Why is our generation (Y Generation) so nostalgic compared to any other? Is it because of technology and the how fast it evolves? Take into consideration less than 13 years ago, a 200mb hard drive was considered extremely high tech and cost a great sum of money and that the progress of technology doubles approximately every 28 months, If technology aged by the year as we do than that 200mb hard drive would only be 2.5 gigs as of right now. Could it be that parts of society is evolving at a faster pace than we are used to along or is it some other underlying reason? Or is it not evolving fast enough to keep up with the technological advances, moralities, and ethics that we are now accustomed to? Today, we get people talking about being nostalgic about things that happened only a few years ago and sometimes even months or weeks and it has been bugging me, is it going to get to the point where tomorrow will seem like a century, or will it get as bad as an hour and then everything changes? I won't deny that I myself am a very nostalgic person but I feel I know my reasons for that, with moving around a lot as a child and not being able to keep many friends together with hardly ever having friends able to come over and never being able to visit them, I look back on the few times I did get to experience those things, for better or worse. Anyway, I ask you, why has it become this way and is it a good or bad thing and do you think it's going to get better or worse? Discuss.
People get nostalgic because they like to be reminded of their childhood. We didn't have to worry about bills or relationships (or have any real responsibility for that matter) when we were kids, so naturally, we gravitate towards things that remind us of that time. I personally don't think our generation is any more nostalgic than previous generations, though. But as travz post demonstrates, we did have a lot of cool shit.
I think it's quite the opposite, that we're less nostalgic than, for example, our parents. Their lives were simple, they didn't have much to do, but those nice things that they did do and the good times they had, they will remember for the rest of their lives. Now the pace of life is much faster and we forget more cool shit than they ever knew.
Ahhhh Spyro the Dragon, Then Tony Hawk Underground, then Morrowind (even though it came out b4 THUG)...DON'T FORGET PEPSI BLUE
I think the fact that we have a lot of what would be considered nostalgic at our fingertips due to the internet, it isn't a matter of this generation being more nostalgic. Its a matter of we have access to it in ways past generations never did. Everyone longs, to some degree, for their childhood comforts, we simply have access to them. To me that ruins it, but to each their own.
I've never thought of one generation being more nostalgic than another. Though I guess the theory that technology moving at an exponentially faster rate may make future generations more nostalgic is a possibility.
It's sad that childhoods are defined by what video games were played, what television shows were watched, what toys were owned, or what products were fads at the time. Talk about a materialist culture.
Well, what's the alternative? Even in old people's idea of nostalgia, they list the soda they drank, particular songs, or the mom and pop shops that are closed. Nostalgia seems to target cultural relevancies that haven't been seen in a long time. What else comes and goes besides "materialistic" things? Everything else we still have! What did you want a kid to do anyway, stare at the wall?
The attention span of humans is growing so short. Everybodies in the now and the now is moving so fast we don't have time to look back and think "Oh that was great." And thats something thats really going to hurt us in the future. History is fading in the rear veiw mirror faster than ever. Those who don't learn history are bound to repeat it. Theres going to be a point where we're moving so fast we won't have time to make up for our mistakes. lol I'm not sure I'm making any sense XD
My mind doesn't automatically drift to things but experiences. Recess during lunch, the bus ride home, playing with a friend after school, vacations I've taken, etc. To me childhood extended beyond sitting in front of a television. Only exception would be Pokemon cards ... those darn addictive cards.
IDK how old you are, but I grew up in the 80's/90's and everything you listed isn't what I reminisce about concerning my childhood. Now I do remember having stayed up for hours on end beating video games with my cousins, but that's more about spending time with them vs. what game it was.
Yeah, I'm guilty of reminiscing over entertainment, but it's usually because I experienced it with people I consider special.
I get it now. I don't get nostalgia for those things because I haven't visited my elementary school since I went there. I ride the bus all the time so I don't have nostalgia for that, especially since you grow annoyed with that more than anything. TV, music and video games come back because I find those things stored somewhere (or on youtube) and then I dust them off and play them again. Recess and school only persist in memory rather than on the senses, which makes them not as much nostalgic but more like something I think about sometimes. But I don't really think about those things anyway, especially after I moved into a happier period of my life. My childhood was rubbish.
If you remember the experience of playing a game or whatever it's not really what I would call materialistic.
I bet I could flip materialistic on it's head: we live in a world were art is readily available to us. It's interesting to live in a world where you can interact with people who wanted to share their creation with people, and we can go on adventures we couldn't ever do by ourselves. The fact that money is involved doesn't cheapen it much. Back in ye olden days you were lucky to interact with people in the farm next door. The walk was far too long. Now we're learning about the whole world.
This past summer I drank a Capri Sun on the beach, that made me feel nostalgic as fuck. I also watched the entire Wonder Years series recently which really made me think about my own middle school through high school years, which sucked haha. I'm much older than my sister, almost 14 years older. She just started middle school, she constantly makes me feel nostalgic when she talks about her school stuff. In general hearing certain songs, talking about movies or video games makes me feel nostalgic though. I wouldn't say our generation is less nostalgic either, I work with people that are my parents age, part of the baby boomer generation and they always talk about their own "back in the day" shit, but yeah I would say the things they talk about are less focused on technology and more about the random shit they used to do.
That and if you remember the experiences as opposed to just having the things it's not really materialism.