As one of the first generations to start navigating the digital age of the 90s, millennials had to adopt an interesting mix of digital and analog skills during a time of rapid change.
Quite a lot has changed in the 30 years since, and while many of these skills have gone to the waste side, they were once critical to navigating life in the 90s.
1. Memorizing Phone Numbers
Before contacts were accessible with a couple of swipes on a smartphone, remembering phone numbers by heart was an essential skill.
2. Burning CDs
For millennials who wanted to create their own playlists, burning CDs was the way to go. With a blank CD and music platforms of the time, millennials crafted their own favorite mixes.
3. Memorizing TV Channels
Cable TV offered hundreds of channels available at the press of a remote button. With so many channels to choose from, you had to memorize what channel your favorite show would be on.
4. Cleaning a Mouse Ball
Before optical mouses, mechanical ones allowed ’90s internet users to browse the net. Cleaning the dust and gunk from a mouse ball was vital for smooth scrolling.
5. Driving a Manual Car
For many millennials, their first car had a manual transmission. Learning the skill of driving a stick shift was a must.
6. Reading Paper Maps
Before GPS, paper maps were the go-to for figuring out where to go. Road trips and family vacations were accompanied by city and state maps.
7. Recording Songs on Cassette
Recording your favorite from the radio onto a cassette tape was a mix of timing and luck. You just had to hope the DJ didn’t interrupt with a shout-out mid-song.
8. Sending a Fax
Before email became ubiquitous, faxing was an important way to send and receive documents. While fax machines are still around, many people haven’t had to fax in years.
9. Recalling All 151 Pokemon
For 90s kids wanting to impress their friends, memorizing and recalling all of the Pokemon from the popular series was a way to do it. Nowadays, being able to recall the sheer number of Pokemon in the modern age would definitely be a feat.
10. Writing Checks & Balancing a Checkbook
In an era before online banking, writing checks and balancing a checkbook were life skills for paying bills and monitoring your spending. Now, checking your finances is as easy as opening an app.
11. Using Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
If you wanted to get a research paper done in the pre-Internet age, the skill of being able to navigate encyclopedias and dictionaries was your friend. With volumes of information at people’s fingertips via the Internet, this is definitely a skill that has faded over the years.
12. Making a TV Antenna Out of Tin Foil
In the 90s, poor reception on the TV was challenged with pieces of aluminum foil. Using careful placement, millennials wrapped foil on TV antennas and tuned in.
13. Folding a Newspaper
While today’s news articles can be consumed in a few scrolls, reading the news in the past involved flipping through the newspaper. Being able to fold your newspaper into a compact form was an art form and made reading the news in crowded spaces convenient.
14. Using Card Catalogs in Libraries
The road to checking out a book at the library used to involve the use of card catalogs that had relevant book information printed on cards. With many libraries having moved to virtual catalogs, this is a skill now replaced by digital databases.
15. Remembering Video Game Cheat Codes
Do you remember the old Konami code? Video games often had secret cheat codes that you had to enter using button combos. Discovering these codes and executing them at just the right time was part of the fun and challenge of 90s gaming.
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