The REAL Reason Everyone is So Nostalgic Now

[@Sagethis]

Are you nostalgic for the past? What period of time?

[@ArissaHaque]

2021-2022, despite covid stuff i generally got along with my friends better than now

[@skye_belle888]

Before 2012. Everything just fell apart for me afterwards.

[@thabo3866]

The 90's bro and early 2000s...but mostly the 90s, the greatest decade of all time

[@latussu5]

2009-2016

[@Pjottermans]

80s/90s

[@seltzer567]

2000s up until 2013 is what I’m mostly nostalgic for. I miss when the internet was a place to go to and the lack of smartphones.

[@bluesamg]

Back when websites were more built for the desktop experience rather than mobile phones.

[@nebularain3338]

Smartphones were around in 2007.

[@tirramasu7948]

2016 for me. Its the last time KZbin felt like a giant community instead of segregated sectors Like people could interact and any collab could happen by our favorite creators

[@seltzer567]

@@nebularain3338 that’s why I said “lack” 2007 was like peak flip phones even if the iPhone was introduced. Smartphones as a whole didn’t pass feature phones such as flip phones then slider phones after that until 2013. I had an iPod touch in like 2012 but it was a completely different landscape when it came to phones

[@NeyamRye]

Ig

[@uwagajedzietramwaj_]

i blame the death of monoculture, nobody is on the same page anymore and nostalgia is the only thing that people can relate to now

[@tarynwilson1223]

Exactly! When I was a kid everyone watched the same shows that were airing on tv and we would talk about them in school the next day. I feel sad for kids now who don't get to experience it.

[@thecompareablezombie]

Sadly it is one of the plan, if anyone notices other either joke comment or genuinely comment to not notice things. Mixed with a few different shades of Grey.

[@kqlolll2618]

its literally so hard to find someone that likes something now. i swear the kids in my school only know stuff like instagram, dramas, and other boring things, like idk.. fifa or sports (ok tbh thank goodness we atleast have sports ig) which is sad because people like me who like other things are actually shamed and stuff, they hate me for no reason lol

[@pretzelx]

@@kqlolll2618 idk how old you are, but weren't people the same like 12 years ago? Most kids in my school were obsessed with snapchat, fb, instagram... and mostly liked things that were mainstream (like western pop artists). Meanwhile i was that weird kid who watched anime (before it became 'cool'), listened to jpop/kpop/vocaloid, played games etc. I didn't really have many friends who were into the same things as me.

[@doom5895]

Shit feels more mono than ever the same bland soulless culture from ~2016 is still here even the new nostalgic inspired stuff doesn't click right like something is missing there's no escape and I hate it

[@uui219]

Social media has destroyed life. People who weren't alive 20-30 years ago have no idea how much youth and young adult culture have specifically degraded. Idc how many cope videos are made, the days of the early internet were the perfect medium. We got to enjoy the real, diverse internet, not just 5 apps and Google, and people actually left the house to socialize. The internet was a place you visited while in your bedroom. It wasn't life.

[@baronvonjo1929]

We can't afford it lol a car is too expensive these days and everyone is nihilist.

[@kqlolll2618]

@@baronvonjo1929 everything has become expensive and everything is toxic and deadly, the air, our clothing, water in a bottle... you know, plastics. scares me tbh, thats the only thing. actually no, the most scariest thing is that nobody is trying to help all these problems. nobody is working to better the world, and are continuing letting us live in pain, when really, we should be working or atleast trying to make life less painful. it sucks even more when the stuff you learn in school is people suffering and stuff and you wonder if people are actually trying to stop those things today.. my only hope is that people are working to stop all these things. i cant do anything right now, but the most important thing to me rn is trying to make myself and my future better.

[@TheChosen1inc]

Exactly its always someone super young making videos like this. Its all cope because they didnt grow up in a non internet dominated world

[@hambonefakenamington69]

@@kqlolll2618 what's ironic is people trying to make anything better and do non-capitalistic work still depend on funds provided by an inherently capitalistic society. there is no end or real escape to this circle of fuck. any betterment is like a temporary band-aid in a minuscule area of a body that is rotting from the inside. people who have realised this have become nihilists, absurdists, incurably depressed, or all of those combined.

[@sarvamithraJr]

Fact

[@Someone-n2v4t]

I like how people nowadays analyse why we're so depressed and escapists

[@Anon1gh3]

Not being depressed is fascist.

[@SnuubScadoob]

@Anon1gh3 Da fuq?

[@Someone-n2v4t]

@@SnuubScadoob Da wut

[@kaishel3037]

Says something about this time period doesn’t it?

[@Someone-n2v4t]

@@kaishel3037 exactly

[@stanleyray]

This was an interesting take on Nostalgia. I'm apart of older GenZ, so I often brag about how cool it is to be just old enough to remember the 2000s before technology and social media took over (early childhood), while also experiencing a world with both of those things (teenage years). I'm someone who has to keep nostalgia with me EVERYDAY just to make it through, especially music, video games, and cartoons/TV shows. It's such a bittersweet feeling, I've never been able to really describe it. Those memories make us feel good but we feel sad also cause we'll never be able to go back and relive them in real time ever again🥲😭🫠But I think that's what makes us older GenZ babies special. We have the best of both worlds🩷even conversing in the comment section right now with others your age who share the same/or similar nostalgia as you is comforting🥰

[@Sagethis]

@@stanleyray oh yea I hear youu. Nostalgia can definitely become a way to cope. Even tho the memories are mostly distorted, they still bring soo much comfort & it can def be bittersweet if the present is especially bad. I remember I was the most nostalgic when I was going though hard times. Certain songs/smells literally hurt with their vivid flashbacks but I now know that was just because I was unhappy which made the contrast between the past & present so strong. Weirdly enough as I got happier my nostalgia got weaker so it’s definitely an interesting point. But it’s understandable that so many are nostalgic with how dark/chaotic the world is today

[@darriusxworld9693]

I agree same here man😭😭1998

[@victoriarobinson1403]

I think bcuz everyone learns about nostalgia in high school English class. So they start reminiscing on the past post college graduation when the reality of adulthood sets in. Paying bills and working to afford those bills.

[@shploonsk]

Remember catching Spirited Away every once in a while on the tv?

[@dragonxblkangelx216]

The last year to actually know the 2000s was 2002-2003

[@JamesJimmaHarding]

There was a time when TV shows and movies were our escape from the problems of the real world. Now, nostalgia for that time is our escape from the problems of the real world

[@dariuspalmer2829]

Yeah facts now TV shows and movies are trying to reflect the real world meaning there is no where else to escape other than the past

[@fabiashii]

​@@dariuspalmer2829 Exactly.. The lack of fantasy, supernatural, unrealistic shows etc..

[@sweetcutecoolgirl]

@@fabiashii i realised that too that’s why I don’t like watching newer shows because they are way more negative or traumatising than shows/movies from back then.

[@shaneriggs6678]

​@@dariuspalmer2829 modern shows don't really even reflect the real world but reflect a hyper progressive filter over everything trying to force the left wing hamfisted messaging and narratives into everything. Nobody really cares about identity politics and victemhood Olympics stuff but they make everything revolve around those things

[@jaidenboucher0]

gen z here! i think part of the reason we remember the past fondly is that when we experience events, we don’t know what the outcome will be and whether “everything will be okay”. remembering events inherently means we now know that they will result in at least survival.

[@boredrat2573]

I was thinking the same thing!

[@aliceplays5092]

yeah I've always thought that too

[@OSpr4567]

Dude, this idea of nostalgia being linked to low resolution is insanely good. Gives a whole new meaning to when we were obsessed with vaporwave

[@Sagethis]

@@OSpr4567 vaporwave was just millennial frutiger aero

[@triptadabeach]

im still obsessed with v a p o r w a v e

[@Trotoloko]

@@Sagethis Nah, frutiger aero is Z vaporwave

[@Chaosticks148]

Analog technology is why yes it was completely a different time and remember people are using, used cars from the early 2000s but back then everyone was using, used 80s vehicles even all the vehicles on the road were different

[@9852323]

Well low resolution is no longer so what about future nostalgia. We are reaching the limits of what we can do with video.

