A ‘90s summer.
Iced tea from a Tupperware pitcher.
A bicycle as your mode of transportation.
The lawn sprinkler was your splash pad.
Push up pops.
Plenty of unsupervised hours.
Dish soap, water and a trampoline = a really good time.
Friends popping up in your backyard to play.
What is it about this period that we find so appealing?
For those of us who grew up in this era we found ourselves uniquely positioned as the last generation to grow up without the technology of smart phones, yet still have access to innovative technology like the internet in our teen years.
The nostalgia of this period reminds us the world didn’t always move as fast as it does today. There were days spent in the hot summer sun, using our imaginations to entertain ourselves.
We spent our days outdoors, only coming inside to cool off with a glass of iced tea (never water), and dreaming up our next adventure. The bliss of not being tied to devices, and our parents not knowing our GPS coordinates.
In short, it reminds us of a time where we felt free. The world was an endless map of possibilities, and we were determined to explore every last one of them.
Looking at a ‘90s summer through the lens of mental health benefits, what we chase now is mindfulness: being where your feet are, fully engaged in the present moment.
What made summers so special as a child? The freedom from school and responsibilities tugs on the strings of nostalgia, but our ability to only be in one place at a time might have been the greatest gift we didn’t know we had.
We didn’t know what else was going on, what opportunities we might have been missing, what everyone else was up to. There was nothing else to compare to.
The ‘90s summer trend on social media prescribes a set of rules for parents to gift their children the magic of a ’90s summer. But what if we gave ourselves a ‘90s summer, too?
For starters, and arguably the hardest to implement: ditch the phone. Realistically, we live in a world that functions with the technology we carry in our pocket, but in order to embrace your truest ‘90s summer, the phone has to go.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t utilize your phone when you need to, our world isn’t set up in the same way it was 30 years ago – but you can ask “do I really need my phone for this?” and choose to go without.
The next time you’re heading out for groceries or running errands, consider going without your phone for a true ‘90s experience.
Next up? Activities that don’t require technology.
Ways to Bring Back the ‘90s Summer
Walk to your local ice cream shop. Don’t drive. Don’t order on Skip the Dishes. When you’re handed your summer treat, take a walk, sit on a bench, and just enjoy it.
Remind yourself to stop rushing. It’s okay to go slow, to take your time, to get there when you get there.
Sit in nature and observe.
Lay a blanket down on the grass and read a book outside.
Make supper simple with ingredients you already have in your kitchen. No Pinterest. No google.
Take up an alternative form of transportation like walking, rollerblading, biking, or skateboarding.
Attend local community events.
Set up a tent in your backyard and camp for the night.
Look at the stars.
Take up an outdoor activity like disc golf, tennis or pickle ball.
Visit the local outdoor pool.
Fly a kite.
Take the time to have conversations with the bank teller, the cashier, your neighbors.
Turn the radio on and disconnect your Bluetooth.
If you’ve still got your old DVD and/or CD collection, it’s time to dust those bad boys off.
Remember that the point of all of this isn’t to follow a social media trend, but to disconnect from the apps and screens that pull our focus from what matters to us. We all feel better when we end the day with true connection, feeling physically spent from our adventures.
And all that nostalgia can’t hurt!
Let us know if you’ll be trying out the ‘90s summer trend or your favourite ‘90s summer memory!