THE ECHO

by Jacob Vereb

Today, the world is filled with technology that the humans of the past could only dream of. Almost everyone you see is walking around with a mini computer in their pocket, televisions have gotten wider and flatter, and

These technological innovations from the past 20 years can often times be taken for granted. It can be especially hard for younger people who have grown up in this online world to imagine being without all the gadgets and gizmos. That is why I took it upon myself to ditch the lifestyle of the modern high schooler and step into a metaphorical time machine. I lived like it was the 90s for a day.

I started my day as most 90s teens did: by selecting an outfit so radical it blinds any geezer that walks by. Knowing that denim was incredibly popular in the olden days, I threw a denim jacket over one of my dad’s old Journey shirts. Completing the outfit with a pair of blue jeans and a pair of high-top sneakers, I started the trek to one of my best friend’s houses to see if he wanted to hang out. Texting him was not an option; and with no land line phone available, I needed to ask him face-to-face.

I figured we’d start our day with a trip to every young person’s favorite hangout spot in the 90s: the mall. Once a social hub for teenagers, malls have since began to fade in popularity. The rise of online gaming, video calls, and other ways to communicate means that nowadays many teenagers prefer to spend time with their friends virtually. Needless, to say, we did not see may other people our age.

One thing that I did notice while walking from shop to shop was the absence of my phone in my front pocket. By having a phone in your pocket every day, you can almost forget that it’s even there. It becomes a part you to the point where you don’t even feel it, but you can feel when it’s gone. Part of me felt like it was freeing to not have to worry about walking around with a very expensive, and very breakable device. The other part of me started to get a bit antsy without being able to look something up or go on social media.

Home from the mall, I decided that I needed my music fix. On any other day, I would have slipped on my headphones and browsed through countless playlists on Spotify, but today, I needed to find a way to satisfy my hungry ears without streaming services. My mom and I dug through our basement storage room and found some of her old CDs. We sat in my car and listened to Enuff Z’Nuff, Hootie and the Blowfish, and other bands from that era. As my mom relived her college glory days, she shared stories of what she was like and what her and her friends did in their early twenties.

I’ve since then realized that music becoming more accessible through the internet is a double-edged sword. While services like Spotify and Apple Music allow people to explore thousands of different artists and genres, it also makes moments like what my mom and I did rarer. Going through old boxes and sliding the CD into the car stereo together was a way for us to bond. I wouldn’t have experienced this if I had just scrolled through my phone until I found these bands.

Any 90s day for a teenage boy wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the skate park. The 90s saw a surge in popularity for skateboarding culture. Influenced by professional skaters like Tony Hawk, people would gather at skate parks to hone their skills. I arrived at a local skate park near us with some buddies. While I’m no pro skater, I know my way around a board.

The friendliness of the few other people at the park stood out to me. I was able to connect with them and have a conversation, and I think a big part of that was that they also didn’t have phones in their faces. For me, it was because I didn’t have one, but they chose to leave their phones on the bench or in the car to be in the moment. As the sun fell behind the trees in the distance, I said goodbye to my new friends and went home.

Like I said in the beginning, people can often take modern technology for granted. I didn’t realize how much time I would need to fill without the use of a cellphone or an Xbox. I was glad to be returning to my Netflix shows tomorrow. However, there is something to be said for choosing to live with less technology. Without the constant content that your devices feed people, they have to find ways to entertain themselves. The best way to do that is through other people. We can forget how interesting it can be just talking with both loved ones and strangers, and how having no modern distractions can lead to a stronger connection between two people.

Using 90s slang and dressing as a 90s teenager was fun for a day, but ultimately the experience taught me to how to live life with less to get in the way. While abandoning all technology made in this century would make many people feel like cavemen, I think we could all benefit from looking up from out phones more often and living life the way the people of the 90s did.