Whether it is Furbies, Pokémon or the extensive use of neon colors, the '90s, for most Tufts students, were "all that" and a bag of chips — especially all things brought to us by Nickelodeon. For those born during the late '80s and early '90s, shows like "All That" and "Rugrats" were an essential part of childhood. Now, as the generation that grew up waiting for a chance to be slimed turns into 20−somethings, Nickelodeon is taking note of all the '90s nostalgia.
Recently, and to great acclaim, Nickelodeon announced its "The '90s Are All That" programming block on TeenNick. Reruns of "Kenan & Kel," "The Adventures of Pete & Pete," "The Amanda Show," "Clarissa Explains It All," "Rugrats" and of course "All That" will soon be catering to our nostalgic needs from midnight to 2 a.m beginning this fall.
The rise in television nostalgia may be indicative of current programming.
"We had those TV shows that were fun and quirky," freshman Brooke Jaffe said. "A lot of [television] is more live−action today and the shows are not so genuine. People still have this leftover love of that."
This '90s nostalgia, clearly noted and taken advantage of by Nickelodeon, has become more prevalent lately and some are wondering just why that is.
According to a March 10 article on Entertainment Weekly's website, the network's choice to revive childhood favorites from the '90s is due to a huge display of interest in early Nickelodeon shows on social media sites.
"It may just be … nostalgia is in right now," sophomore Nadav Hirsh said. "There's not much to be nostalgic about at our age, but they're going to market it anyway. Things are generally marketed in the 15− to 20−year−old bracket. And it's '90s nostalgia that's right there."
Senior Alyssa Trevelyan notes that while this nostalgia may have been spurred by pop culture itself, there may also be an underlying wish for more stable times.
"I feel like a lot of that began with those silly ‘I love the '80s' [shows] and they brought back the nostalgia," Trevelyan said. "But I'm curious if a lot of our nostalgia is this weird little political vacation between the Cold War and Sept. 11. The economy was great. Even those boy bands — it's the most saccharine music you've ever heard."
Often called "the Millennials," ours is the generation that grew up alongside the Internet. Having gone from the heyday of AOL keywords to the iPad, the Millennials bridge a unique time span, neither truly children of the '90s nor children of the new millennium.
"I feel like as a generation we're more the 2000s, the Millennials," Trevelyan said. "We were very shaped by all the [technological] changes that were going on. I wonder if that's part of the ‘90s nostalgia. We saw all that moving very, very fast. I think technology has a lot to do with this."
For Hirsh, the defining characteristic of the Millennial generation is acceptance of and necessity for the Internet.
"I think the Internet is the first thing since money that we've created that we can't live without," Hirsh said. "We're more Millennials because we see the Internet as it currently is. We lived through the experimental phase of the Internet, but we forgot it. I think of Internet now as how it's always been."
Though children of the '90s, it is one's teenage years that really leave the impact, according to Jaffe.
"Being born in '92, I consider myself a child of the '90s … but I think what's more important is when you were an adolescent, because that's when you start coming into your own, and I think that's really influential," she said.
While there may be marketing or political motivations behind the surge of '90s nostalgia, for some it is as simple as a wistful look back on childhood as adulthood creeps ever nearer.
"I remember the first website I ever went on was the Beanie Babies one, because they had the address on the back of the tag," Trevelyan said. "I remember memorizing it as h−t−t−p−colon−slash−slash−w−w−w−dot."
