GENERATION REWIND
Why Gen Z and Alpha are Embracing 90s Culture
For my son’s 10th birthday, we’re renting a theater at our local budget movie house to screen a short film he created on his iPad. Afterward, the kids will play Mario Kart on the massive screen while munching on popcorn and cupcakes for breakfast (the only time slot available was before the first public showing of the day). His love of filmmaking doesn’t surprise me (my husband and I met in film school while earning our MFAs in screenwriting), but the nostalgic tone of his film caught me off guard. From the costumes—neon colors, denim, and shades—to the soundtrack (Green Day, and NSYNC), the plot borrows from the late ‘80s and ‘90s blockbusters, which could be summed up as: Men in Black meets Lethal Weapon starring our pet dog, Archie, as the hero.
Why would a kid who can edit films on an iPad and stream anything instantly romanticize a decade where we had to rent DVDs and call our friends on a landline?
But first, what is it about 90s aesthetics and pop culture that has such a pull on kids and teens right now? I can surely tell you my nostalgic reasons as a Xennial (Yes, I fully commit to that micro-generation sandwiched between Gen X and Millennials) as times were simpler, people seemed less divided, and the USA was in the throws of a relatively long period of economic prosperity.
Let’s deconstruct the reviving aesthetic:
THE FASHION: Baggy jeans, chunky sneakers (or Doc Martins), plaid, and scrunchies. Apparently, these are all back in style now.
THE MUSIC: Oasis, Nirvana, Lauryn Hill… where you listened to a whole album (in order), and wrote out the lyrics if they weren’t provided in the liner notes of your cassette tape or compact disk. Perhaps you stole a song or two on Napster to test if you liked a group, but the long download times and guilt made this cumbersome.
THE TV SHOWS: Friends, Seinfeld, Fresh Prince—slow, dialogue-heavy, and weirdly appealing to kids raised on TikTok and YouTube Shorts.
The 90s were arguably the last free childhood. We left the house without a phone, and no one knew where we were (unless you were my mom, but even then, she’d only find out once I called from a friend’s landline). Tracking someone’s location was something out of spy movies—and only to catch the bad guys. Our kind of freedom bred independence, and maybe even a little resilience, too.
Play was offline. Kids biked around the neighborhood, knocked on each other’s doors, and played pixelated Nintendo games together, in the same room. There was no Google Classroom, parents found out your grades when you brought home your report card. And social media thankfully didn’t exist. If you had a “cringe” moment at school, it wasn’t immortalized in a meme, shared, and permanently archived for everyone to see. You got to move on.
Now, every moment of these kids’ lives is documented, creating unfathomable anxiety and hyper-self-consciousness. The on-demand economy gives them instant gratification leaving little room to develop patience or imagination. The algorithm drives their insular pop culture and entertainment, limiting the chance for surprise discoveries and off-brand delights.
While many generations romanticize the past, this feels deeper. Maybe it’s because the 90s was the last time childhood felt fully analog. Gen Z and Alpha are reacting to the hyper-digitalization of their world by idealizing an era that still had mystery, patience, and personal agency.
This flashback to the 90s feels like a wake-up call for those of us who grew up in that era. We need to take this nostalgia seriously. I know in our family we’re pretty good about screen time, and we don’t let our kids have individual devices yet —but they are still young, and I know this will be harder to combat as they get older. I know for my part, I can make more of an effort to slow down, put away my phone, and give my kids a little more freedom. It’s a very good sign that the pendulum has swung when our kids our trending towards authenticity —and yearning for personal connections.
As we finalize the party plans, my son keeps adding details: printed programs, a red carpet, and maybe even a trailer before the film starts.
“I just want it to feel real,” he says.
I get it. His generation has everything at their fingertips, but they’re still searching for something tangible, something they can feel.
Aren’t we all?
What a cool birthday party! I loved my childhood and all that freedom. My husband reminisces about how he went out into the woods with his friends and his parents had no idea where he was all day. All the neighborhood kids played together outside and in the summer we had nightly kickball games after dinner. They were simpler times and I'm doing everything I can to make these possibilities a reality for my own kids, but it's a different world. Love to see that your child is getting to experience some of this!
This is awwwwwesome! (and maybe even RADICAL!) on so many levels. I hope I get to see the short film at some point.
I think we all go through phases of nostalgia for a past we might never have experienced. In the 90s I was listening to The Beach Boys and Herman's Hermits and, along with Brian Wilson, lamenting that "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times." I do remember listening to a little Right Said Fred, though. And Super Mario Bros and Excite Bike at my friend Jonathan's (he had ALLLL the games!) was definitely a regular pastime.