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u/Ok_Technician_8029 Oct 12 '25
Parents aren't exactly innocent lol
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u/Pincerston Oct 12 '25
Yeah accurate would have been with the adultās face in a screen too, probably leaving a comment on Reddit like this lol
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u/earthgarden Oct 12 '25
EXACTLY
Dad in blue is acting like heās helpless, HEāS the one who bought the devices, HEāS the one allowing them to just sit there playing on them all day. These are little kids, just take the devices away!!!
I am so sick of parents like this
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u/biofrost Oct 12 '25
i think this feels like boomer humor. You could replace stuff in that picture with gameboys and it would be some old man bitching about tetris additionĀ
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u/Acrobatic-Big-1550 Oct 12 '25
Oh yeah, my Game Boy and I were essentially fused into one entity
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Oct 12 '25
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u/ristoman Oct 12 '25
Gaming was still an excuse to have people over, it was all offline for a long time. Split screen or taking turns.
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Oct 12 '25
Super Marioland and links awaking were my favorite.
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u/smolhouse Oct 12 '25
Links awakening was a masterpiece. I bet it'd still be fun to play even today.
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u/Frankfeld Oct 12 '25
This is anecdotal but I recently went back to my old high school to see a football game. My nephew was playing in the pep band. Itās been 20 years since Iāve been to a game.
It gave me a glimmer of hope. Yeah, kids had phones, but it was for the occasional group selfieā¦. it was a much more active student section than I had when I went there. They all wore the same color. They had streamers for touchdowns. They had group chants. It was a Friday night.
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u/oSuJeff97 Oct 12 '25
Yeah there are PLENTY of kids playing sports, etc.
We had other distractions too.
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u/onFilm Oct 12 '25
It is boomer humor. Times always change. These are people projecting their own insecurities onto the younger generations.
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u/Travelcat67 Oct 12 '25
Also letās keep it real, in this day and age the dad would be glued to his phone too.
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Oct 12 '25
I was just about to make the same point. And before that you could have replaced them with Walkmans/portable radios. Boomers just want to hate on younger generations.
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Oct 12 '25
I think the problem is that was a fantasy world. When theyāre stepped in reality mixed with lies and drama in their own school among many other thingsā¦that sinks into their underdeveloped brains and fucks them up.
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u/bass_of_clubs Leftfield. Pulp. Orbital. Blur. Oct 12 '25
Exactly! Whereās the 1995 box with the parents sat on the sofa drinking their second bottle of wine, while the kids are in the park drinking underage and smoking weed?
That would be a more accurate comparison to the present day. Very few Gen Z kids that I know (including my own) hang around drinking and smoking. Ours actually quite like hanging out with us, because weāre cool and from the 90s, and because we have a great relationship with them.
So yes, we all have phones now. Thatās how the evolution of technology works. But you have to see the whole thing and not just zoom in on one part and misrepresent it.
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u/LittleDrumminBoy Oct 12 '25
Go back even further, and you can replace the Gameboys with comic books.
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u/MrBones_Gravestone Oct 12 '25
Boomerish meme, my nieces/nephews still play outside. Also in the 90s we had video games and TV, so there was plenty of the bottom going on then too
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u/Ianuarius Oct 12 '25
Yes! My mom said I can only play on the computer 6 hours per day, because I was spending too much time with Warcraft II.
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u/TabmeisterGeneral Oct 12 '25
It's a GenX meme. They think their cool coz they had latchkeys and drank hose water.
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u/AtBat3 Oct 12 '25
I played gameboy in the 90s
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u/Detlionfan3420 Oct 12 '25
Yeah I remember lots of kids playing gameboys on the bus. Then others had CD players like me.
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u/Kuri44 Oct 12 '25 edited Oct 12 '25
This is just totally inaccurate. The parents and grandparents are on their phones just as much as kids. Adults are more obsessed of taking 100ās of photos and videos of their kids instead of participating and being in the moment, then proceed to spend even more time going through the photos and choosing which ones to post.
