In 2026, I’m Going Back to the 90s

A nostalgic twist on New Year’s resolutions

Photo by Bruno Guerrero on Unsplash

In the past year, I’ve been laid off three times, the last from my dream job in a clear case of disability discrimination. Suffice to say, I’ve never felt more unstable and out of control of my own life. So, when I realized the “New year, new me” season was upon us, I decided to theme my goals for 2026 around the last time I felt peace and simplicity: the 90s and early 2000s.

In the absence of a DeLorean, I did what I do best and created a list of habits that were well within my capabilities. This involved thinking back on my childhood and what positive elements of that time I could realistically recreate. These small changes won’t do a thing for my diminishing job prospects, but they will give me a sense of agency and joy in the new year.

If you’re interested in joining me on my time-traveling adventures, continue reading and consider implementing these habits yourself.

Why the 90s?

In other words, what makes the 90s and early 2000s so great?

As someone who was born in 1998 in the monocultural tuna casserole that is the Midwestern region, my bias is inevitable. It’s not just the rose-colored lens of childhood nostalgia that colors my thinking, but as someone who wasn’t affected by, say, the post- 9/11 boom of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab sentiments that seem to be coming back full circle, it is all too easy for me to whitewash the era as idyllic, when it was anything but for many marginalized communities.

Limited perspectives acknowledged, this time period couldn’t be more different than now.

There was a sense of obligation to look out for your fellow man. People weren’t in a rush. Screens were limited to the Family Computer and the Family TV. If you couldn’t afford something, you put it on layaway, or you simply didn’t buy it. Reading material for the toilet was the back of a shampoo bottle. Boredom was a natural part of life. If you had a question, you asked your parents, teachers, or peers, receiving answers with varying degrees of accuracy. Personal media was limited to the random VHS tapes your parents or grandparents had, or reruns of Friends. Your boss didn’t have a play-by-play of your weekend on Facebook.

There was a tremendous amount of social progress being made (the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, public outcry and opposition to police brutality after Rodney King’s murder in 1992, and increased access to Antiretroviral drugs (ARV) and combination therapies in the mid-90s, which meant an HIV/AIDS diagnosis was no longer a death sentence).

In addition, the economy was better than ever, with women like my mother and aunts entering the workforce and staying there after they married and had children — even out-earning their husbands — and many households across North America able to purchase homes for reasonable prices.

Like any time period, the turn of the century was not without its tragedies. From the genocide in Bosnia to the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan in the name of “democracy,” it’s worth pointing out that the 90s and early 2000s were a utopian time for Americans precisely because we paid less attention to the harm perpetuated outside of our country and in its name. All that to say, the era depended on a blissful ignorance, only the “bliss” of which I seek to recreate.

In looking at the differences, technology makes an easy scapegoat. The iPhone, for example, which was released when I was in late elementary school, made it so that we have the world at our fingertips, and instead of engaging with the world around us, we keep our necks craned to the contents of our phone.

Before you’ve even had your morning coffee, you can scroll through a story of a horrific murder, a fluffy puppy nuzzling up to a newborn, and an angry rant about yet another person’s awful boss. To quote a comedy sketch I came across some time ago but cannot remember the name of, “People nowadays get more information before 9 A.M. than they would have in an entire month back in 2004.”

Social media, too, makes for an enticing villain. Look at all these stupid influencers shilling Amazon must-haves and white tank tops! When was the last time I saw a person online whose face is not warped by fillers?

The tech oligarchs, who are now sycophants of the far-right, deserve the blame and vitriol, but we must not forget our collective power. We can use the very tools designed to divide us as a tool to come back together, to organize and enjoy community with one another, both on and offline.

Here are my ideas thus far. Some of these are more personal to me, so feel free to make substitutions or take what applies to you and leave out the rest.

The rules

Phone & social media

1. No opening my phone until after breakfast.
2. During mealtimes, all household phones must be put in another room.
3. No phone in the bathroom.
4. Place my phone under the bed when watching TV/movies at night.
5. YouTube/Netflix are only allowed at lunchtime, except for movie nights.
6. Music or taking my hearing aids out while cooking. No YouTube.
7. Limit YouTube consumption to the people I’m subscribed to (keep to about 10).
8. YouTube will be allowed when doing laundry, but not other chores. Music is okay.
9. Find new AdBlockers to use on YouTube and Reddit.
10. No videos where people are yelling at me (or selling me stuff).