[@redbearddan2000]

I think Stone Age was the best. No pandemics, no Internet, no wars, no culture clashes, just people living in the moment appreciating what they had. These times are so nostalgic😄

[@Ayahuasca98]

Seeing “POV it’s 2015 and you’re playing minion rush on your mom’s phone” types of posts makes me wonder what future generations will be nostalgic about.

[@orichalcum_plus]

I think about this a lot lol, I guess this is how millennials feel about us

[@justanotherinternetwiseguy8018]

To be fair every generation has weird nostalgia. In the 1980s there was this weird trend where people collected rocks. These rocks were real and people bought. it was called a pet rock. I think for the most part people bought it as a joke but nevertheless it's their nostalgia, I'm sure some people may look back on it fondly.

[@keyaunna.]

i grew up in an abusive home, and the section where you mentioned feeling nostalgia for traumatic times really resonated with me. over a year ago, i cut off my abusive mother and became estranged from her. when recovering from this abuse now that she's no longer in my life, i feel nostalgia for the early days in the 2000s, when she was what we know as a "real mother." i long for the days where i felt like i had a normal family.

[@p3p3_Frog]

This is literally like missing school when you’re on summer holidays/ when you graduate You only focus on the fun parts that stick out, but when you go back you realize it’s ass

[@uui219]

Ngl nah the 90s and 00s were downright amazing. Nothing is perfect but it was a better time, period. People actually went out and did things. Social interaction was completely different. The early internet was a lot more interesting and diverse, now almost everyone just uses just Google and a handful of social media apps. I can list countless things that were definitely better. It wasn't THAT long ago that I don't remember how it was.

[@thecompareablezombie]

@@uui219 the 90s and 00s didn't have in your face politics in media either, which was and is wonderful.

[@buriedinbooks881]

@@uui219the early internet was also full of more easily accessible gore, 4chan had actual power in getting people irl harassed, and was slower than your grandma and had way more lag. You are kind of doing the exact thing the video talks about, if the early internet as it truly existed suddenly came back today most people would hate it due to these reasons

[@sn3try]

​@@buriedinbooks881nope, Gore is more easily accessible than ever, popping up on places like Instagram or discord or 4chan. 4chans never been regulated and If they want to they will manage to harass a group/person, If gay flurries can mess with NATO documents 4chan can harass somebody. The only point I agree on is that the internets faster but I see that as a downside, that slower load time psychologically encourage's you to go "bah! I'm not waiting!" and go do something else for the time being than just watching KZbin. We also had more easily accessible parks and hangout areas, most of those places (especially in the US) have been demolished or have been made into what I call "adult oriented spaces" big black and white drap buildings with nothing of interest just cause companies are too scared to do anything fun anymore (removal of McDonald's play places for e.g)

[@Novusod]

I am sorry but the past was objectively better despite the video cherry picking a few bad things that happened in the 70s, 80s, or 90s. Jobs paid better back then. Housing was cheaper. Kids were expected to move out of their parents house when they turned 18. College was affordable and most people didn't even need it. I grew up thinking the "The Simpsons" were a lower middle class family by 90s standards. Today they would be considered upper middle class. The fertility rate has collapsed to an extinction level event because people can't afford to start a family.

[@nickjaxon1317]

It's the lack of soul due to social media in this era. People use to have human interactions and thoughts. Now everything is almost muddled subjective thinking and ideals to the point where the only thing any of us can have in common is nostalgia

[@StrangeScaryNewEngland]

Well, everyone who feels that nostalgia on a regular basis need to get together and change society, make it the way it was before social media and tiktok became the dictators. The only one that can change anything is you (that "you" goes for *everyone*).

[@Katsura-San124]

​@@StrangeScaryNewEngland Alright, do your part. Do it, no excuses.

[@ThomasWake1]

Nothing new will come until massive systemic social changes are made and a new technological and intellectual revolution happens

[@Sombody123]

The problem with this video is that unlike human memories, media stays the same through the decades. You can find an old game, play through the game exactly as it was decades ago and realize that it was (and still is) OBJECTIVELY better than most of the modern crap being pumped out today.

[@swilson5320]

I suppose there are a few things like that- i was thinking about how clothes even 10 years ago were considered better quality. Or how one's grandad's tools might still be in functioning order.

[@Frozeya1]

That comment is untrue in the way there is a LOT of subjectivity in someone’s affinity to one media due to nostalgia. You’re nostalgic for a media then ofc you’re like it more that is purely human, standard from what is « objectively » better change throughout times. And god knows how much of a nostalgic i am. But if you grew up in one media environment it’s obvious your brain told you this was the standard. Nowadays Kids will have the same discourse as you in 10 years, and your parents had the same discourse years ago. For me it’s mostly songs and video games. Back in the 2000s video games were aiming to be smooth and with sharp cartoon graphics wich was cool with me, nowadays they always chase realism trading performance and smoothness and sharpness just for more realistic graphics with reflections etc. wich makes the games look blurry and all. Now while to me this is a downgrade for the videogame industry kids that grew up with that won’t see it that way. For them, realism is the new standard.

[@txwtw]

There’s plenty of good games nowadays bro

[@txwtw]

@@Frozeya1 I was replying to Somebody123

[@Frozeya1]

@@txwtw 👍

[@mattbrune]

I feel nostalgic for being a teenager in like 2010-2014, but I would’ve been like 5-9 then

[@sopretty43vr]

2010 i was 12 so i got to really live your dream

[@britneyfanboy4835]

@@sopretty43vrsame bruh same. Were your HS years 2012-2016?

[@sopretty43vr]

@@britneyfanboy4835 yep born in 98. the real golden generation

[@datchicray]

That almost lines up perfectly with when I was in high school. Tbh 2013/2014 was mostly the same as the late 10’s. this might also be because during this era you were a little kid idolizing the idea of being a teenager. I sometimes find myself nostalgic for teen culture in the mid to late 2000’s

[@kitkat_candies]

Real I was 4 so I can't really talk

[@Shadow_foxx1]

The world is painfully to live in right now we all wanna go back. Even the older gen z is feeling this

[@martymcflywilliams1]

as the youngest gen z i wish i could go to the 80s

[@martymcflywilliams1]

one day a few months ago i decided to try doing brainrot but it was just cringe unfunny and weird so i quit

[@martymcflywilliams1]

that day i realized that technology wasnt fun anymore and became nostalgic on august

[@martymcflywilliams1]

years ago when i was 6 i decided to start filming me and made gaming content, it wasnt really cringe at all and i didnt use my voice but it was boring so i decided to quit and delete all my videos

[@martymcflywilliams1]

and thats why i spend my whole day playing outside now

[@bremaster93]

I 100% miss the ‘90s and early 2000s. I seriously watched a compilation of late ‘90s to early 2000s commercials and I got so teary eyed. Even commercials back in the day had personality and fun to them compared to the ads nowadays.

[@NateDohDoubleGee]

Completely agree. Kids who grew up in the 2000s are seeing many of the good things from the 90s slowly slip away. 9/11 definitely slowed things down and 2008 crash halted the positive outlook. I believe these things come in waves which means things are about to get better again. A "new 90s" will appear -- my guess is we'll start edging toward that now (we're at or near the bottom) and the "new 90s" will be the 2030s. This means the waves are in roughly 40 year cycles.

[@White927]

​@@NateDohDoubleGee"You own nothing and you be happy"

[@NateDohDoubleGee]

@@White927 I own my house and car completely so too bad I guess!

[@White927]

@@NateDohDoubleGee It's not me, WHO.