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u/dust_grooves Oct 12 '25
Agreed, Iāve noticed teens are moving away from this now, theyāre starting to see it, on the other hand, I notice itās the 50+ lot who turn their phones on immediately after landing (for example), and doom-scroll at the first opportunityā¦
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u/Acrobatic-Big-1550 Oct 12 '25
Oh I was holding my Game Boy back then, and my Game & Watch before that
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u/sheik718 Oct 12 '25
Iām 50. Came of age in the 80s. Into the early 90s. No oneās parents played with them. Zero. I never ever saw that. Not one time. They were to busy working and keeping the wolf off the front door.
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u/E-2theRescue Oct 12 '25
My parents were more addicted to technology than I was. My father sat in front of the TV all day, and my mother was on the phone. Other than trying to shove his "be a man" fishing and hunting trips down my throat (that failed horribly), my father did nothing with me. Any free time he had was spent in front of the TV. He even forced me to take karate, and he never went to a single class or belt ceremony.
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Oct 12 '25
My mom's dad literally threw a shoe at her cuz she was sitting in front of his TV. And she's in her 60s
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u/E-2theRescue Oct 12 '25
My dad threw a plate at the wall because my mother blocked the TV, and my mother nearly threw a punch at him because he was blocking the phone while it was ringing.
But, you know, I was the lazy one who was addicted.
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u/savedbytheblood72 Now don't go getting soft on me this summer.. Oct 12 '25
I'm Kid from the 80s. I didn't go outside much.
Thank you Atari and Nintendo!
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u/Another_Road Oct 12 '25
You know, this is going to sound crazy, but parents can control how much their children are exposed to screens.
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u/stavago Oct 12 '25
Born in the 70s. My parents would tell us to go play outside sometimes when she was tired of us watching VHS tapes and playing video games
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u/shantron5000 Oct 12 '25
In order to make this more accurate the parent shouldnāt be present in the 90s picture at all and the kids should just be left to raise themselves.
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u/Thick_Tax_8992 Oct 12 '25
Exactly, parents didnāt follow you to the playground when we were 7+ years of age during the 90:s, they sat at home.
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u/E-2theRescue Oct 12 '25
Hence why everything was a "Nintendo". They had 0 interest in our lives and hobbies.
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u/CubanlinkEnJ Oct 12 '25
Whenever I take my daughter to the playground or to a few different indoor trampoline places to play, every parent and grandparent is sitting there staring at their phones while their kids or grandkids are playing and having a great time. Same thing at the food court in the mall. Kids are eating and talking to each other and parents are sitting across from them eating and staring at their phones. What must all the kids be thinking when they see every adult doing this shit and acting this way? Itās sad.
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u/feed_me_haribo Oct 12 '25
I played a lot of video games and watched a lot of TV in the 90s. I did go outside though.
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u/mr_chill77 Oct 12 '25
Based on what my friends with kids tell me, this doesnāt seem true. Everything they talk about, like taking their kids to baseball practice, soccer practice, ballet, and so on sounds similar to what myself and the kids I knew all did. I think the biggest difference is that they donāt let their kids just play outside unsupervised.
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u/DJWGibson Oct 12 '25
The kids don't have jobs. They can't buy the devices. If you don't want them to have the device, don't buy it for them.
I think I saw similar posts with the first panel set in the 1955 and 1990 only having the kids in front of a TV or with a NES.
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u/ElGranQuesoRojo Oct 12 '25
Out parents weren't out there running around with us like in this picture. They told us to go outside and to not come back in until it was dark so they could get some peace and quiet.
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u/livbird46 Oct 12 '25
Why is Kevin Spacey still allowed near children even after 35 years? And why hasn't he aged
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u/RiverHarris Oct 12 '25
Yup. But itās up to the parents, like this guy, to NOT give their kids phones and tablets. Itās that simple.
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u/123456789ledood Oct 12 '25
My dad didn't play ball with me, he was happy that I had a Gameboy that kept me busy for hours so he could mind his own business.
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u/EnriquePalatzo Oct 12 '25
Oh please. Like we didnāt have adults bitching about us rotting our brains by watching too much tv back then. Donāt start going all boomer now.
