What do you mean it was more wild west, both for the better and the worst? That is so vague that it could mean anything.
I never said people didn't get hurt and were exploited. That is literally true for any year in US history.
But, it was a completely different world and much more optimistic. By 2001 you had 9/11 that engulfed much of the world's consciousness. Then the constant war on terror where there were a decade or more of constant talk of beheadings and suicide bombings. Were there are couple of these instances in the 90's? Yes, but it was an all consuming issue after 2001.
Then there is the rise of absolute insane political fights. Were there some in the 90's? Yes but not on this scale. Now it's completely vitriolic and completely hate filled, and it is 24/7 now.
With the internet even kids are completely affected. In the 90's the internet was... I won't say safe, but it was way safer. Now kids are raised on the internet and spend an enormous amount of time disaffected.
In the 90's as kids we spent most of the day outside. Video games were there but Sonic was only so much fun. Most kids didn't play games all day.
We live in a dystopia compared to then. And as I said there was a huge sense of optimism. Those that are optimistic now are few and far between.
IME the 90s Internet and networks had more brazen creeps ("ASL"), lots of naivety, scams, and bullying was still bad. Ads were there very early and quickly escalated to loud, animated, and pop-up hell.
I didn't notice much optimism, rather pessimism that people continued to look down on 'nerds' and the annoying and slow Internet. Many of us were mocked for spending so much time inside staring at screens wired to the wall. Normal people didn't see its benefits, and many of us nerds used it mostly for gaming and to escape our limited friend options IRL.
I'm talking about optimism in society in general. You have a super overly negative view. Generally in the 90's if you did anything with computers you were seen as a genius.
The internet really wasn't annoyingly slow until close to 2000 where you were trying to watch video and download mp3s. It was really only bad when compared retrospectively.
Can't think of any ST show comparison which fits. Though if you spoke of ST among my IRL friends in the 90s then you'd be as openly mocked as admitting to sitting at a computer for 2+ hours.
I never said people didn't get hurt and were exploited. That is literally true for any year in US history.
But, it was a completely different world and much more optimistic. By 2001 you had 9/11 that engulfed much of the world's consciousness. Then the constant war on terror where there were a decade or more of constant talk of beheadings and suicide bombings. Were there are couple of these instances in the 90's? Yes, but it was an all consuming issue after 2001.
Then there is the rise of absolute insane political fights. Were there some in the 90's? Yes but not on this scale. Now it's completely vitriolic and completely hate filled, and it is 24/7 now.
With the internet even kids are completely affected. In the 90's the internet was... I won't say safe, but it was way safer. Now kids are raised on the internet and spend an enormous amount of time disaffected.
In the 90's as kids we spent most of the day outside. Video games were there but Sonic was only so much fun. Most kids didn't play games all day.
We live in a dystopia compared to then. And as I said there was a huge sense of optimism. Those that are optimistic now are few and far between.