[@NateDohDoubleGee]

@@White927 WHO = World Health Organization. I think you mean WEF = World Economic Forum.

[@yurirangelnds]

I think what I really miss is the internal experience of being young and just discovering the world which was just so fascinating and puzzling. Everything seemed brand new. The time period wouldn't matter as much as the mental state of childhood. I think most people would love to go back to a time where they weren't grown enough (psychologically and physically) to understand the world and its problems. If I didn't really know much about things, I would just fill the gaps with my imagination and I'd go have fun with friends, play video games and watch cartoons. Getting older makes things a little more complicated and boring. I do agree that social media made things worse. I used to love engaging with the world over the internet, but lately, I started hating it so bad. Something that used to entice my curiosity, suddenly became suffocating. I feel free out of some social media like tiktok and instagram

[@LoveKeepsGiving]

Wow - This comment really impacted how I remember being a kid. I totally forgot about how new and confusing everything was.

[@mlancholia3920]

your comment perfectly encapsulates "ignorance is truly a bliss", god what i love to be young again and discover everything like a brand new toy (29 here)

[@Lycon721995]

Yeah true but this is different give me all my adult responsibilities the pain of my 30's and turn back the clock to the 90's and 2000's and it will be an abjecttivly better life.

[@yurirangelnds]

@@Lycon721995 well good for you. I don't feel that way

[@newsage89]

I used to go online to escape the shittiness of the real world (judgmental people, being poor, bullying, etc). Now I go outside to escape the shittiness of the internet. too many people now use the internet/social media to push their own social/political agenda, stir resentment against various groups or chase fame and fortune because we all now know how powerful the internet is and everyone is online.

[@aaronwoodcock4715]

96 baby here. The world we grew up in was destroyed.

[@RO49569]

97 here and agree!

[@hufficag]

85 here. That's the thing, you walked around, observed your parents and grandparents and the gritty post-war world they had built, and thought to yourself, when I grow up, I'm going to inhabit this world of ties and VCRs and computers and highways and comfy houses and all the advances of civilization. But they kept you as a kid, you weren't allowed to go out there and get a job and live in this world. And finally when you graduate university, the Great Financial Crisis hits, and the bright future you were promised turns to being homeless and unemployed, and the world you were looking forward to living in, gets demolished. And something frenetic and colorful and hostile gets puts in its place.

[@jiytruywer1996]

95 baby, same

[@Tommy_Wilko]

98 baby here. 90’s was the last ‘real’ decade

[@Lycon721995]

95 I could not have put that any better.. it was

[@travisbplank]

I think the whole "nostalgia goggles" is a bit BS. To some degree, everyone has a yearning for their younger years, but my mother calls her 30s and 40s (the 90's and 2000s) her best years and my father the same. I think people are too dismissive saying "it's just nostalgia" when older people try to tell them that things used to be different and BETTER, objectively. Not saying that there hasn't been progress, but things used to not be so difficult and hateful. Globalism and the urban monoculture spreading through the internet has really crushed everything. Not to mention the worsening of income inequality, rising housing costs etc.

[@uui219]

THANK YOU. I'm not delusional. I remember clearly the specific material and cultural ways in which things were better. It wasn't THAT long ago that no one remembers it.

[@Sagethis]

Certain aspects of the past can of course be better (Min wage, social programs, community) but the rose-tinted black-and-white distortion that nostalgia creates is not objective. Still, I think the existential threats we face today are so numerous and novel that they definitely are causing an understandable uptick in nostalgia.

[@tool2158]

I think you really must have lived in that time to understand the difference. No matter how much research you do how nostalgia skews our memory and so on, you should be really careful in reducing everything to this phenomenon, especially if you never lived in a certain time period in the first place.

[@eli10589]

Not every time period is gonna be looked at fondly by some groups of people.

[@LittleRedIrishRover]

I agree! This is why I get mad when people say the 2020s are superior to, say, the 1980s. I'm not saying the past didn't have its problems or that there hasn't been progress since then, but when people tell me that a decade of wage slavery, price gouging, political instability and hate is superior to a time where that was much less of an issue, I can't help but wonder what version of 2024 those people are living in. I don't recall the 2000s and 2010s being that great of a time (from my own personal experience) but even those were better decades than the one we're stuck in now. I think if the present was really superior to the past, people wouldn't be longing for the past. I know nostalgia has always been a thing, but I feel like there was a time when people were happy living in the present and couldn't wait for the future, and the fact you don't see that anymore tells me there is something seriously wrong with society and the world today.

[@FINNSTIGAT0R]

There is a difference though. When I was young nobody wanted to live in a different era, and now it seems there's lot's of young people wanting to escape this era. There's this huge pessimism and cynicism today (maybe with a good reason), which didn't exist in the 90's, at least as a mainstream thought.

[@AnemoiaBlues]

I think it's just the effects of the internet and how you can access almost all information on different eras but most of that information is either through rose tinted glasses or mostly focuses on media of that age, nobody would want to be reminded of current events and politics. Like for example, I'm a late Gen Z Teenager and I know for sure that I will be nostalgic about the 2010s and 2020s even though it was a horrible time for the world and me to some extent. Its natural for us to not want to remember the bad memories too, and I never really lived through the 2000s but I still have nostalgia for it. For reference I was born in the late 2000s and I grew up with some 2000s media. Have a wonderful day/night wherever you are.

[@boredrat2573]

@@AnemoiaBluesI agree with the access to the the past part. People can constantly be shown better moments then what they’re living. That combined with how often we’re told there’s a new thing to worry about can make us think the past was so much better and the present seem so much worse. Edit: grammar and rewording

[@gcmd.l]

Ironically even the 90s were also a pessimistic and cynical time.And that’s coming from a show I watched that came out in the late 90s as someone referring to how the ‘sunny 60s optimism tends to cancel out my bitter 90s cynicism’. Guess that confirms from what i saw in the comments how it’s a universal thing that every gen looks back to the past that came before them and romanticise it 🙂‍↕️

[@FINNSTIGAT0R]

@@gcmd.l I lived through the nineties, and my own experiences don't really align with that, but I can't say how everyone else saw things back then 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@Ryan-lo1kg]

The 90's was the last decade where youth was still driving culture. We are nostalgic for that era because now corporations and boomers pensions drive culture.

[@RellyBabyy9]

Everybody loves the times before responsibilities hit in their life. Everybody wanna live a stress free life and the only time most ppl have is being a kid

[@89playstation65]

And or people without debt. Think about it. The super rich elite dont have much responsibilities. They might have some, but they can do anything they want to.

[@pabloguzman8472]

lol gen Z hated their lives even before having responsabilities

[@a-terrible-fate532]

Exactly you summed it up perfectly. I love immersing myself in nostalgia.

[@thecompareablezombie]

This is true.

[@ThatEmoGirl]

Parents and adults when I was a child would tell me all the time to stop being in a rush to grow up and enjoy being a kid while I can because I am gonna miss it. I didnt understand or listen. I couldnt wait to be an adult. Now I tell kids the same thing and it urks me they just wont listen. But i get it cause i wouldnt either.

[@sonicnerd21]

I always found it a little strange because I was obsessed with the past for as long as I can remember, then suddenly everyone was. Nobody and I mean nobody shared that interest with me in the beginning.

[@hollo0o583]

The weird part about gen z nostalgia is that we’re yearning for an era we didn’t even experience in the first place. We, per definition didn’t exist in the 90s and were toddlers in the 00s

[@megagangster321]

Eh kinda? Like most people were 5 or 6 in 2005. I remember going to get a Gameboy game at the mall after watching Spiderman 3 in 2007. Or reading gameinformers in 2006 when I was 7. And those are the times most people remember not 2002. Most tech was just getting more advanced in 2008 2009 so most of us used tech that was popular in 2000s. Ans that's what we automatically go to. It's the reason why I was so hyped for the channel relaunch of G4 but watching it again most of the shows didn't hold up because it's not 2006 anymore. And there's better people who do gaming videos and shows.

