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Today, I am turning forty… and I have suddenly become one of those “old” people who lived before the internet was a thing. Heck, even cordless phones weren’t around when I was just a little girl.

I was a kid of the 80’s (and a teen of the 90’s). Back then, our life was vastly different from the world we know now. Like seriously different! Yet the more time passes, the more I look back on those days with so much fondness and nostalgia because I miss their simplicity.

Since I was born in ’82, I am probably much more familiar with what was happening in the 90s. Here is my own personal, in-depth report on all the things that still come to mind when I think of life in the 80s and 90s.

1. Manners and discipline: Back when I was young, children were seen but not heard. We were taught to respect our elders and do what we were told. And we didn’t dare to talk back. We just did what we were told because we thought parents had eyes in the back of their head and that they would always find out.
2. Childhood toys: If you’re a girl and spent your early years of life in the 80’s, like me, then most of these toys may have made your days really happy. These were some of the best I had when I was a kid. The list could go on… Care Bears, My Little Pony, Trolls, View-Master, Playmobil, Barbie, Fashion Wheel, Rubber Poppers, Bounchy Balls and so much more!
3. Playing in the streets: After school, I usually played outside with my friends. We used to run around the neighborhood for hours making forts in people’s hollowed bushes.
4. Fashion: I loved to wear loose-fitting clothes. Most were either black or denim. During my high school period I often wore (denim) overalls or leggings with a denim blouse.
5. TV-shows: I grew up on a lot of weird and random TV shows. My favorites were Alf, Happy Days, Full House, The A-Team, MacGyver, Friends and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
6. Music: The music was the best. We had pop music icons like Madonna and Michael Jackson. During my high school period I also listened to the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears and the Spice Girls. Well… I guess you just can’t win them all!
7. Walkman: The walkman was a portable tape player that could fit on your belt and you could blast the newest Madonna album on full volume through bright, orange-earpadded headphones. Our walkmans were our most prized possessions, though they needed plenty of batteries to keep them running. In the late 80s, I replaced my walkman for a portable CD-player, called the Discman.
8. Nintendo: In the 80s, the NES was the hottest video game console you could get. I loved playing games like Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt and Castlevania. A few years later, my parents got me a Game Boy too, and later on even a SNES. You could almost say I grew up on Nintendo.
9. The rise of the internet: Today you can carry internet in your pocket and browse anything anytime you want to, but it wasn’t same in 90s. We didn’t had internet until early 90s. And I can still recall the shrieking and scratching noise the modem made once the connect button was hit.

What a time to be alive! I can proudly say I loved my childhood. I think every millennial, like me, will always be stuck between the transition of old skool and the technological world we live in now. It’s probably why we all like a bit of 80s and 90s nostalgia. In some cases this may be a good thing, we kind of had the best of both offline and online life. We evolved as technology evolved.