Essay Sample on Comparison Between Decades: The 1990S and the 2000S

Introduction

Some people view the 1990s and the 2000s to be very distant from each other, and there is a good reason for that. Not only are these two decades in different centuries, but they are also in different millennia. The 2000s were supposed to usher in a period of significant change to the human society, with advances in the field of science far beyond human imagination. However, it is important to remember that 1990 and the year 2000 are only ten years apart. Only a limited amount of change that can occur within such a period. To a certain measure, the decade did live up to the expectation. It also came up short in several other aspects that made it no different from its predecessor. As a result, a contrast between the 1990s and the 2000s reveals some similarities in culture and differences emerging from the use and advancement of technology.

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The war culture of the 2000s is somehow similar to that of the 1990s. No other event headlines the 2000s like the 9/11 terrorist attack. The attack laid the ground one of the most significant conflicts in the decade and led to the death of tens of thousands including civilians. According to Ambassador Joe Wilson who was speaking to Aljazeera, he said, "the Iraq War was connected to 9/11 attacks" (Al Jazeera par.10). The Iraq War ended up defining most of the early 20th century as US troops pitched a tent in Iraq for the next seven years. The war set the stage for other wars such as the Sectarian violence in Iraq, the 2006 Lebanon War, and the Gaza War. The wars of the 2000s are somehow similar to those of the 1990s. Just like the Iraq War, the Gulf War defined the last decade of the 20th century. The war set the stage for other wars that would occur in the decade including the Georgian Civil War, the civil war in Afghanistan, Iraq Kurdish War, and even the Al Qaeda insurgency in Yemen. As a result, War became a defining point for the two decades. Both wars had disastrous consequences, especially in the Middle East. According to Cornwell from Independent, the rise of terrorism and the region falling into chaos are some of the highlights from the two decades (Cornwell par. 11).

Some similarities emerged in culture and lifestyle. The culture in the 1990s and 2000s was dependent on mass media as advancements in technology increased the influence of mass media on culture. Computers were getting smaller, and the internet was spreading fast across the American population. Mass media were influencing more people. New music genres such as grunge changed the way people connected with music. Musicians were selling more than their music. They were selling a lifestyle too. For example, a hip-hop fan was supposed to behave and dress in a manner that resembles hip-hop artists. The population was emulating what it received from mass media. Cheesy television shows and sitcoms became the order of the day as they dictated the fashions and trends of the day. The 1990s culture extended beyond fashion and lifestyle. As Farago from the BBC explains, the development of communication devices and channels such as the internet boosted the already growing globalization (Farago par. 5). Cities became interconnected as communication and traveled increased. However, the most defining moment of the 1990s came in 1994 with the fall of the iron curtain. The fall of the Soviet Union introduced new populations and new regions into the global community. The event ended the rivalries that had defined the 20th century. Information flow was faster than in any other period. Additionally, American culture spread to the rest of the world through Hollywood and music. The cultural changes that were taking place in the 1990s were similar to those of the 2000s except with more advanced technology. Increased access to the internet allowed people from all over the world to become interconnected. The pop culture was now influenced by the internet, which was gaining wide acceptance in the developing world such as China, India and other regions of the world. The spread of information became almost instantaneous and cultural trends cut across borders. The pop culture practices such as fashion and lifestyle became synonymous with mass media.

Despite the common grounds between the 1990s and the 2000s, the two decades had some contrasting elements that set them apart. The two decades were different in the type of technology used. During the 1990s, the television was one of the most widely used mass media along with the radio. Households, especially in the developed world had a high rate of television set ownership. Most people relied on either the television or the radio for their daily news. The telephone was still the main form of long-distance communication, but it was only limited to verbal communication. The other forms of communication such as written communication relied on email and post-mail. Despite the widespread presence of electricity primarily in the developed world, computers were not standard in households until the late 1990s. That picture is a stark contrast to that of the 2000s, which was highly defined by technology. The spread of the internet combined with smaller and cheaper computers ensured that information was readily online. Companies such as Google and Yahoo emerged in the early part of the 21st century as the top search engines. Google's mission statement, as explained by Wood from the Guardian, "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful," (Wood par.3). Nevertheless, even as information became readily available in the 2000s, the spread of the internet provided ground for a new mode of communication. The social media emerged and took the world by storm. It fostered cultural and information exchange on a scale that has never been witnessed before. A person in Hong Kong could suddenly hold a conversation with someone from Africa and vice versa. The spread of social media as one of the primary forms of communication was different from that of the previous decade, which relied on verbal communication. The television ceased to become the primary form of mass media as the internet took over. Telephones, unlike in the 1990s were at the center of technological revolution. The creation of smartphones allowed people to have computers, at the palm of their hands. Smartphones became the preferred way to send messages whether verbal or written because of their speed and portability. Just like the previous decade, the technological change would fuel the new wave of revolution, but unlike the previous decade, people adopted technology and implemented it at a large scale that included almost half of the global population.

Conclusion

They say a lot can happen in 24 hours. Therefore, when the hours turn to decades, it becomes somehow understandable how the 1990s became so different from each other. Despite being consecutive, the decades had nations collapse while new ones were formed. New economies emerged while other receded. The human race moved several steps closer to becoming a single community. On the one hand, the conflicts that defined the 20th century seemed to have carried forward to the 21st century. On the other hand, the old technologies that defined the 20th century were abandoned while others were reinvented to suit the fast-changing world. With all these contrasts, it becomes difficult to point out what was there and what was not. However, a close analysis would reveal the similarities were along the line of culture while the differences were along the lines of technology. Therefore, the 1990s and the 2000s were different regarding the type of technologies that were being used in the decades but were somehow similar in regards to the culture of the people in the two decades.

Works Cited

Al Jazeera. The connection between Iraq and 9/11. Al-Jazeera.Media Network, 7 September 2011. https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/spotlight/the911decade/2011/09/201197155513938336.html. Accessed. 21 February 2019.

Cornwell, Rupert. The First Gulf War was a great success, but its unintended legacy disastrous for the Middle East - and the world as a whole. Independent, 16 January 2016. https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/the-first-gulf-war-was-a-great-success-but-its-unintended-legacy-disastrous-for-the-middle-east-and-a6816771.html. Accessed. 21 February 2019.

Farago, Jason. The 90's: The decade that never ended. British Broadcasting Corporation, 5 February 2015. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150205-the-1990s-never-ended/. Accessed 21 February 2019.

Wood, Gaby. High points of the noughties. The Guardian, 27 December 2009. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/dec/27/culture-review-of-the-noughties. Accessed. 21 February 2019.