[@CaesarH3ll]

I sort of dissagree, zoomers are in their 20s nowadays and there are lots of us who were born before 2003 so it's actually the reason why the 2000s are the actual gen z nostalgia, I was born on 2002 and I still have lots of memories of how life was back then, it doesn't help that I have an old brother who was an emo as a teenager so it made my bond to that era way stronger

[@hollo0o583]

@@megagangster321 gen z was born between 1997 and 2012. so no. most of us where born in the 00s and we don’t have propper memories of that time. I sure don’t and I was born in 2003, I was in first grade in 2010/11. I barely remember primary not to mention anything before that. the only things I remember are pokemon cards that were still in in the more rural area I went to kindergarten and that blablades where a thing in like third grade. As for girls, lilibigs stationary was the coolest thing ever and everyone watched violetta.

[@hollo0o583]

@@CaesarH3ll okay millennial siblings make a lot of sense! XD I was actually born in 03! but the assumption that most of us are in our twenties is blatantly wrong. zoomers were born between 1997 and 2012 that make us 12 to 27 years old… let’s say 15-25 years old.

[@stellarrdustt]

it’s odd because i have nostalgia for the late 2000s, i was born in late 2005 and the earliest i can actually remember correctly is around 2009. i’m mostly nostalgic for 2009-2012, but i have a different sense of nostalgia for 2013-2017.

[@Peter-mj6lz]

2010 soundcloud music actually still feels nostalgic to me despite sounding almost as clear as current music. But then maybe that makes current music more easily nostalgic as it sounds clear but currently is influenced by older music. My old memories don't appear grainy. In fact I feel like younger people underestimate how advanced and clear or new things actually seemed in the past, I'm talking about the early 00's or late 90's/

[@drh530]

I think it's also that companies can sell nostalgia to you.

[@Sagethis]

@@drh530 Definitely a good point! I realized after filming that I forgot to add that in. But honestly when I think about it, I would still argue the current rise in nostalgia was mostly “natural” & happened due to the decline of mental health, the internet, and people seeking comfort in the past. but corporations def caught on & now they’re trying to capitalize off it (& doing it horribly) like the endless low quality movie remakes

[@skye_belle888]

So basically every generation has nostalgia for another time lol. I'm a millennial and mostly miss my carefree childhood, even though it wasn't all great. Tbh I grew up in a toxic and abusive family yet still remember the good times we had. It's like my mind just clings on to that. Later on, as an adult, I miss any time before 2018. Rent was still so much cheaper. I had my own apartment and lived on my own. Had friends over and went out on weekends and had fun. Basically everything was so much cheaper. Now nobody I used to know or be friends with goes out. They're all married with kids, constantly talk about problems, are boring, and we have nothing left in common anymore. So no more friends. I need to find new people now which is hard in your 20s-30s. Social media just makes life seem even more lonely. Strangely my longing for my nostalgic yet traumatic childhood made me drive back to my childhood suburb. I was shocked as it was absolutely nothing "fun" like I thought I remembered, and all the homes and buildings were terrible and falling apart. I even talked to my 16 year old crush once who was now nothing like I remembered in the past, and I suddenly recalled he always had issues. Ex's who I thought I had good times with, yet were in toxic relationships. So yeah, our memories definitely play tricks on us! I can't relate to American politics too much as I'm Australian, but we've had a lot of hard times here too. For example the banning of basic over the counter codeine painkillers, due to the American opioid crisis and now vapes, which are just two ridiculous examples. Our government sucks too, and everyone hates our prime minister. I can't handle watching the news, especially anything to do with Trump and I know I'd be completely mental living in America. It's like a circus. Though every country is having it's own problems. As for the whole "aesthetic" or "core" TikTok microtrends, I watched a video on how ridiculous it is recently. I still use social media, but TikTok is the most toxic that I avoid like hell. It's so stupid having a different trend every week, like who could possibly keep up with all that. I do love the 90's and Y2K styles and a few other comebacks because I was too young to wear those fashions when they first came out, or just couldn't afford them. I think it's great when people mix different aesthetics to create their own looks, and don't give a shit about what social media thinks. After all, most of those trends are never even seen in real life anyway. I could go on and on. Great video 👍 It's sad that people in their 20s feel so old now though, and I really hope that we can all wake up and fix this world.

[@Halo4beatsB02]

The world is controlled its all theater everything is done by design. The world is shit because the people who control it want it to be this way.

[@Nobodyknowsm]

Damn I’m only 19 and I still feel old

[@denzhil9099]

Great comment, i enjoyed reading it!

[@theatomicpunkkid]

Hello

[@chrishealton3830]

I’d never live in Aus just because of your government’s proclivity to ban just about everything. I assume you’re still throwing people in prison for pot. Rather insane country you have down there. Should just ally with China.

[@moirad3895]

Right now being 24 years old. I find so much nostalgia in toys I had as a kid or movies/ tv shows. I also find nostalgia in family holiday traditions. I want to keep my toys for my future children and I want to keep traditions for my children. I find so much comfort in my kid tv shows or movies. It’s so comforting to me I can’t explain it. I listen to Christmas music any time of the year because that music is comforting to me. I see kids today being focused on tablets, skin care routines and tik tok. Please don’t rush to grow up! Don’t rush!!!

[@elisazouza]

im nostalgic for the 2000s mostly because of not being chronically online so much. i feel like there's been an increase recently in being more chronically online because we have no third spaces. i want to have an analog summer but it's so hard to snap out of being used to doomscrolling. i do need a peremant way of not being able to go on titkok because that's the worst space

[@VentiWhoreshipper]

I'm 21, and I can't relate to doomscrolling. But I had a tendency to just hang out in Discord servers and just "lurk" so Ig that's an equivalent? What changed is that I forced myself to stop going on Discord and just focused on something. Rn it's a nostalgic story from childhood that I'm obsessing over, so I'm busy reading the story as well as picking up on my studies so there's no time for anything social media, despite having a huge online presence and many online peeps who support me. I simply reorganized my priorities as I lost interest in trying to keep up (with the trends, what my fellow artist friends are doing, which topic receives clout so I had to do it ASAP, etc) when my life quality is falling behind

[@2008WasPeak]

also movies, music, shows, fashion etc were better

[@Lycon721995]

I grew up a sheltered child and let me tell you 2000's internet was Fuuuunnn it's been neutered ever since.

[@larrywoolfolk8224]

"Nostalgia".....my brother in christ I'm a 31yr late Millennial, so got to live through that Y2K era that the younger gen is fantasizing about and the only thing I miss that I think a lot of older people can agree on that isn't this weird deep dive which on its own is another topic. You don't feel it while you're younger or living as dependent, but a lot of miss those times because it was much easier to actually carve out a living even during the many economics crashes because inflation wasn't quite crushing us as it is now. Even if our parents struggled to make a living for us, we can still agree that their money went much further than the dollar currently.

[@megaant7591]

I personally don’t believe in Freud’s theory on this subject as I do have a good few clear memories of my childhood. I don’t believe nostalgia for the past really comes from false memories, but rather a longing for more simplistic and innocent view of the world we had as kids. We think our childhoods were better because we weren’t fully comprehending what all was going on in the world. Things were simpler and easier in our eyes because we didn’t have to focus on the complex “adult” issues that were really going on at the time, therefore your memories aren’t exactly inaccurate, but rather your personal experience.

[@Oceanwaves-d8l]

Also, telling people "your thoughts are all fake and made up" is VERY dangerous propaganda.

[@greenghoul157]

I think reminiscing of the early 2000s is normal for every older gen z I mean the aesthetics of that time period were dope everything now looks too clean and corporate we want vibrant shininess back

[@alaynayork2457]

I remember when pink or teal was popular with zebra print in girls rooms. I also remember havinv peace sign decals in my room at some point. Not sure hold old I was,I’m a 2003 baby. I was 8 when I got tickets to see Justin Bieber in concert.

