8 Things That Used To Really Impress People In The 80s And 90s That Now Mean Basically Nothing
melissamn | Shutterstock Technology has advanced so quickly that pretty much anything that was considered cutting-edge during Gen-X’s youth is now obsolete. There’s been a sea change in social values. Impressive cultural markers don’t carry the weight they once did, and now they’re hidden in Gen-X’s collective memory, like their Sega cartridges sitting in boxes in their basement, along with a hazy recollection of a time long past.
These things used to seem impressive in the 80s and 90s but not anymore:
1. Earning a college degree
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Gen-X received specific societal messaging that going to college was the only pathway for success. Once they earned a college degree, doors would swing wide open, ready for Gen-X to walk right through. Yet for the generations that have come since, having a college degree doesn’t mean what it once did, and it definitely doesn’t guarantee anyone a job.
In response to this shift in the economy, Gen-Z are opting out of college, which has become prohibitively expensive. They’re exploring options that stray from the traditional path Gen-X was told to take, like getting technical vocational training, so they can land high-paying blue-collar jobs.
According to the Pro Tool Reviews’ 2024 U.S. Trade Report, elevator and escalator installers earn an average annual salary of $100,060, making them the highest-paid trade workers in the country. An entry-level maintenance worker gets a starting salary of $30,000 a year, yet a senior-level worker can earn $125,000 a year, an income rise of $95,000. For Gen-X, earning a college degree meant they could land a job and make well over a living wage, which just hasn’t been the reality for any generation that followed.
2. Committing to one company for their entire career
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Workplace culture has been turned on its head, like so many aspects of society that were upended by the pandemic. Employees went from commuting to shuffling from the bedroom to the living room and propping their laptops up on couch cushions for the first Zoom meeting of the day.
Along with the myriad life-altering changes that 2020 imposed, company loyalty became less important, and job hopping became a strategic move rather than a red flag. The idea that staying at one job forever meant imminent success no longer holds true, while transitioning across organizations seems to have its benefits.
Career coach Hanna Goeft declared that “there’s absolutely a time and place for job hopping, when the average employer raise every year is only 3% and job hopping is the only way to keep up financially in this world. It can be a great strategy to make big financial leaps and increase your earnings, but it can also be harmful if you’re not doing it correctly."
Goeft shared what she learned as an executive recruiter, which was that for people who were decades into their careers, “how qualified you are for a job is less about the specific experience you’ve done in the last couple of years and more about the holistic story you can tell about all of your job experiences. There’s really a sweet spot of time to spend in each role. If you’re not there long enough, you probably haven’t learned enough; you haven’t had enough time to drive impact, but if you’re there for too long, you might be stagnant."
3. Working overtime
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Younger generations put much more emphasis on true work-life balance. The idea that you have to hustle and grind to be someone has been replaced by a more even-keeled view. As Gen-Z comes of age and rises up in the workplace, they’re actively pushing against overworking. They prioritize mental health and balance way more than crossing their own boundaries, and they expect employers to provide space and time to do so, along with access to professional support.
As Gen-Z career expert Morgan Sanner explains, “The job search should not also be a purpose search. When you’re looking for a job, you should not also be trying to find your identity.” It’s okay if you have a job that you just happen to be good at, that you get paid for, that you don’t love, and that the world doesn’t need." While Gen-X would have never believed that to be true when they were younger, our societal mindset around how much time we should devote to work is rearranging itself for the better.
4. Having a huge CD collection
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Ever since streaming slipped its way into people’s lives, the way we consume media has completely changed. Owning physical CDs is an antiquated hobby, and those bulky CD-holders that looked like industrial Trapper Keepers are a thing of the past. The skillset and ingenuity it took to burn a mix CD for your crush is fairly useless, just one more thing Gen-X learned that turned out not to matter in the end.
Yet there’s something to be said for holding music as a physical entity in your hands, for flipping through the album insert and poring over photos and lyrics and liner notes. Owning a CD collection might not command respect for Gen-X anymore, but it still offers nostalgia, which is almost as good.