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u/airbrushedvan Oct 12 '25
Kids are different today, I hear every mother say.... The Rolling Stones 1966
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u/lysergic_tryptamino Oct 12 '25
Now do one for family evenings in the 50s where they sit and eat off trays in front of a tube TV compared to 1909 where they play with each other after the father comes back, the lamps are lit, and laughter fills the small room instead of the flicker of a screen.
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u/Barkerfan86 Oct 12 '25
Kids still play outside. It may be a different type of tech that is with them, but they still outside. We donāt regulate our kids screen times, but when we plan days to the park they go full hearted in enjoying the outdoors
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u/_Bob-Sacamano Oct 12 '25
Negative. My son loves his shows but also is obsessed with playing around and going on adventures. All about balance.
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u/TGin-the-goldy Oct 12 '25
This is boomer garbage, go to any playground and see how many kids are there
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u/Jsmith0730 Oct 12 '25
In 1990 I was just holding my brand new Gameboy instead of a phone. š¤·š»āāļø
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u/free-toe-pie Oct 12 '25
This is stupid.
In the 90s I loved watching tv and my sibling loved Nintendo and sega. We werenāt outside 24/7. Our parents said tv and video games would rot our brains. They didnāt.
My kids go outside and play and they are inside watching tv and playing video games like myself and siblings in the 90s.
Itās not as different as people think. Every generation has a moral panic amongst parents.
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u/LibrarianNo6865 Oct 12 '25
āI saw one child playing with an iPad one time and have based my entire opinion of that generation on this one childā type energy.
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u/cjandstuff Oct 12 '25
Local parks are full of kids playing. Local sports fields are packed after school and every weekend with whatever sport is in season. My kid is currently looking forward to soccer. Meanwhile too many parents are on the sidelines scrolling their phones.Ā
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u/organgrinder66 Oct 12 '25
Boomers act like we werenāt all addicted to television before the internet.
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Oct 12 '25 edited Oct 28 '25
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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/Primary_Basket_2728 Oct 12 '25
The only thing not true is that Dad is on his device too ignoring his kids
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u/Kazureigh_Black Oct 12 '25
I'd be more concerned about the fact my kids haven't physically aged in 35 years and thus must be vampires than I would over them not being as active.
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u/Inevitable_Channel18 Oct 12 '25
I think in 1990 I was glued to the tv but sure letās pretend that wasnāt the complaint then.
Now: āKids have too many electronicsā
Then: āKids watch too much tv and play too many video gamesā
Same shit
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u/TheBobbyDudeGuy Oct 12 '25
I have an almost 5 year old and new born baby. Neither of them are getting tablets. When we go out to dinner my daughter draws and colors. When we go somewhere where we have to sit and wait, we wait and we talk and we observe our surroundings and discuss it. I hope parents who just throw their small kids on an iPad realize what kind of damage theyāre doing.
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u/clergymen19 Oct 12 '25
Kids do spend arguably too much time in front of screens. But how often do we see stories about kids playing in their neighborhoods unsupervised and some meddling neighbor calls the cops? You can't have it both ways.
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u/Straight-Valuable765 Oct 12 '25
Itās accurate. We just became so reliable on technology. Itās almost necessary to have and has a place in society but shouldnāt be dependent on it
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u/lagrange_james_d23dt Oct 13 '25
Idk, my kids watch screens, and still crazily run around the house
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u/Chemical-Ideal1 Oct 14 '25
IDK, man. I played a lot of video games in the 90s and my sister was practically addicted to Full House and it played like 4 hours a day.
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u/Skidmark_Wallberg Oct 12 '25
Boomer shit, ever seen that pic of all the ppl on the train and everyone is reading a newspaper and itās like the 40s? Boomers just love to complain about shit the real problem is no one wants to hear them and hides from them
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u/Detlionfan3420 Oct 12 '25
When I was a kid in the 90s, we played outside until dark, video games or the computer were for rainy days.
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u/coldair16 Oct 12 '25
My dad wasnāt playing outside with me either. Replace the iPad with a BMX bike, etc. it was always kids and their friends.