This category is all about reducing my physical and emotional attachment to my phone, to the point that I do not panic if it’s not on my person. I want my mealtimes to be about connection with my husband, to face each other rather than a screen. I do have specific creators I love for specific times (Blondie in China for lunch and Shawna Ripari for laundry), however, so I’ve created rules that will help build anticipation for their new content.

Cooking, cleaning, and puzzles are my weak points for needing to listen to something, so I will experiment with limiting myself to music, my YouTube subscriptions, or total silence. My main frustration with these apps is that too much content is spit out at me, often covered in ads. I want to reduce the stimulation to a more reasonable level. I’ve also noticed a growing trend of content creators yelling at or evangelizing overconsumption to their audience, which I want no part of.

Some might question why I’m not simply switching to a “dumb phone” or a landline, and the answer to that is this: As a Deaf person, I rely on reading lips and captions on video calls, so limiting myself to phone calls is not an option for me, much as I would love to use a pink Motorola Razor again. That doesn’t mean I can’t improve my relationship with the phone I have now, though.

Other media

1. Reinstate my morning news and Medium reading habit.
2. Read 60–65 books in 2026, especially beyond non-fiction and horror.
3. Create a physical recipe book of my favorite recipes and/or purchase secondhand recipe books.
4. Establish a personal curriculum, taking online courses, joining a book club, or setting aside time to research various topics.
5. Create one art piece per week, either drawing or painting.
6. Get into the habit of entering “-AI” when using Google search.
7. Build up a physical media collection, starting with a portable DVD player and a small selection of DVDs.
8. No looking at reviews before consuming a piece of media.

Since starting my last job in September, I’ve dropped my habit of reading one or two news articles and one Medium article each morning. This routine allowed me to start my day off feeling informed and engaged. This is something I aim to get back to. Sitting at 61 books, I have surpassed my reading goals for 2025 (currently reading Columbine and loving it), so I’d like to keep the momentum going next year, pushing myself to read beyond my two favorite genres of non-fiction and horror.

Pinterest has regrettably become an AI slopfest that is impossible to find decent recipes on, so I’m thinking of creating a physical recipe book of my favorites. Another option would be buying secondhand cookbooks. Most likely, I will laminate my recipe book so I do not have to worry about spilling either way.

I consider myself a lifelong learner and voracious reader, but there are many topics that I want to learn about in different formats. Therefore, I’m thinking of taking some online courses, joining a book club to change up the way I engage with literature, or setting aside time to research whatever topics come to mind — no ChatGPT involved.

Speaking of AI, a little trick I need to remember is to input “-AI” whenever I use Google to eliminate the useless summaries from my search results.

Just before my layoff, I refreshed my painting supplies, which have been lying dormant on my knockoff IKEA cart ever since — and that’s not even to touch on the drawing supplies I have not used in multiple years. I’m putting out the number 52, but really, the goal would be to use up all my art supplies and have fun doing so.

This subject is worthy of its own article, but it has become so normal to seek out other people’s opinions of art before consuming it. My theory is that this is due to convenience culture, where we do not want to spend our time or energy on things we probably won’t like, and we look to the consensus of the general population in order to prevent that. But art is subjective, and if one always listens to other people’s opinions before forming their own, you miss out on a lot of art that you might love!

Lastly, I want to start the process of moving away from the overcharging streaming services. A full living room set-up probably isn’t in the budget this year, but I can start small with a portable DVD player my father-in-law is willing to part ways with and The Middle on DVD, which I plan to purchase with a gift card I’m receiving from an aunt for Christmas. The idea is not to make the switch immediately, but to enjoy the process of building up the DVD collection one at a time.

Community

1. Work at the library, park, or a local cafe once a week.
2. Find at least one volunteering gig in my town.
3. Join a Japanese Sign Language (or American Sign Language) group.
4. Plan at least one hiking and camping trip with my husband’s friends.
5. Scale back the texting and FaceTime/write letters more often with my best friend.

