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Why Every Generation is Nostalgic for the Past
Hey, you kids…get off my lawn!
What is your favorite type of music? Favorite band? What about your favorite cartoon or brand of cereal?
Chances are, the answers to those questions go back to your childhood, teenage, or college years.
With the early 2000s fashions coming back around the the cyclical trends once again, I wanted to talk about nostalgia.
What it is, why we feel it, and how it connects to the idea that every generation thinks their music/movies/music is the best.
What is nostalgia?
Every year I come closer to the stereotypical old person telling the youths to get off my metaphorical lawn.
Teenagers look simultaneously older and younger than they did when I was one.
TV and movies and music all feel less original and raw than when I was young.
The world and politics feel worse off than before.
All my favorite music is held over from high school, college, and my early 20s. I listened to the radio and bought CDs and burned mix CDs a ton in those days.
I never listen to the radio now. In fact, I’m really only exposed to new music through social media, and if it’s through TikTok, I am more likely only exposed to snippets of songs.
Nostalgia is defined as “a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.”
Think about that: Happy personal associations.
If you had a wonderful childhood and good memories of it, then it makes sense that things that remind you of that time feel good.
The same can be true of a specific time in your life, like a season of friendship, a specific job you held, one perfect summer, anything. Or a place — your grandparent’s house, a favorite store, a town.
A time or place where you were happy will bring you happiness even many years later. But…
