North Texas Daily

Preston Mitchell | Staff Writer

@Presto_Mitch

In the words of Edna Mode, the scene-stealing, costume-designing millionaire from Pixar’s “The Incredibles”: “Never look back, darling. It distracts from the now.”

This sentiment rings truer than ever as our generation inexplicably feigns affection for the non-stop brood of the decade known as the 1990’s.

To be fair, the ‘90s had its fair share of wins and losses. It was the golden age of rap and grunge, as well as a renaissance of daytime television à la “Boy Meets World” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”

However, the way Millennials seem to mourn for Kurt Cobain and his ilk just comes off as whiny. We were way too young to process their impact, and many of the offenders sharing all of these bogus Twitter accounts on our timelines weren’t even alive for the better half of those 10 years.

As if Twitter wasn’t enough, any willing devotee to ‘90s fashion and television can find an enclave of shrines across various platforms: Tumblr, Instagram — even Reddit. Despite how cringe-inducing it is to look back on most of that, pre-pubescent nostalgia appears to be the cool thing to do at the moment.

Frankly, I don’t want to return to an era where tattoo chokers were actual necklaces or every guy wore rat-tails. No one should relive controversies about Cabbage Patch Kids, who were recalled after eating plastic snacks and baby scalps. Undoubtedly, nobody our age wants their sitcoms to revert back to laugh tracks. I mean, “The Big Bang Theory” is bad enough. This pining for days past comes off as disingenuous.

At the same time, honest ‘90s nostalgia is understandable. Our childhoods ended while technological advancements made simple living archaic.

1991 saw the creation of Linux, the operating system that sought to offer an alternative to Apple and Microsoft. The original PlayStations of 1994 single-handedly popularized the gaming console market. In 1998, South Korea introduced the first MP3 player, which practically made Nirvana’s “Nevermind” a pocket accessory.

Nevertheless, we need to get our heads out of the clouds if we don’t think our generation has crosses to bear. We’re inherently responsible for bad pop music, especially since Gen-X grunge was murdered by our N*SYNC and Britney Spears phases. It’s difficult to collect VHS tapes since we grew up breaking 90 percent of them. Likewise, those Disney Channel reruns reveal how terrible “Halloweentown” and “Zenon” actually were.

Don’t get me wrong —it’s okay to be sentimental. There’s times when I’ll blast Rage Against the Machine through the speakers or put on “Animaniacs” before class. I’ll occasionally wish that my only responsibility was to “catch up” on Corey and Topanga’s adventures, and I don’t mean on “Girl Meets World.”

In spite of this, I also understand that I was a child during their primes. You should, too. So please, take Edna’s advice, embrace your mid-00’s childhood and shut up about the ‘90s. Please.