Nostalgia lies
4/27/25
This youtube comment was under C418 - Living Mice
2020, everyone was inside, the youngest Gen-Z was 8, the oldest was 23, and the median was probably around 15-17. Suddenly, there was a massive boom in nostalgia. It was a combination of people having nothing to do, the crazy changes the world was going through, and a rapid increase in internet usage. Teenagers commenting about the “good old days” in 2015, playing Minecraft on the Xbox.
It's 2025 now. The youngest Gen-Z is 13, the oldest is 28, and the median is 20. Those nostalgic comments are now 5 years old. People on TikTok make videos about “POV: it's 2020” and talk about the “good old days” playing Among Us.
“Only 2000s kids will understand”, “Life was better in the 2010s”, “POV: it's 2016.”
People don't realize that they're trapping themselves in what will only be an unenjoyable life. The internet has created an incredibly fast-paced world. Information travels at light speed, things go viral, then disappear. That's why our perception of time is all messed up. But your memories are lying to you. We're only nostagic about the good stuff right? People need to live in the present. Someone might say to me, “But the present is so awful, our president stinks right now and life is really hard now I'm an adult...” But that's what they said 5 years ago. They said, “2020 sucks, the pandemic sucks, nothing in life is good right now, I miss 2015.” Memories lie; your life wasn't better in 2020; and it wasn't better in 2015 or 2010. (exceptions being specific, rare circumstances).
By chasing the past, you neglect the present, you allow it to dull and get boring. In comparison to the dull present you unconsciously created, you prefer the idealized past in your imagination. That's until the present becomes the past, and the future becomes the present. You never had faith in the future, so it's just as dull as you expected; but in comparison to the new present you have, the new past still looks better. You never get to enjoy anything like this.
The trap has been right under our noses the whole time. The word nostalgia was coined from Greek: nostos, meaning return home, and algos, meaning pain. The original definition of the word was pain from homesickness. Nostalgia creates pain. In a blink of an eye, everything could change. The past is unattainable, but the future is still yours to decide!!!!!!
The other day I saw an instagram post of someone being nostalgic about 2023, the Spider-Man movie, grimace shake, etc. Isn't that crazy how someone was reminiscing about 2 years ago?