5. Programming a VCR
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For Gen-X kids, being tech-savvy enough to operate a VCR put them light-years ahead of their Boomer parents. Watching TV was a defining feature of Gen-X’s childhood, and being able to program a VCR was a badge of honor Gen-X wore proudly. The VCR, or videocassette recorder, was invented in the 1950s, yet it didn’t catch fire for decades, in part because it cost $50,000. In 1977, VHS tapes were released in the U.S., which were used to record home videos, and VHS-format VCRs came along with them.
These cutting-edge machines allowed for rapid rewinding, fast-forwarding, and long playtime, and they were every Gen-X film buff’s dream come true. Yet the VCR’s reign came to an abrupt end in 1997, when the Digital Versatile Disc, or DVD, was born. By 2006, Hollywood had stopped releasing movies on VHS, making VCRs virtually obsolete. The last VCR was produced in 2016, and the skill set Gen-X spent their childhood perfecting became totally irrelevant.
6. Owning an expensive home
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While Gen-Xers face significant financial instability as they look ahead to retirement, they came of age in a time of relative economic stability. They bought big suburban homes, a luxury Millennials and Gen-Zers can’t afford.
The average price of a home in the U.S. is $359,099, up 2.6% over the past year, making owning a house prohibitively expensive for anyone who came after Gen-X. These generations have starkly different mindsets and values around money and consumption. According to the 2023 Top 100 Youth Brands study conducted in Australia, Gen-Zers can be categorized as “Value Conscious Minimalists.”
Unlike Gen-X, Gen-Z puts practical purchases first, believing luxury brands are a waste of money. They prioritize saving and budgeting, which makes perfect sense, given the economic instability they’re steeped in. Of those surveyed, 72% reported that their biggest challenges are the rising cost of living and high inflation; 68% always use a budget; 60% save rather than spend; and 55% feel uncertain about their future, which is entirely understandable.
While Gen-X could buy property, Gen-Z and Millennials are struggling to cover their monthly rent. Owning a large, expensive home once commanded respect for Gen-X, but now, that marker of status is almost meaningless.
7. Wearing a suit to work
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Until 2020, going into the office was the normal, 5-day-a-week routine for many, which meant dressing for that particular job. In corporate settings, wearing a suit to work was expected. Yet in the days of Zoom meetings and working from your home office, which was often your couch, the OOTD changed drastically.
Most remote workers made sure they looked presentable on screen, but they went completely casual on the bottom, since their cameras only captured the top half of their bodies. Wearing a button-down shirt and sweats was seen as work-appropriate. It was the 2024 equivalent of a mullet: Business in front, party in the back.
Boomers couldn’t imagine setting foot in the workplace without a suit and tie. In the 80s and 90s, the power suit reigned supreme, shoulder pads and all. Yet in our age of “the new normal," workplace casual has become the status quo, and wearing a suit to work no longer commands the respect it once did.
8. Collecting Beanie Babies
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After their introduction at the 1993 World Toy Fair, the Beanie Babies craze ignited, leaving no middle schooler behind. Collecting those plush animals, stuffed with plastic pellets and named “Legs the Frog” and “Pinchers the Lobster,” became more than a hobby. It was an obsession, a devotion.
Beanie Babies were their own life-force, leading customers to fight in the aisles for a chance to own Peace the Bear, in all his tie-dyed glory, or the Princess Diana Beanie Baby that came out after her death in 1997. For Gen-X and the Millennials that followed, Beanie Babies were a promise for the future. Someday, their collections would be worth money, like, so much money, but that didn't exactly unfold as planned.
Beanie Babies mastermind Ty Warner poured fuel on this fire in 1995, declaring that the retirement of Lovie the Lamb was a fate that any Beanie Baby could succumb to and collectors should bulk up their army of miniature animals as soon as possible. But on January 1, 1999, Warner introduced 24 new Beanie Babies into the product line, and that was that. Collectors were discouraged from buying, and Beanie Babies faded from the public consciousness.
As they say, all good things must come to an end, and so, Beanie Babies went the way of POG collections and snap bracelets: Gone but not forgotten.
Alexandra Blogier, MFA, is a staff writer who covers psychology, social issues, relationships, self-help topics, and human interest stories.
