If you could choose between growing up and being a teenager now or being a teenager in the 90's, what would you choose and why?

90s for sure. You couldn't pay me to be a teen now. It's rough out there for them.

80’s baby, 90’s kid. 90’s. Absolutely. Dear god teens these days are absolutely fucked. 

90s no question. Maybe I'm old but being a teenager right now sounds like absolute hell.

90's, hands down. Making mistakes as a teenager without a smartphone recording everything for eternity was a blessing we didn't know we had.

90s. My teenage years have been nothing but reminders from millennials and gen x on how much better theirs were.

90s 100%

The 90s.

90’s, there wasn’t social media to capture your every mistake and embarrassing moment.

I loved my 90’s childhood, wouldn’t change it!

90's.. went through it once would very happily do it again.

90’s don’t have to worry about kids at school making a AI deepfake of me, everything being put on social media. Easier to socialize back then compared to today where everyone is glued to their phones. I also feel like you were actually able to get an education compared to kids now using AI to do all their schoolwork for them. Kids are REALLY behind academically compared to the 90s.

as a Gen Z representative, I'd say now

I was a kid/teen in the 90s. We had so much fun. I have a child now and I’d rather him be a kid/teen now though. It’s much safer now. Nobody knew or cared where we were as long as we were outside out of everyone’s hair..and I came from a “good” family and had what anyone would call a good childhood.

As someone who spent half of her teen years in the 2020s, 90s. 100%. It’d be nice to see life before social media really took hold, fly places without having to go through TSA, visit places that no longer exist, meet family members I never had the opportunity to, and go into a pretty much stable job market. Oh, and go to concerts since the music was fire. It might just be rose-tinted glasses but the way many people here on the internet, especially here in the States, speak of the 90s makes me want to experience them. As long as I’m not in Rwanda, Yugoslavia, or North Korea of course!

Well, the whole LGBT thing was *very* problematic in the 90s. But there's a post-9/11 hostility that you have to account for. I dunno, in a perfect world social progress isn't impeded by the conservative post-9/11 reaction. I stay pissed about the Clinton/Bush deafness to the burgeoning threat.

90's hands down

Teen in the 80s, early adulthood in the 90s, calmed down, established life by the 2000s would be ideal, but I would absolutely 100% choose to be a teen in the 90s given the two choices. 1) No notification fatigue 2) No unlimited instant entertainment at the touch of a button to keep us sedated. 3) Hanging out in malls was hella fun 4) The culture of sharing/borrowing physical media from friends and neighbors was a wonderful way to build connections. 5) Music was way better\*\*\* \- Sadly a weak decade for metal, but there was some great punk and ska! \- Modern electronic music styles were only just starting to find their footing, though I still have a soft spot for 90s Eurodance. \- Mainstream radio music was actually inoffensive at worst and often quite enjoyable for a wide variety of genres. You were almost never gonna hear a bad song on the radio, regardless of your musical tastes. 6) Multiple security cameras within and around your home, always watching you was NOT a socially acceptable thing to do. 7) Less crackdowns on kids and teens being out in the public by themselves, neighbors had a SIGNIFICANTLY lower chance of throwing a conniption and calling 911 if they see a kid walking down the street. 8) AMAAZING time for movies, TV, AND video games, and computer's still felt good to use and their future was still exciting (no desire to bring back dial up internet, but hey, at least we didn't know it could be better yet, and moreover, we didn't live our lives online anyway) 9) The skateboarding culture of the 90s and early 2000s was amazing. Sharing indie skate videos at the local skate shop was awesome. 10) Subcultures and scenes were MUCH more vibrant, with much more distinct fashion 11) More places in general to just exist without the expectation of having to spend money. 12) Generally just miss the optimism of the 90s and 00s

Teenager now because I can use gadgets

Now because there is so much more, well, everything than there was back then. Things in general are far more acceptable now. If I was the same person I was in the 90's I'd absolutely thrive in this day and age.

Lol I WAS a teenager in the 90's. I'll keep it