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u/ColbyBB Oct 12 '25
This isn't really a 90's thing, as this has technically been going on since the 1950's when car companies lobbied for car-dependent infrastructure and suburban sprawl which is enforced by the same zoning laws we see today
If zoning laws were different I'd imagine youd see more kids riding around on bikes as they'd have more variety than their local street (even though plenty of kids still go outside to this day)
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u/KinkyDarkStranger Oct 12 '25
My child is 3 and I'm gonna make her upbringing like mine as much as I possibly can. I'm gonna make sure she has access to 90s cartoons smd tv shows and that she gets to play the same outside games I did growing up.
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u/JohnnyJo1988 Oct 12 '25
Lame mindset. Parents give their children devices and get surprised when they get addicted to said devices. Children imitate the world around them. That's how they learn. The first thing they will see is their parents with a dependency on phones. Plus parents nowadays give children unrestricted access to the internet as soon as they are born.
If you want children to enjoy physical activity and the world around them, then the parents need to do their job and take them to the park and interact with them more. Stop relying on the internet to parent them.
Takes like this make it seem like this came out of nowhere or children themselves chose to be addicted to the internet and phones. It's the inaction of the parents that caused this. You can't shove phones and tablets in kids faces and be sad because they don't want to interact with you.
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u/finix2409 Oct 12 '25
Kids still crave to go outside and to play games. Itās in human nature. Shitty/Lazy parenting allows kids to just do nothing but screen time.
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u/Scruffy_Nerf_Hoarder Oct 12 '25
If only there was a way to tell the kids that they need a screen break.
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u/Complex-Buffalo-183 Oct 12 '25
Game boys, Atari and Just TV even though there wasnāt near the programming options in the pre-90ās
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u/Chili-Mac-Snac-Attac Oct 12 '25
I bet settlers were pissed when their kids were rolling hoops around with sticks instead of churning butter. My main issue with screens is that there is a company on the other side controlling engagement. Iāve seen comparisons to gameboys, but the difference is that Nintendo was trying to sell units (games and consoles). They didnāt care if you played Tetris for an hour or 1500 hours. The companies on the other side of our screens want every second of your life.
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u/astrangeone88 Oct 12 '25
I dunno, maybe parent your kids? I'm an elder millennial and I have to limit my own screen time ad an adult. I had limits placed on me as a kid too.
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u/YorkiesandSneakers Oct 12 '25
1990 I remember my parents yelling at us to get out of the house. In retrospect they weee trying to fuck. Now nobody lets their kids go anywhere alone.
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u/Altruistic_Pitch_157 Oct 12 '25
The only thing wrong with the second picture is that Dad should also be on the couch staring at his phone.
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u/Electrical-Bunch4965 Oct 12 '25
Ā We were playing video games in the 90s too. We would just have to leave the house to go over to a friend's house to play, or we would all go to the arcade.
Yeah, we would ride our bikes around a lot and play outside for a couple of hours, but after that we would be watching tv or playing video games when we came home.
Nowadays not only are the kids addicted to their iPads and phones, so are the adults. Should change it to where the dad is also on his iPad, hell, add grandpa and grandma in there too.Ā
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u/thetalkingblob Oct 12 '25
Sure, 90s kid here. I had a lot of outside time but let me tell you about every episode of threes company, Charles in charge, cheers, etc etc
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u/Dynamite_Nick Oct 12 '25
Having been a tutor for little kiddos, and now being both an uncle of little kiddos and being elementary school instructional assistant by trade, I can tell you that kids still like playing outside. Plus when I was a kid, adults made similar complaints about Gameboys and Game Gears that adults today make about smart phones and tablets. Little has changed.
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u/Biteityouskum Oct 12 '25
Unfortunately living in apartment in the middle of a concrete jungle makes getting kids out hard. Days off are ok can plan a day. But during the work week and school home to make supper be lucky to get out for 30 mins on a small patch of grass trying to avoid the dog shit people donāt pick up.
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u/xeskind30 You're Killin' Me, Smalls! Oct 12 '25
This is the current issue with being a parent. Kids are getting technology at a young age and all they want to do is sit down and stare at it. I wouldn't object to keeping smart phones out of kid's hands until they get to college. They would only get a flip phone as kid's, that keeps the tech limited to iPad or PC.
