In 1995, it was not the earliest innocent era, but it was the last real era.
By chance, in a café, I stumbled upon a wooden sign that seemed to come from another time and space, which read:
We do not have Wi-Fi.
Talk to each other.
Pretend it’s 1995.
We do not have Wi-Fi,
Let’s talk to each other,
Pretend it’s 1995.
This is not just a café; it is clearly an entrance to a hidden plot, or more accurately, it is a rift in time and space that quietly opens.
A latte, and it seems you are transported back to 1995?
In this era where everyone eats while looking at their phones, dates on their computers, and remains silent with their headphones, this wooden sign resembles a gentle yet eerie whisper: “Put down your iPhone, look up at your friends, and pretend it’s 1995.”
The Strange Gentle Trap
In today’s society, Wi-Fi is like air; without it, it feels like you can’t breathe. A café without Wi-Fi? This is more frustrating than ordering a coffee and finding out it has no sugar.
However, it is this short phrase, “We do not have Wi-Fi,” that unexpectedly touches the softest corners of our hearts. It is not harsh; it gently tempts you.
“Hey, how about some real communication, just like in 1995?”
Where’s the humor? It lies in the fact that it knows you can’t do it, yet it still asks you to put down your phone.
Where’s the irony? It is that the natural way of communication that once existed now has to rely on “pretending” to recall.
Where’s the warmth? It is in that moment when you finally put down your phone and see the light in your friend’s eyes again.
Why 1995?
Because 1995 was an extremely awkward yet wonderful juncture.
Mobile phones had appeared but were not yet widespread. You might have heard of the “big brother” phone, but what you actually used was still a pager—beep, beep, who is sending secret signals?
The internet had just begun to emerge, but the speed was as slow as a cow pulling a cart. Want to enter a chat room? You still had to use a dial-up modem that made your mom’s phone line busy.
That year, Microsoft released Windows 95, and the world caught its first glimpse of the digital future through a window.
Pixar released “Toy Story,” the first full-length film made entirely with computers.
People still wrote letters, used payphones, kept diaries, and rented tapes from video stores to watch movies…
1995 was not the earliest innocent era, but it was the last real era.
From 1996 onwards, the internet began to race; by 2000, the world had plunged into the torrent of information. And 1995 was that slow, warm, and blurry bridge connecting the warmth of human connection with the impending cold efficiency.
It is not too far away, yet it is precisely the last stop we can “return to.”
Why does such a sign exist?
Because the world is getting faster and faster, so fast that we don’t have time to look back at each other.
People talk less and take more selfies;
Social media is as lively as a market, yet hearts are as cold as an ice cellar;
We cry tears of joy in front of screens, yet in reality, we are stingy with a single hug.
The world has not become worse, but we are losing a kind of “courage to be slow.”
Dare to speak slowly, to interact slowly, not rushing to reply to messages, not rushing to like.
Dare to sit across from a friend, even in silence, without escaping into your phone.
Dare to enjoy an afternoon without Wi-Fi, and dare to let time linger in the warm, rustic, and real atmosphere of 1995.
This wooden sign is not just a reminder that there is no Wi-Fi here; it is actually gently reminding us:
You have been chasing a faster future, yet you have forgotten that the warmest past only requires you to stop, turn around gently.
What exactly have we lost?
What we have lost is not just signals and patience.
We have lost
the gaze between people;
the heartbeat-inducing looks during conversations;
the little excitement of waiting for a reply;
the silly joy of watching tapes, listening to CDs, flipping through magazines together;
the clumsy yet sincere feeling of writing “I miss you” with a pen.
And all of these actually reside in 1995.
Not every era is worth traveling back to, but 1995 is a year with just the right temperature.
It had enough technology to keep you from falling too far behind;
but not too much technology to make you cold and mechanical.
It is like a cup of tea that has been sitting for a long time but is still warm. When you drink it, you taste not just nostalgia but also a quiet reminder.
Don’t rush, don’t escape, don’t forget to look up at people.
If you see that wooden sign,
perhaps you won’t really be transported back to 1995,
but you will suddenly remember that
some things,
you have long lost.
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This is not just a café; it is clearly an entrance to a hidden plot, or more accurately, it is a rift in time and space that quietly opens.
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