful time. Perhaps those cheerful colors and those happy moments and that carefree attitude was masking a lot of problems underneath but for a while, everything was alright. Simpler.


Yes, but I'd say the whole period from 1982 to 2008 was this big 'peace period'.

The 80's and 90's were such a happy era, because we had just went through WWI and II, The Great Depression, The Civil Rights Movement, The Vietnam War, political upheaval. All this made us want to sweep things under the rug by the 80's, and just have a good time.

I guess that the 2008 economic crash made us realize that we weren't invincible.

Yes, but I'd say the whole period from 1982 to 2008 was this big 'peace period'.

The 80's and 90's were such a happy era, because we had just went through WWI and II, The Great Depression, The Civil Rights Movement, The Vietnam War, political upheaval. All this made us want to sweep things under the rug by the 80's, and just have a good time.

I guess that the 2008 economic crash made us realize that we weren't invincible.


I would not include the Cold War (1982-1991), nor the early '90s (1990-1993/94), nor the 2000s (2001-2008) in this "peace period" :P

I would not include the Cold War (1982-1991), nor the early '90s (1990-1993/94), nor the 2000s (2001-2008) in this "peace period" :P


I don't know. I always saw the 80's as a generally happy time. Maybe I got 'relatively happy' confused with 'peaceful.' Like people in America were generally happy in America, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't a peaceful time.

And the 00's. Sure, there was stuff happening in the world, but some people have looked at it was a happy time, compared to the 2010's.

I think the problem with me is that I get 'generally happy' confused with 'peaceful'.