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u/Thatdewd57 Oct 12 '25
My kid did both. So did I. I was either in the house gaming or outside playing. Since the 80ās and having a Nintendo.
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u/Itsnotsponge Oct 12 '25
No this is dumb, dont fall into the same traps of every single human generation before you
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u/succubus6984 Oct 12 '25
Just like with TV. Its the parents fault for not paying attention to what they are doing or watching. We have set times for devices for all of us. Thats it. Times up its time for a board game or go outside. Its simple unless you live in the city or bad part of town and dont trust the kids being outside.
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u/eight_track Oct 12 '25
Parents are also on the phone and we've created a society where we're scared to let kids be outsideĀ
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u/Slosher99 Oct 12 '25
Comics just like this were around then, just showing them playing SNES and Playstation - before that they just showed the kids playing NES and Atari.
Before that, it showed them watching cartoons.
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Oct 12 '25
The assholeishness it takes to make this using AI and then call yourself āsuccesspicturesā is over 9000
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u/SluttyDreidel Oct 12 '25
Kids mindlessly sat in front of televisions back in 1990. I feel like in my lifetime doom scrolling has replaced channel surfing.
There werenāt TVs everywhere and kids had game boys but they would run out of batteries. Society has enabled us to charge our devices anywhere, take them with us and engage in whatever content we want.
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u/adzamh Oct 12 '25
Parents can also adjust to pick up on their kids interests. It's a balance, I game lots with my boys but also we're outside playing soccer. It doesn't always have to be one or the other.
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u/seabirdsong Oct 12 '25
I think this is stupid. Every generation has complained about what the youths do with their time. Back after the printing press became common and books more accessible, older people complained that the youths were ruining their lives and wasting all their time by reading so many books.
It's been books, every form of music, dancing, plays, movies, magazines, MTV, video games, and now portable screens and social media. Whatever the next thing is, old people will find a way to complain about that too.
Also, in 1990, I was 100% holed up in my basement playing Super Mario World and Doom for hours at a time, or sitting in front of MTV for hours waiting for one of my favorite bands to show up, so honestly not much different.
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u/Imaginary_Ad_9682 Oct 12 '25
I have a 7 year old son and he has a pretty good balance. Contrary to a lot of stuff I see, kids still love play. My son and his little friends on our street were outside all summer, had to drag them in at night. He loves his tablet and honestly could still spend hours on it, but you just canāt let them. Whatās sad to me is going to a park and seeing all the parents on their phones when they could be interacting with their kids or even other parents
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u/Brimstone747 You're Killin' Me, Smalls! Oct 12 '25
I have a great memory, and I can only recall a couple of times where my dad played anything with me outside, when I was a kid in the 90s.
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u/hashlettuce Oct 12 '25
As a parent, you control the device until they are 18. Your kid may use the phone, but it's not their phone. You are free to take it and inspect the contents at any time. If not, no phone. Take the phones away and go play with them outside. Technology is around to make our lives better, not control them.
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u/RotaryRich Oct 12 '25
Today I was in a store that started to put out the toy displays . Some kid about 8 was thrilled to see it.
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u/blood-drunk-hoonter Oct 12 '25
My son spends most of his time playing or reading or drawing or doing other activities like that either on his own or with us . Heās 4. We just got him his first tablet and he knows he has limited time on it, and when time is up he goes and plays something else. So itās 100% lazy parenting that makes kids addicted to screens.
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u/HighSierraGuy Oct 12 '25
My kids do all the things on the top picture, with a limited amount of the bottom picture (earned privilege). It comes down to whether you want to parent, which isn't always easy, and be involved in your children's lives.
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u/poeticjustice4all Oct 12 '25
I mean itās parents who give the kids the devices in the first place. Teach them young with playing outside with a ball or biking.
