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Why are millennials so nostalgic?

[Generation Y] 
13K views 110 replies 46 participants last post by  NineTypesOfLight 
#1 ·
It looks millennials are more likely to yearn for a wonderful past than to hope for a wonderful future.
I don't think Boomers and Xers were that nostalgic at a similar age.
 
#2 ·
It's because the 90s was a time of prosperity and the flourish of entertainment of all kinds. They've even dubbed the 90s as Disney's Renaissance Era.

But the nostalgia cycle happens about every 20 years, when the people who grew up in a decade/era are young adults. The 2010s has been full of 90s nostalgia; most Millennials are in their 20s/30s during this decade.

Soon 2000s kids will bring nostalgia in the 2020s.
 
#5 · (Edited)
I think all generations are nostalgic and hold onto the past to an extent, but I see what you mean. Gen Yers typically are nostalgic and have been at a much younger age than previous generations. Other generations can dip into the past briefly, but move on with their lives. I think our generation has somewhat of an extended adolescence unlike previous generations. We don't want to grow up and adulting isn't a walk in the park. We look to the past where times were simpler and we didn't have to worry about this crazy adult world. It's common for a lot of us to be living at home with our parents, whereas in the past this wasn't as common. I don't know very many people in my gen that is a homeowner. Most of my friends still live with their parents, while trying to save money.
 
#6 ·
So much happened very quickly over the past few decades that there wasn't much time for them to grasp without the New becoming the Old within a year. As they begun to get used to something, it was quickly renovated with modern drives for innovation, which I think is how Hipsters came through; and already the newer generations are up and ready, many of whom ready at a younger age than they were. Lately, though, I think times have slightly slowed down, and people are becoming a bit more introspective, taking things as they come, which is probably a sign of focusing on the future.
 
#20 ·
I can get very nostalgic about things about the past that have personal meaning to me, whether it’d be through video games, music, old YouTube videos I used to watch, cartoons, movies, toys I used to play, places I used to visit, etc. I would sometimes really wonder a lot about certain past experiences and relive them just for fun, especially if those experiences were personal and wonderful to remember them by. Although, sometimes I can get so drenched in the past that it can get depressing and I need something to get me out and look forward to the future. It can be hard sometimes if I’m in that state, but I know I’ll go through it, just don’t know how long it’ll last. However, it’s definitely not always bad to be nostalgic. In fact, it can really relieve me sometimes to relive some moments here and there.
 
#23 ·
I think it's because culture for them now and during the 2000's was heavily commercialised and vacuous as a result. It's not just millennials who have this heavy nostalgia, a great many working class are craving the 'good old days' of higher employment, less state interference in our personal lives and quality culture and many conservatives crave the 'good old days' of traditional empire building. In a nutshell, modern day culture has regressed for many, many people.
 
#25 ·
Who knows if past generations weren't just as nostalgic? They didn't have the internet and access to things like we do. With that, companies can catch onto trends a lot faster and commercialize them. Maybe people were just as nostalgic but there was no medium to really communicate it nor was there companies jumping on commercializing it.
 
#35 ·
What is 11er? Generation Z?[/QUOTE]

No, they're Generation Alpha.
It would be a bit much if mid-90s borns (current 20 something year olds) were in the same generation as someone who's entering second grade this year.
The youngest Gen Z member is entering 4th grade this year (9 year olds).
 
#36 ·
What is 11er? Generation Z?
No, they're Generation Alpha.
It would be a bit much if mid-90s borns (current 20 something year olds) were in the same generation as someone who's entering second grade this year.
The youngest Gen Z member is entering 4th grade this year (9 year olds).[/QUOTE]

The youngest are 1 years old Family Guy already explained it 1982-2000 they are the last to be born in the 2nd millennium after that the cycle starts all over again..
 
#39 ·
I would say the reason us Millennials are so nostalgic is because our generation was already born into or grew into the internet, while other generations had the luxury of having a life that was more simple and organic life that had more of a human touch to it.

Now everything is so damn complicated and politicized, you feel like you are constantly stepping on eggs no matter what you do, say or write. That seems to me to be the reason why so many people have a fascination for the 1980s, as it seems to be a balance between having an "acceptable level" of technology, simplicity and organic human relations. The exception to this rule being the left-wing people, as even the centrists and apolitical people seem to like the 1980s regardless of the politics and superficiality of the time.

There does not seem to me to be much nostalgia of the 1990s except for people who grew up on the 1990s or were born in it really. Being born in 1993, I am one of the later Millennials (generation ends at 1996) but having been born and grown in a poor country, it is kind of like I had an experience more similar to what someone born in the advanced countries in the late 1980s would have had. Things took longer to appear and popularize, so it is like they lagged behind about five to ten years depending on what area.

I didn't really have constant internet access into about 2005... I am pretty sure in the U.S and U.K people already used the internet on a regular basis in the late 1990s.
 