The third category is meant to encourage time spent socializing and getting out of the house. My runs and jaunts to the grocery store will not be counted because I’m not actually talking with anyone during that time. I’ve lived in this peaceful Japanese mountain town for nearly two years, so it’s high time I patronize more local spots, like the library I have yet to pay a visit to. The library was my sanctuary back in Michigan, so I look forward to finding another literary home.

While I’m on the subject, I’ll plug Libby (books, audiobooks, and magazines), Kanopy (movies and TV series), and Hoopla (all of the above, plus music), all of which are free and connected to my U.S. library card, which my cousin renews for me as needed. If I can encourage just one person to make use of their local library this year, I’ve done my job.

I was volunteering at a dog shelter this time last year, an arrangement that ended with me leaving and not coming back when I realized how cliquey the staff were. An hour away by train, it was also expensive and time-consuming to get there, so I’m thinking of picking up trash or joining a volunteer group in my actual neighborhood. I can only observe the horrendous political situation in the U.S. from afar, but I can make a tangible difference in the country I now call home, no matter how small.

As I lose more and more of my hearing, my desire to learn a signed language and participate in the Deaf community has grown into a need. I need to meet people who get it. I am so tired of lipreading and performing labor for the mumbling hearing people who can’t keep their fucking hands away from their mouth. It’s time to find my community again.

As for the friends I already have, the octogenarian friends I share with my husband are just as passionate about nature as I am. If I could plan at least one excursion with them this year, I’d be happy with that.

The last item, I’m a bit unsure about. My cousin and best friend, Megan, is someone I exchange texts with on a daily basis. Despite living on opposite sides of the globe, we’ve stayed just as close. All that to say, in the absence of in-person meet-ups now that we no longer live five minutes apart, I’m wondering if it might be beneficial to change up the medium of how we interact to more closely mimic the late-night park hangouts of yesteryear.

Sensory and physical health

1. No hearing aids until breakfast.
2. Hike or go on a long walk with my husband once a week.
3. Set timers to stretch my eyes after each 45-minute session at my laptop, ideally working my way down to every 20 minutes.
4. Find a calisthenics teacher on YouTube and expand my morning mobility sessions.

The final category includes just a few of my goals surrounding my physical and mental health. Firstly, not putting in my hearing aids until breakfast is served, giving me time to wake up before being assaulted with the sounds of the world. On a related note, incorporating eye stretching into my routine. I do practically everything on my computer, and my vision is suffering for it, so implementing these stretches is paramount.

To kill two birds with one stone, I’d like to dedicate Sundays as the day to hike or go for a multi-hour walk with my husband, providing exercise and quality time with him in one fell swoop, while also making use of our local trails.

Wrapping things up, I always like to leave room for novelty in my fitness routine. In a given week, I will run twice, do one or two sessions of yoga or Pilates, and do one session of strength-training in combination with my daily stretching routine, in addition to walking an hour round-trip to and from the grocery store on Saturdays and the Sunday hikes with my husband. This is all well and good. Still, I’d like to add calisthenics to the rotation just to try something new and help with my quest to age well.

The first in a series

This is not a definitive list. Some of my goals are simply not relevant to the topic at hand, and others, like plans for a low-buy, I have yet to put quantitative measurements of success to. I’m already in a trial period with some of these habits, figuring out what works for me.

If you’re at all curious about my inspiration, I will link the Shawna Ripari video and the This Story Ain’t Over video that have influenced this list. I highly recommend both!

In all likelihood, my habits will likely evolve throughout the year, along with my thoughts on this “experiment,” if you will, which is why I’m imagining this article as the first in a series. If you have any suggestions or are thinking of trying any of these habits yourself, feel free to sound off in the comments — I’d love to hear what other people have to say! And if you’re interested in more content around this challenge, by all means let me know.

And in case it isn’t clear, my aim with this list is not to posit myself as morally superior, nor is it to throw out technology altogether and claim that will fix everything. Instead, I’ve curated these habit changes into something that, even if not executed perfectly in the day-to-day, will result in the contentment I felt at the turn of the new millennium. After all, feeling content with less is how we have the room to ask for more.

If you liked this article, feel free to give me a clap (up to 50), comment, or follow! You can also check out my Japan travel blog, Koyo Travels, at this link. Thank you so much for reading and supporting my work.