Research

INTRODUCTION

"The youth today ... when I was a young child used to ...." I am sure that you have heard similar statements many times. Thinking about this, I started to search for knowledge about what other people mean by "my times". In this way, I came across a website Nonsensopedia (Polish encyclopedia of humor), where we read:

My times is a period in world history, when everything was better. Times when men were real men, women, real women (...). Before the war, in every village was coal. "My times" can be pre-war period or anywhere, when we were young.

During the search we came across the rankings list of events and trends in popular culture from the past years. They included, among others "Top 30 of the 90s" and "Crazy years of 90s.". Intrigued by the past I decided to examine in an objective way possibly with scientific methods, distinct of the leisure time preferences, tastes, dreams and needs of young people born in the 90s and the generation growing up today. The examination covered the four groups of people: our peers born in the years 1983-1989, their parents, current primary school pupils and their parents.

Do you remember that song?

Dr Alban - It's My Life

With my schoolmates we had 86 meetings. With each person we made an interview and filled in a questionnaire. We analyzed the results , using software designed to analyze qualitative and quantitative data. As a result of our research we have developed a report showing the changes that have occurred over the past 15 years. I would like to present you the summary of the one part from our research.

Mr President - Coco Jambo

CHILDREN born in 90s
MULTIPLAYER GENERATION

"Multiplayer" is a word derived from the world of computer games in which multiple users simultaneously play. Our research shows that in the 90s most games had a group character. We realized that these games had only "sense" when a lot of kids participated in a competition. The media such as the Internet, television, newspapers - did not provide as large number of ideas on how to manage your free time. The children themselves invented games and looked for resources to implement them.

They had to use their own imagination to create something new. Let’s take for the example temporary mini-baseball field, which was made from the rocks found nearby the playground. It was sufficient only to have a ball and a baseball bat or a tennis ball, to occupy large group of boys and girls. This would not be possible without the other children- friendships determined social capital, which was needed to create a successful play. That's why we felt that the phrase " multiplayer generation " best describes the nature of past years.

• If you could make a rating of the most popular things of the 90s what would it be?

• How do you think – what are the leisure time preferences, tastes, dreams and needs of current primary school pupils?

Another feature of the 90s generation is the social capital which means to have friends ­- preferably a large circle. This follows from the fact that the finalization of an idea for a play could not be often done without the aid of others. Children with one another exchange their collected Printed Notes or the notebooks called “Golden thoughts”. These games were a form of establishing new social networks and / or entry into other groups. In the 90’s there was also a very popular game called “the cow”. If anyone ever wondered why at 4.15 p.m. the life in the yard disappeared, then we want to provide the answer – we should blame emitted at Polonia 1 cartoons such as Gigi La Trottola, Sally The Witch, Capitan Tsubasa, Tiger Mask Nisei or Sailor Moon.

We have to remember to say something about the console PEGASUS which gathered groups of children wanting to shoot with a gun to ducks, ride in tanks or play Mario, although the games were not explicitly provided for the possibility of playing in such a large group of people (usually they were for a single game player or two players).

Children had also many fun playing in “the house” building it from just a few blankets and the table. This state of affairs in our opinion, was a result of the times in which was then Poland.

The 90s were characterized by scarcity in objects games; however, examined people mention that they were very happy then . Forms of leisure activities are not just confined to the backyard playground. It was a period when the Polish economy was just opened to the world. As a result, the offer of products aimed at children was much smaller and less varied than what is available to kids today.

• What were your favourite games when you were a child?
• Do you think that multiplayer generation was more creative?

Also, the media played a much smaller role than today in shaping attitudes and beliefs of minors. Many respondents believe that the lack of wide range of toys forced their children to use imagination and creativity.

Toys on the market in the 90s had a significantly higher price than at present. However, the realization of children's dreams of those years required less money, due to a smaller selection of available toys / products. Children did not have much choice in what they would like to have. Most frequently cited toys were: bike, ball, Barbie doll and a computer.

HOT TOP five desired toys of 90s:

1. bike
2. football
3. Barbie
4. PC
5. tamagochi

In summary, children's games in past years required more creativity and had a group character. Children had significantly more free time to play. Most respondents from the generation growing up in the 90s recall their early youth with fondness because it was a carefree period of freedom, fun and time spent with friends.

• Can You create the hot top five desired toys of current times?
• How do You ting – are there any differences in lifestyle of these two generations?
• If so - what are the reasons of it?