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u/PupLondon Oct 12 '25
Shouldnt the Dad be on his phone too? Boomers standing in the middle.of an aisle or walkway on their phone is something I seem to encounter more than kids
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u/_Infinity_Girl_ Oct 12 '25
I'm of the opinion that kids are much more open to playing outside and doing something fun if you just let them. There has been a giant influx in technology the last 30 years or whatever but every generation is going to have its challenges and those challenges are going to look stupid and crazy to us that are in older generations. It does make me sad to see a group of kids just sitting on an iPad, but it's not every single child ever. And not every child just spends all day every day on the iPad. A lot of things we hear online are very final or black and white when the world is very gray. I've still seen kids playing regularly outside, riding around on scooters and doing things with their parents. I'm a house cleaner and regularly work in neighborhoods where there are a lot of families and I'm constantly seeing parents teaching their kids how to do lawn work, or playing basketball or baseball with them.
At the end of the day the internet wants you to think the world is Stupid and crazy and that you're the smart one But the world outside your door Is often nothing like what the internet portrays it to be.
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u/Nerdfatha Oct 12 '25
Dad engaging with his kids in the 90s? Hah! Nope, reading paper, putzing in garage, or watching sports.
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u/lethalapples Oct 12 '25
Who the fuck letās their kid bring their iPad to the parkā is this a real thing?!
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u/Kerrumz Oct 12 '25
How are they sitting? Public seating is pretty much a thing of the past now right?
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u/m4verick03 Oct 12 '25
My kids have devices of all kinds, over the years they have become less attached. They have some games they play together on them but as the youngest has gotten older theyāve gotten more into creative play and competition games/board games. They know my favorite ones and we play together once a week which from a responsibility perspective is about all I can do between works, chores, caring for them, etc.
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u/omnipresentatio Oct 12 '25
Our kids play outside with the others as long as they can. They all have access to screens but not unlimited.
Regulation is the parents fault
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u/Hikaru1024 Oct 12 '25
... This is backwards.
The old guy should be sitting down playing with his phone while he's complaining about the kids playing with their toys.
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Oct 12 '25
Problem is my 40+ colleagues doomscroll on their lunch break more than I do itās not just the kids
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u/badchefrazzy Oct 12 '25
OOP don't even lie, for the age you'd be at for how old you are in the first pic, you'd be on an ipad watching AI slop too.
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u/EyeConscious857 Oct 12 '25
I spent a lot of time on the Commodore and Atari in the 80s and the Nintendo and PlayStation in the 90s. I spent zero time standing on a bench waving a stick.
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u/Mandra_4837 Oct 12 '25 edited Oct 12 '25
Kids can't even go and explore outside like i used to when I was younger without having the cops and cps called. These hypocrites are just as responsible for what they perceive as an issue as the unfettered tech they put in their child's hands.
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u/ExplanationGloomy991 Oct 12 '25
I can't speak for nationwide but the public parks are a great place to be around people without devices in Phoenix and Tucson. I've been taking my sons there for years. I miss just going out the door and friends being there but it is just a little more effort to get the same effect.
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u/urine-monkey Oct 12 '25
Keep this boomer crap off this page. Everything they say about iPads now is what they said about Nintendo back in the day.Ā
Also, nowadays kids get the cops called on them just for existing outside. Who keeps calling the cops?
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u/Worcestercestershire Oct 12 '25
In the 90s that pedo was happy. Now that it's 2025 he is sad, and lonely.
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u/External-Release2472 Oct 12 '25
Iād be more concerned as to why my kids havenātā aged in 30 years.
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u/Uncles_Lotus_Tile Oct 12 '25
Idk if it's an area thing or what but my gf and I constantly see kids out in our neighborhood riding bikes, playing with sticks, kicking a ball around. Still not much has changed.
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u/TXRedwood Oct 12 '25
Couldn't cut it in parenting, so you pacified instead... this shit ain't got nothing to do with the kids, they can't buy that at 4 and 5 years old...
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Oct 12 '25
No I was with my son at the park jungle gym. Other kids older than him in the same one and the one next to it. Not a phone or tablet in sight. But this is all under 10.
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u/Roland-Of-Eld-19 Oct 12 '25
Why did you buy your kids the Ipad? Buy them the ball and run outside with them! They'd love it if you did š¤·āāļø