[@justanotherinternetwiseguy8018]

that's why I like the commercials so much. back then they were so zany and vibrant. plus they were actually funny unlike today's commercials.

[@mysteriousfleas]

Being that I was a young child in the 80s and grew up in my teens in the 90s, I can provide a bit of a counter-perspective to this that does not merely dismiss gen-z's ruminations about the present day. First off right of the bat, yes the 80s were "that good", yes were some economically troubling times in the early 80s in some parts of the world, but objectively in the west it was a society with far greater trust than anything I would describe now. I recall as a four year old being able to wander my neighborhood and every adult being pleasant and safe to interact with voluntarily without the accompaniment of an adult. Whereas had I a child now, I would never allow them to do such a thing. The 80s were objectively more naive and wholesome times, most people were much more open to interact with one another in general, people didn't react with immediate aloofness or hostility (that changed in the 90s). The 90s however as I grew up as an adolescent and teen was much different, everything changed, where I lived there was more violence and more violence done against adolescents and young adults than any other time in the history of the place I lived. There were some good points about it, but growing up in the 90s could be legitimately perilous, having known of somebody in their mid-late teens who was killed by a group of people in a public place. Now for my perspective to the aid of gen-z, entering the early middle 2000s, a lot of the danger and hostility wasn't as intense as it was in the 90s, having had a gen-z aged cousin whom myself and other cousins took care of in the summer, I vicariously lived their experiences seeing what they were doing, the computer games and internet novelties they enjoyed, taking them fishing, on nature hikes, other places. In general youth culture was not as feral and violent as it was in the middle 90s, and if you compare it to the aggressively impersonal and often outright toxic culture today revolves around people trying to find ways to "cancel" one another, I can definitely see why people of gen-z look back on their younger years with nostalgia. It's exactly the same way I look back on the 80s, but there's legit merit to it. Generation alpha is being raised in the aftermath of a lot of very toxic and antisocial internet trends, and I of all generations preceding see a lot of potential problems that were never the issue with kids their age that generation alpha has to deal with today. To the point, the years where gen-z were kids, were the last remnant years of everything the boomers and silent generation had built up, now we're in completely uncharted waters, as somebody born in the 80s and who was very attentive in observing each generational shift, I feel like we're in a completely culturally relativistic space where the relevancy of the morals and societal standards that somewhat endured after the the boomers has mostly faded away now. In other words, don't accept gaslighting, yes things are different, things are weird and completely unlike the previous 40 years that preceded it.

[@VentiWhoreshipper]

You put my thoughts into words very well. I'm an '03 liner and I sometimes contemplate about these stuff. About the generational shifts, and what would happen to generation alpha and so on.

[@Oceanwaves-d8l]

100%. We yearn for times when we could trust people and had community, even if we've never existed in those times.

[@elisazouza]

now in 2024 we have infilation, reccession and us people in our 20's not even being able to move out

[@Sagethis]

@@elisazouza definitely, hard times inevitably make the past seem more comforting

[@MrLSB-w6g]

What Recession?

[@theintrovertedaspie9095]

@@MrLSB-w6g Theres been a recession going on since I think last year.

[@MrLSB-w6g]

@@theintrovertedaspie9095 This isn’t a recession it’s just inflation, you kids don’t even know the meaning of recession.

[@theintrovertedaspie9095]

@@MrLSB-w6g Im 24.

[@gerogarciajr]

I'm 34 now, but when I was in my 20s I used to feel nostalgic about a time I didn't live, like 70s or 80s, it was a good but weird feeling. Now I just want to live the present, we tend to romanticize a lot of things, even if these things were not so great in the past.

[@thecompareablezombie]

That is true

[@saby777]

As someone born in 2003, I remember a whole life outside of this damn phone, but now that my entire life has gotten inside it, I just feel that contrast so stark. And once a while I wish to just live that way once again. Childhood memories are a thing, but nostalgia for the past is where technology is limited & that I once again have a life outside this phone. Not just me, everyone around me. All my friends love their phones, all they are concerned about is what goes on inside it. There is nothing social about social media anymore either.

[@aleckirsten5769]

The real tragedy is self consolidarion, the reason for nostalgia is missing experiencing new things, NOVELTY… your first time moving to a shared flat, your first kiss, your first job, etc. We long for novelty, yet, people get stuck in loops and dont allow novelty into their lifes … when in truth, its just a matter of choice as there are a million new things one could be experiencing. Novelty never ends, just our engagement with it, as we self define ourself as the person that would do one thing but not the other. The believe in the continiuty of oneself is the illusion, we can be someone else everyday, if we choose to, people dont, so the long after who they were, because theyre actually bored of who they are. I admire people who pick up a new instrument in their 70s or later in life - THATS the spirit!! Be courageous, keep on discovering yourself regardles of age. Responseabilities are self implied limitations in regards to novel experiences life holds for us, dont load up too many as theyll force you into consolidation!!

[@CastorCas]

I was born in 2003/4 and I feel like things just changed so fast that it feels like a blip I had a bulky TV until i was like 6 to 8, I saw phone booths, I saw those big yellow phone books, etc There are just many things that my crappy child memory barely recalls that just aren't around anymore Or just not in huge use I miss my childhood because I am scared of the future and present

[@SvintMvrcus]

Man this was really on point. I love the y2k thing tbh even though I know it’s highly sensationalized. Back in the days artists needed a whole team behind them to become commercially viable but nowadays you can blow up over night on social media and EVERYONE from artists to the average person is trying to sell themselves and their ideas in some shape or form. This kind of thing naturally leads to the commodification and simplification of these ideas. Human nature plays a big role in all of this too because whether we like to admit it or not we’re always trying to simplify this complicated world we’re navigating through.

[@alexmileth175]

I can agree with everything said. times were definelty not better in the broader sense we were just young to realize, BUT something i can 100% defend is the sentiment that the internet used to be way better in terms of community AND the entertainment industry use to be better as well, now we prioritize quantity over quality.

[@ashleybanks-wm4cg]

That's an internet problem too We got a lot of amazing and mind blowing movies recently and in the past 5 years but no matter how amazing it is Theres someone online bashing it i dont understand why people cant be grateful and just enjoy movies/ any kind of entertainment

[@hunterbooth8578]

I’m nostalgic for the early 2000’s. I started Kindergarten in 2004. I had a sense of wonder back then that I have yet to replicate. I was just a happy kid, even though we lived through trauma.

[@bandolierboy1908]

Modern life just sucks

[@kelechi_77]

life has never not sucked

[@bandolierboy1908]

@@kelechi_77 well it sure sucked a lot less than it does now

[@UnicornCharlotte77]

For real

[@biggus8158]

Life has always suck

[@bandolierboy1908]

@@biggus8158 but now it sucks more in its own way

[@blursedAI]

What if all nostalgia is true and things are just getting worse and worse each decade?

[@asloii_1749]

It’s America that’s getting worse, not the world

[@2008WasPeak]

​@@asloii_1749cap, it's a shit era WORLDWIDE

[@alexc195]

They are

[@TheAdventuresOfJimiJaden]

@@asloii_1749I noticed too usually it’s us that cares about the decades. In other countries, I don’t think it’s like that. An Uber driver I rode with has been to Europe and told me it’s just simple everyday stuff and they don’t really care about a lot of that. A car from the 70’s would still be considered a regular car and not something that’s like old fashioned. At least that’s what I remember.