#40 ·
This. It's very subjective in a sense as we all grow up differently with various backgrounds. My father works in computer engineering, so I grew up with computer games and early days of the internet. At that time, there were still a lot of people who didn't have home access to a computer. Sometimes, I would have friends come over to type a school paper. There were also a lot of kids who did have access. Over the years, it became expected for people to have access to the internet or computers. It's amazing how fast technology as advanced in a short period of time. But with anything some people have access to the latest technology earlier than others. There are many factors, like sociology-economic status, wealth, generational gap, isolated societies, etc. This can influence the way we see ourselves in a generation. For example some people who are technically Gen Z, might relate more to Gen Y because of their upbringing and environment.
 
#41 ·
Have to look to the past for inspiration for the now and for the future while learning the lessons of the past to help avoid making mistakes plus culture these days isn't the greatest. The west is certainly near the end of the age of decadence and the only phase left is the collapse so naturally nostalgia becomes all the rage.
 
#43 ·
THIS IS IT. You cute little handsome genius! This is why we are Millennials! We are nostalgic! Any argument you enter into about whether or not people born in 1977 or 1985 are Millennials should absolutely factor into how NOSTALGIC those people generally are. Nostalgia is our defining trait. Any observant person can see the same people with New Wave hair, Howard Jones on vinyl and who went vegan because of Morrissey, are actually quite similar to the people with pink hair, Tupac on CD, and who went vegan because of Beyonce. We did the same basic things, followed the same basic pattern, and we all love those things we grew up with...in the 20th century, before global warming got really bad.

We remember the world before 9/11 and without serious consequences of climate change, yet had to grow into adulthood with those horrific responsibilities. That's what defines us.
 
#45 ·
Eh, you guys don't have to live through it. Gen x is geting old and you guys are basically up next in terms of running this world. The older side of Gen Z is maturing into adulthood, so I think it's fair to say that since you guys are in between, it won't be long until you're in charge.
 
#46 ·
Because that's when life was more heartfelt, had meaning. People were people. And money didn't divide people like it does today!

There was a national sense of unity.
(*I grew up when there were lots of Neo-Nazis in my neighborhood burning crosses on our lawns, but as a whole, life was more innocent, and people actually cared and loved one another, oh and GMOs were non-existent, practically all of our produce was Organic, soil rich with nutrients, and the strawberries.. oh the strawberries!! They were deep red, sweet almost like sweet wine, every bite!)
 
#47 · (Edited)
I wish I had grown up in the 80s or something. I think in a lot of ways the world is getting worse. Sure I know all the data about people being lifted out of poverty blah blah blah.. but thats irrelevant to my life.

Life used to be simpler. When there was no internet your boss wouldnt expect you to answer emails at 11PM. People used to spend their time outside and talk to each oher instead of looking at their phone doing useless shit like posting pictures of their dinner on instagram, facebook etc (social media in general is IMO completely useless and a step back for humanity, it has zero positives), if you went to college you were guaranteed to get a good job because you werent competeing against 500 other candidates, house prices were more affordable, its amazing to think that there was a time when only one parent had to work while the other could stay at home with the kids etc....

Even when I think back on my childhood in the 90s and 00's, I think everything was so much better, music didnt sound so plastic, today everything is getting more and more plastic and fake. People are getting more and more narcissistic. People used to look and behave more classy. Compare 50' and 60's stars to the low class whores of today.

IDK, I think the current age sucks. Everything is becoming the same everywhere, all these chain restaurants and stores are constantly popping up etc... I think that is why people today are so obsessed with veganism, healthy lifestyle, cabin in the woods pictures on tumblr, etc, people want something more simple than all this 'convenience' we have.

People used to have less choices and opportunities but had more stable lives, now we have more choices and opportunities and our lives are unstable IMO, everything seems like a race and a competition. My parents didnt have as many opportunities as I do but they didnt have as much uncertainty, stress and worry about the future as I do either.
 
#92 ·
There is a tone in this thread from a few people that looking to history for insight and inspiration is not valuable. To me, that attitude is another indicator of why Western culture has stagnated.

We do need to look back. We can't move forward without a clear idea of what we want and where we'd like to go, and that is entirely based on where we (personally and collectively) came from. This is true for every generation.

Anyway, I've observed my peer group to be unusually nostalgic for their age (we should still be in our "prime", not yearning for the past already!). Yet, I still understand it, because I'm that way as well.

To me, it is because my generation completely lacks any vision for the future. There are no ideas, no leadership, no clear set of goals besides aspiring to what our parents and even grandparents had. We are stuck because we believed hook, line and sinker that following all their rules and advice would benefit our future, and then it didn't.

The boomers did a lot of interesting things when they were young. They brought new ideas to the table, experimented, rebelled, tried to bring their ideals into reality. A lot of their experiments didn't work out, and they later set into the conservative lifestyle of their parents. The majority of them had children later in life (judging by the size of Gen X cohort vs. millennial, and their time periods), and so many millennials today have boomer parents who taught them not to take risks or try to change things but to follow the rules out of dire fear of harm; taught them that sex is dangerous, taught that interacting with other people is dangerous, taught them to stay inside and seek passive entertainment instead of going out into that "scary world", taught them that the only path to a decent living and respect within society was through the education system (indoctrination), ensured they'd live outside their means under the boomer assumption of continuous prosperity and wealth, extended their childhoods as much as possible and yet expected independence and instant success, and then started to blame them as being entitled brats when the economy tanked and they weren't able overcome it immediately, clinging instead to their parent's keep-your-head-down principle or making feeble protests with no alternative vision to draw from.