[@LunarMoonKitten]

Ai: did u forget about me😈😈😈🔥🔥🔥

[@JosieCooper09]

15:46 100% I'm gen Z and the earliest feeling of nostalgia I recall is when I was five or six telling my mom, "I know I'm only in kindergarten but I wish I was a toddler again." LOL

[@MrDominic600]

I remember being 5 and telling my mom “I wish I could turn back time” after we saw the mom of my friend from the previous year from a previous school then I got sad lol

[@jasonwebster4969]

The discrepancy here is simply the speed and volume of information. Those of us from the 90’s remember a time when information was MUCH slower and thus much less overwhelming. Our attention spans were higher, making anxiety lower. Now we are bombarded with information constantly, like trying to drink from a fire hydrant and there is a lot of angst as a result.

[@jennym2349]

Gen X mother here. Not only am I nostalgic for the 80s and 90s of my own childhood, but I'm even more nostalgic for the time of my firstborn's childhood.

[@rafinhas214314324234]

If you try to get back to the old days constantly, probably your brain is saying you are not happy with your life.

[@elisazouza]

I wrote a small essay about this so it makes me happy seeing a video like this

[@dea-xoxo]

nostalgia = memories, and naturally those memories will get hazy, a dream like quality. and who doesn't want to go back to sleep after having a good dream to relive it? But even if you do fall back asleep and try to put the dream back together it will never be the same. I always try to think of nostalgia as a dream because though it's nice to reminisce you have to wake up and realise that they were fleeting moments.

[@Cosmik_Horror]

“Drugs weren’t killing as many people as they were now” Thayer wild realization. We went from escaping reality to escaping life, literally

[@nikriedel]

Nostalgia isn't bad. It's a space in your subconscious where you've invested yourself or loved something with your heart. It's a mere anchor, a reminder of what was valuable to you in case you abandon yourself in exchange for something that sucks your joy out.

[@msbutterscotchprincess]

I’m a millennial. I never wanted to be apart of another generation. I grew up upper middle class, but still had teenage depression. I don’t want to go back in time or wish I grew up in another era, I just wish I hadn’t taken certain things for granted.

[@TheListenerCanon]

Same. I hated the 2000s back then, mostly for the music. But now I appreciate it for what it is! It's like Marty McFly said, "I guess you guys aren't ready for that! But your kids are gonna love it!" I do think a lot of the movies from the 2000s were garbage but that's mostly straight to video schlock that's probably on Tubi! BTW, what year were you born? I was born in 1990!

[@FreddyFen]

I'm a 2004 gen z. The reason i have nostalgic feelings for example Eminem, PS2, Linkin Park, (hip-hop and rock/metal in general),Need For Speed Underground is because i grew up with it despite not being born when it happened. I lived the childhood of someone from the 90s at least media wise to an extent. You would expect me to grow up with the PS3/4 and be nostalgic for the PS3 but since my parents couldn't afford it at the time.. i got a PS2 and PSP and honestly.. it's the only thing good that happened because of lack of money lol. TL;DR: We are nostalgic with what we grow up with technology wise from these years.. not the atmosphere itself.

[@redrox3312]

Older people like to actively express their nostalgia on the internet. However, because kids are so impressionable, they have the tendency to agree with older people and whatever they say. This causes kids to have artificial nostalgia for a time they have never even experienced which prevents them from appreciating their own childhoods. It’s kinda sad

[@skabzemortal]

True

[@Osito-69]

Yeah,that wrecks all the motherfucking feeling who really lived that shit in that time

[@shaneriggs6678]

Well maybe kids shouldn't be on their phone or tablet all day, half of the fun of being a kid was playing outside with friends not glued to a screen

[@inubrother3524]

I found myself being nostalgic to my life in 2020, where everything was halted and i was at home for months w/o school. I missed that simple feeling but that time I was really anxious about my future and it wasn’t a good time for the world as well

[@koutoo]

ngl I feel extremely nostalgic for things at random times, but when I start thinking about the good things in present and how to improve myself it doesn't affect much, like a rollercoaster of feelings

[@Nelson_C_KNOWS]

Fun times, I ask my son to play some games with me that I grew up on, and he actually enjoyed it. We spent hours playing NES SNES PlayStation 1 Sega Genesis ect. I have the original hardware, games, and of course the CRT TV to go with it... 😊

[@d4nmark22]

I was born in the late 2000s but I can say that playing Wii sports and Super Mario Bros on Wii and Playing Pokémon Sun and Moon Nintendo 3DS were the times for me, when getting older I always wondered how PC gaming has become mainstream now and that took me down a rabbit hole of old consoles and that I could definitely see millennials fawning for, hearing that my uncle also has an original NES made that even more amazing, I really love video games and I'm glad you got to experience and enjoy the consoles from your time, I can say that that was peak gaming

[@angeloisern]

90s till 2016 after its all downhill. Lets be honest. 80s looked like a hell of a time to be alive but im 1989😢

[@2008WasPeak]

till 2017*

[@cerealORRH]

@@2008WasPeak thats his opinion, let him have it, anyway, for me it was probably around 2020 when things started going downhill personally for me

[@TomyPesantes]

Dude the comment of the brain protecting you from the pain of the past is so real 😭, I swear I only like early 2000s pop and 2010s pop cause my dad always listened to it even though he was a POS. I never liked too much modern American music afterwards, only modern Latin lol 😂

[@lightyagami1058]

I agree with your points but the music born from it (vaporwave/chillwave) is lowkey fire.

[@a-terrible-fate532]

Many of us millennials are nostalgic for the 2000s and the 1990s because those where the years of our childhoods and where likely the most carefree times of our lives

[@thecompareablezombie]

At times I feel the same way, now granted when I make choices which leads to shifting my life to a better one, the past is a positive with negative times. the 2000s and from what the 90s I remember, Watching goosebumps, Fox kids, going outside, playing games, exploring the early internet and much more.

[@TheListenerCanon]

Millenial born in 1990 here. I only consider early 2000s (eg. 2000-2003ish) to be my childhood. But most of those years were my teen years and I was already complaining about the music and political life most of that decade. I do wish I could go back to that decade without my whiny self to appreciate the music since I do think that music's decade is better than this and previous decade!

[@corymiller536]

As somebody born in the 80s I'm only nostalgic for the 90s not 00s, Infact I feel more nostalgic for the late 80s than 00s, even tho I just remember little things

[@fidelgarcia5648]

I was born August 2nd 1979. I grew up in the 80's and 90's. And yes those were better times.

[@lucat5479]

I am italian, I am 53 and I was nostalgic of the past only until 25 years old and only of my childood. Now i never think of my past, also cause I have nothing so good to remind, on the contrary, now for many things, I feel much better, I prefer to live day by day, like latin poet Oratio said "Dum loquimor fugerit invida aetas: carpe diem quam minimum credula postero", means "As we speak, time is already on the run, as if it were envious of us: seize the moment, hoping as little as possible for tomorrow

[@zazenbo]

I miss the pre social media era of the internet

[@mattbrewbaker]

Great exploration of nostalgia in our age. I was soooo happy when you reversed the "things were really better back then" thesis within the first minute of the video. By the way, anyone interested in the subject should also check out the concepts of Suadade and Sehnsucht - as I think they give names to nuanced aspects of nostalgic emotions that lack English words. Also the Japanese concept of 'mono no aware' is relevant on a more broad level.

[@Sagethis]

@@mattbrewbaker Yea, I definitely understand how certain *aspects* of the past were better (social programs, higher minimum wage) but trying to rationalize that the past was *in every conceivable way* better is lowk delusional 😂

[@harlscat2990]

fellow gen z here! This was EXACTLY the type of video I was looking for almost 3-4 years ago lol! I just wanted to put my input about nostalgia here (at the time of writing this I'm just about to watch the video btw!) Honestly I think the reason we pretty much like nostalgia now was because the more we think about it, and the more we research about the old days, and how awesome it was, we just wanna live life like that, unlike now, where the world and people (including me-) are obsessed with technology and phone screens that we realise we should be spending more time doing other fun things instead of JUST being on our electronics.. so I hope everyone who checked out this comment and the video, don't just spend time playing their phones and take time to appreciate life and the people, friends and family around you! :3

[@mynameisreallycool1]

Gen zer here (born in 1999). I hated many parts of my childhood while I was living in it. Sure, I had good memories in the 2000s as a kid, but also a lot of terrible ones, both at home with my physically and mentally abusive gen x parents (though most people in their generation wouldn't consider them abusive, as most of them think not beating kids is "spoiling them") and dealing with bullying at school by other kids or sometimes teachers. Then of course we had the 2007 recession, hurricane Katrina, hurricane Ike, the post 9/11 world with rampant Islamophobia, disgusting reality TV shows, and so on. Despite all that, I'm STILL nostalgic for the 2000s. I sort of have a habit of ignoring the bad things I experienced and missing the time period. Maybe it's because the world sucks now in so many ways and I'm unhappy with my current life. I mean, a lot of the things I listed about dealing with as a child are general experiences that most people go through, regardless of the decade. But I know that people will feel nostalgic for 2020-2024 ten years from now, as insane as that sounds, because that's just how our minds work. I know many can relate. Most people my age dealt with the same stuff I did, as well as people who are younger and older than me, but we still miss the 2000s regardless, specifically the good parts of it, like the shows, movies, games, the good memories we had, the friends we used to have, everything being less expensive compared to now, us not having to pay bills or tax or apply for jobs (because we were in elementary school), the lack of social media, etc.

[@bibichillieblue]

I feel that. I was born in 2001 and I’m glad I’m an adult now and I have more control over my life. I had an overall great childhood and I still get nostalgic for certain aspects of it. We do tend to remember the best of our memories. Sometimes tho, I wish some aspects of my childhood that I liked could intersect with the benefits of being independent. That’s why I tend to romanticize my life. I make it a point to have yearly traditions, so no matter how hectic or different life gets, I can always come back to those moments that I know and love so well. But to be quite honest sometimes I just wish I could go and play in a park, kick up a ball in the street and go trick or treating without looking weir, yknow?

[@karinadelma]

I could do this the same thing too.

[@wickedfire91]

A well put together video essay overall, but I think that there is a vast difference in the experience of nostalgia from Boomers/Gen X/Millennials and the Gen Z and Gen Alphas that came after. As a late Millennial, I can absolutely say that *huge* parts of my childhood sucked as much as anyone's, but I also grew up in a world that simply doesn't exist anymore. Watching technology -- particularly the part of your essay on Algorithmic Manipulation -- eclipse human interaction has had a devastating impact on younger peoples' social development. Everything when I was growing up was colorful, unique, and trying to do its own thing and stand out, from architecture to truly unfortunate fashion trends to makeup and hair styles to what's now come to be known as 'cores' and 'aesthetics'. Nowadays, every building looks exactly the same, songs bleed together, movies are so homogeneous that theatres are dying as a company because people just don't watch movies like they used to anymore. Hell, I can even attest personally to the fact that once I did finally get a smartphone and join social media, my own attention span has suffered for it. The 80's and 90's had a *lot* of problems, but I think that the brutal impact that modern technology and especially A.I. has had on society overall's regression and isolationism can't be overlooked. As despairing as I feel, I can't imagine what socially aware Gen Alphas must be feeling growing up today.

[@Gabaghoul1987]

This is such a fantastic and well thought out video. Great breakdowns of things that our right in front of our face, yet we couldn’t describe it

[@pyrrx5357]

I’m 23 and personally I can’t understand the y2k nostalgia. When I think back on those times I just think of alienating spaces and very mean people. Just my own experience tho.

[@narayaniangulo9456]

I'm 26 and times weren't better. Of course I remember things from 2009 and on. Before that I remember things but my life was more strict due to living with my dad but still things weren't great at least my life was so depressing that I can't remember those times and think they were better ... I do however agree with other that a part of me wishes social media wasn't that big but we, the older gen z behave as if we didn't grew up with it already... I had messenger and used to talk to my friends through it, then myspace, Facebook and finally Instagram. There wasn't a moment in my childhood without social media as much as we want to believe it... The internet, personally, pretty much raised me so... I don't know a time without the internet, I do not remember a time without the internet... I was nostalgic for the 90s and in a way I still am. I feel nostalgia for the last generation that socialize without social media, watching charmed for example when I was little and now again I love the scenes of the club they had and how they met ppl or sex and the city. Seeing how they interact without having the possibility to do a background check and be basically obligated to talk to ppl in s comforting 🤍 but yeah ...

[@2008WasPeak]

oh the past times were DEF better

[@jackblack7797]

Late 90-early 2000 were so epic 😢

[@Sneaky_racoon_sly]

12:31 Born 2004 and grew up without internet until 2019(15 years old). My schooltime was very hard because i never understood what they were talking about and this let me feel lonely. Since i have internet my brain is obsessed with memes from the past to proof the others that i know what they are talking about even though i moved to another country and work now. but i also remember the cringe things i did in school or what i said. Im at works and suddenly i feel embaressed by something i did years ago. Nostalgia is a curse

[@violet.senderhauf2187]

take the best of the past and carry it with you into the future.

[@ggamemaster1689]

2000s for me because I used to love going on Windows7 on my parents' computer playing flash games. I also liked going to Chuck E Cheese in the 2000s as a kid because it actually had charm and personality back then with Chuck and his extreme sports.

[@BbDebby]

I miss those days the feeling of excietement when my favorite band released their new album and can't wait to go to record store to grab a physical copy of the album. I love the smell of the newly opened album art and lyric sheet while listening each track without a skip.

[@StrangeScaryNewEngland]

Luckily for you, vinyl is coming back.

[@StrangeScaryNewEngland]

The only problem though is now most music is shit. Lol.

[@Ermakshually]

​@@StrangeScaryNewEngland Nahh bro you just haven't found the right music yet there's lots of good new music being made but it's not mainstreammmm anymore tho (idk the music you like tho im suspecting it's rock)

[@ttaylorrrr]

It is really bizarre. I’m literally 15 and I feel so nostalgic about the past.

[@Giovanni_Dortona]

When I was 15 lots of people my age also had nostalgia. I could be wrong but I think it’s normal

[@80spurple13]

I was thinking about this the other day. You know how everyone was exposed to the same music, movies & pop culture at the time? Like everyone would have to watch a certain show at a specific time every week. Music would be whatever was playing on the radio/MTV. Whereas now, you have netflix, disney+ etc and everyones not exactly watching the same thing, dont have to listen to the radio as we have youtube and spotify etc for more music other than mainstream. If this makes sense 😅

[@BDHjv]

I miss when all that mattered to me was reaching master prestige for cod or playing my ps3 uncharted / infamous. I miss hanging out with my cousins and playing soccer and tag and then coming inside for cod 4 split screen. I’m grateful to my father bc I know we were financially struggling but he made sure my childhood self didn’t see that. Thank you dad

[@latussu5]

I don’t think that social media is to blame (except for TikTok and YT Shorts). The real issue is that everything is getting more soulless and more ugly.

[@karinadelma]

You probably heard that people say the same thing. It ruined everything.

[@Mar.Sanford]

It shows so much which region of the world people comment from. I don't feel nostalgia for the past as my country in the 90s was in a difficult situation , people struggling with poverty, unemployment and crime rate. It is weird to me that we say '90s' and we mean '90s in the US'. For me the major drawback of the present is that people rely too much on the internet and are so heavily influenced by algorithms that they dont even notice that. Also, nostalgia is monetized a lot by corporations, so the feeling intensifies.

[@xg2513]

The only thing that’s worse is how socially disconnected we are I would say. The social media effect , how the internet has impacted socializing negatively. Besides that, I think things have gotten a lot better in many ways. I think things *seem* worse because some things that have gotten so much better now really highlight things that need to improve in society and have raised the bar. (improved social rights highlighting the need for more affordable healthcare as an example) Edit; actually the wages and housing crisis and cost of living crisis are definitely new and worse than they used to be (according to economists) but besides that. I was mostly referring to social stuff. Or social issues. For example gay people can get married, we are more aware of racism, and actually the rate of deaths from drug use and drug use in general has plummeted.