There was a very short period, at least in my childhood, where I was free to roam - that was in the mid 1980's and early 1990's. I tend to be nostalgic for that period. Sometimes for the entertainment of the time, but more so the atmosphere and belief that I could live and breathe as a free person, and everyone else around me could, too.

That is the root of my nostalgia, and I suspect it is for many others, too. It isn't the "freedom from adulthood", as the many short-sighted millennials seem to attribute (I really, really despise the word "adulting" and want it to go away as soon as possible), it is the freedom to act within society in a way that we believed was possible when we were very young (hehe, Milne). We feel we have very few opportunities now, are constantly under surveillance, and have experienced so much of our lives vicariously through media, that if we do climb out of our hole it will be a great feat.

I do think generation Z will have a revival from the oppression of the older generations, similar to the roaring twenties.



I suppose there is a difference when a group of millennial friends pull out the Nintendo and play Duck Hunt instead of merely commenting on a Facebook post with a screenshot of Duck Hunt accompanied by a snappy caption. Reliving the moment is much more authentic and deplorable than recognizing it briefly, isn't it?
 
#58 ·
-looks left, looks right-

Every generation is nostalgic. Has no one heard Baby Boomers state the whole 'Back in my day-' or '(Newer Generation Here) is Ruining everything' or folks of all generations stating things like 'Make America Great Again' in some incarnation or another?

Everyone always wants things to be like they remember them being, and since memories are mutable at best and completely fabricated at worst; it is something that permeates all generations and sometimes is used to block progress.

I think we are trained to focus on Millennials being 'Nostalgic', just as we are also told constantly that we are the death of everything from 'america being great' to 'the napkin/diamond/gold/oil/coal industries', to keep our minds off of the fact that we are that 'echo generation' which is apparently huge and will eventually make a ton of decisions just based off of our numbers as we age in the future to the point that the Boomers currently are.

I am pretty sure it is just how things work in the US, at least.
 
#61 ·
-looks left, looks right-

Every generation is nostalgic. Has no one heard Baby Boomers state the whole 'Back in my day-' or '(Newer Generation Here) is Ruining everything' or folks of all generations stating things like 'Make America Great Again' in some incarnation or another?
Boomers became nostalgic late in life. Millennials started being nostalgic when in their early 20s, I believe.
 
#68 ·
The 90s were a more innocent time - pre 9/11. 9/11 was a turning point in our lives.

Also our society (largely thanks to social media) has a quantity over quality problem.
We see so much crap in pop culture that it’s easy to look back and think those times were better.

But that’s because only the best of the 90s has been preserved in our memories and most heavily documented in social media - the best of the 10s is just as good if not better than the best of the 90s. With that said, there’s more crap today than there was in the 90s. Maybe I’m just an old millennial but most of the “top hits” today are stupid unoriginal techno crap to me.
 
#70 ·
The 90s were a more innocent time - pre 9/11. 9/11 was a turning point in our lives.

Also our society (largely thanks to social media) has a quantity over quality problem.
We see so much crap in pop culture that it’s easy to look back and think those times were better.

But that’s because only the best of the 90s has been preserved in our memories and most heavily documented in social media - the best of the 10s is just as good if not better than the best of the 90s. With that said, there’s more crap today than there was in the 90s. Maybe I’m just an old millennial but most of the “top hits” today are stupid unoriginal techno crap to me.
Of course you'd think the music is bland, compared to what you heard when you were younger. It's an obvious sign that you've moved out of the target pop culture audience (which tends to be teens and young adults).

But I do agree that there's somewhat a lack of music genre diversity nowadays. There's still some great stuff out there, though, if you look hard enough... :wink:
 
#71 ·
Perhaps they were indoctrinated with false hope. Maybe they were taught, as we Xennials were, that if they went to college and at least earned some mid or even low-tier degree in some practical discipline, then "the powers that be" would allow them to make at least $30k/yr. by the age of 30. Instead, wages stagnate while the cost of living skyrockets every year. I made more money at the age of 21 ($12.50/hr. being the most) than I did in my mid 30s (less than $12/hr.), and what money I was making didn't go as far. Then earlier this year, a new landlord comes in and hikes up the rent/utilities from $500/mo. to $700/mo. so I had to move into my INFP BFF's basement.

It's not just a Millennial problem. There simply is no future under globalism. No future under the Golden International. Nor the Red. Nor the Black. No future under Moloch. No future under Mammon. No future under the reign of Babylon.
 
#76 ·
I get nostalgic every now and then. I suppose it's just a thing of wishing for simpler times - when you had less responsibilities... :distant:
 
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