[@2008WasPeak]

nah, EVERYTHING has gotten worse, ur just coping

[@MarcelR.-lg1dc]

@@2008WasPeakYeah thats the typical cope a npc would say.

[@kevinpi7488]

this is called, One step forward, 2 steps backward, people are becoming radical, there's a concerning rise of facism. Using your own example Transphobia is on the rise, depression is on the rise, nihilism is on the rise, people are becoming empathically numb. The enshittification (real word look it up) of every product or service is a thing.

[@chocodiledundee1]

Man , I am so happy to see you and how intelligent you are , gives me hope in a very stressful and strange times with an extremely alienated generation! Congratulations for who you are , you are one young special being !

[@n.d.m.515]

Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean the government and corporations aren't after you. Same with nostalgia. Just because there were problems that we don't think about much doesn't mean it wasn't better than it is now.

[@nateowen1064]

This is the 21st Century, this is when everything changes, and you’ve gotta be ready

[@countnu4166]

Nostalgia has always been ‘cool’ imo but I absolutely agree. We look back through a romanticized lens and it’s quite literally impossible to replicate this in any way. PS : OMG the Lana and Chuck videos with young Rob 😭.

[@hotdoggitydig]

sometimes i find myself nostalgic for quarantine even though it destroyed me, i was a preteen and its weird to think for what shouldve been some of the most formative years of my life, I was stuck inside my house, living a loop and developing severe depression

[@YouWillDoAsYouAreTold]

we dont realise it at the moment, but in 20 years we're gonna do the same about this time 😅 we're gonna upload videoes where we show things from right before ai got fully integrated. things like windows 10, playstation 5, normal high graphics games, jobs with human employees etc, and we're gonna attach nostalgic emotional music to make it seem like it was amazing

[@Halepeno304]

I just adore your brain. Thanks for sharing your creations and ideas

[@carolinewolford]

And in 2034 or 2044, people will be nostalgic for the current year 2024. Nostalgia is a shallow mind trick

[@Osito-69]

Yeah, even now those idiots started having nostalgia at 2020

[@kingboo1764]

Nostalgia is a mistrick.If we've been there, we'd hate it tbh.

[@maxwillson]

It is strange because the Millennial and Gen Z generations are the first to experience near time travel capabilities. We're the first generations that can look back on any decade and see what life was like back then. This isn't normal. Things will get even more bizarre when AI accelerates. I predict in 10 to 20 years we'll have full blown simulators of every decade and you'll be able to essentially travel back in time. If it's true that human life is reaching immortality, we'll have unlimited things to do.

[@Zixxyz]

For me the main thing I long for is not to be back in my childhood, but to have been born early enough to have experienced what I did during my childhood at a different age. I was born in 2001 and I absolutely adored my early internet days and of course nostalgically wish I could have them back, but even more so I wish i could have been born 10 years earlier and had been able to experience those days being a little older. I also genuinely do feel like the current modern day is actually indisputably far far worse than it was 10 years ago. Social media and the rise of many other things have genuinely ruined so many things in a way something like the advent of the early internet never even came close too. I still agree that the sentiment of the "good ole days" will always exist and will always be slightly flawed, but I feel like now in 2024 its far more valid than it has ever been before BY FAR.

[@orichalcum_plus]

Part of me thinks the reason we're all so collectively obsessed with the past is because we've culturally reached critical mass and it feels like there's nothing that defines the past decade or so. How can a decade have a defining culture when culture is moving at light speed and trends last, at most, a week? We're clinging onto these old things because there's nothing in the present to hold onto anymore, it's all just a whirlpool of digital vomit. It's funny to think about the way we collectively thought about technology 10-15+ years ago and how exciting the future seemed (at least from my perspective as a kid), but now in 2024 it seems that everyone is obsessed with going back. Remember how exciting it was to get your first smartphone? Or going from a chunky old CRT TV to a fancy HD widecreen? Nothing excites us anymore, and it feels like for the past decade there's been an increasing feeling of malaise about life in general. I believe the biggest difference that separates the "now" and the "then" is overstimulation. We're living in an age of ultimate digital abundance and it's killing us, both spiritually and physically.

[@BloodMoonASMR]

Life is so bad now that we actually wanna go back to the 2000s and adorn ourselves with an unnecessary amount of belts

[@mike-A299]

Born in 1990 here. I don't miss the 90s and much prefer being in my thirties to back then. What I'm nostalgic for is decent new music and a time when political extremism wasn't a thing in my country.

[@2008WasPeak]

weirdo

[@MarcelR.-lg1dc]

@@2008WasPeakYeah must be some npc that obeys to every new thing that is thrown at him lol

[@cerealORRH]

@@2008WasPeak for not liking the 90s??? Litterally horrible statement on your end

[@Saturdaygrim]

You summed it up really well in the last 20 seconds, lol.

[@yoced1468]

My cars from 04. I’m not broke I’m nostalgic 🤠

[@xtalongraspx9004]

You make a good point about us starting to live in a Simpsons-timeline Era right there as well. What I've noticed is, The Creator just gets extremely lucky about predicting the Future, & it all started with the Higgs Boson Particle Homer theorizes on. He wasn't too far off, but when people began seeing The Simpsons made MANY other predictions come true as well, it's also no stranger to them or anyone else that they accidentally predicted 9/11 as well, by complete accident as well! The fact that we're living in some sorta Simpsons timeline-era esque phenomenon or whatever, I think is because funnily enough, the weirdest answers get proven the most right as well, & when we do not see those predictions happen, we also hear people telling us "History Will Repeat itself again", all this fearmongering to get people to become Simpsons-like, & start living a life like The Simpsons as well. With all the news controlling our thoughts & emotions as well, much similar to our own brains being gaslit, it makes us think if we really have control over how much we think we do as well... If we think about it, our brains rule our decisions, thoughts & choices as well. Without a mind, there is no way to think as well, unless you consider "mindless thinking" to be a thing as well. Ironically enough, those without brains tend to be the most smart, & with good reason as well, & I think it's actually because those who are most smart are actually dumb in disguise, putting on a false persona, & only showing how smart they are when it truly matters as well. Which shows to me that, when people put on a Disguise of "The Fool" perhaps, say in Tarot like we know it as, the General Usage of "The Fool" it paints this picture of someone who is foolish, but also willing to learn more in the same context as well. Much in the same way, Foolish people are among the most smart, & defy all logic & all methods of living & being as well to become who they truly are as well: An idiot, but not one without question as well, because that is at their core, their "persona" if you will. Much like how Shin Megami Tensei teaches us, the subconscious mind can teach us many things, but only if we allow it to as well. It's for this reason, I am reassured that things WILL be OK, as long as you stay true to yourself, always try to keep a smile on your face, & try to make each day happier than the last as well. Because lingering in the past will only get you so far, & if you actually visit the place you used to live in where your nostalgia took place, it's "destroyed" because your brain realizes it was much more fun back in the old days, but also because of how much more fun it becomes to go back when you grow up & look at the fond memories you had you were a lot younger than when you were older as of today. All of this is to say, our brains know how to gaslight us even when we think they don't: They're ALWAYS gaslighting us, because we want to be focused on the present and current future: The only thing we CAN hope for, is try to live with our brains, & try to make a brighter future for tomorrow by working WITH our brains by trying to create a brighter tomorrow for the future. That's all we CAN do right now, because to alienate ourselves of our brains is to stop living altogether: We have to work together as one, if we want to create a better future for tomorrow: For ALL of us as well, even you reading the comments section! We ALL have to work together to make a brighter future for tomorrow! I know we can do it. 😘