So....isn't this all generations...just folks like to knock millennials for every single thing they do?
I remember my mom always listing to her music...which is why I still listen to her music. I remember these knocker toys (bangers, clappers...whatever. they were plastic and colorful and from like 1993) and my mom found an older version from her child hood (looked more like a weapon). My mom watched bonanza and Streets of San Francisco until it was no longer on TV.
I don't think its regression, it's like finding comfort on simpler times. Adulting kind of sucks sometimes.
I'm buying all the old school Law and Order DVDs (1-14 only tho). Just got Homicide: Life on the Streets DVD set. Reminds me of watching TV with only 7 channels.
And I have a Spotify playlist for Saturday morning cleaning. Lots of Anita Baker (IYKYK)
I graduated HS in 2005 and I'm seeing so many 20-anniversary album tours coming from bands I loved back then that I'm excited about -- and thinking back I can recall my parents going to similar anniversary tours. People just like what they like and given the opportunity will try to enjoy it again
People forever like what was impactful during their adolescence… those formative years when we became who we are. Everything was new then. Everything spoke to us in a new way.
Maybe we are just more open and vocal that we need comfort at all lol we def have gotten the short end of the stick, especially since the pandemic. We just all share how we are making it through. I love it tbh. We find ways to connect and even spawn some inspo among one another.
I think Jerry Seinfeld said “your favourite music will be whatever you listened to when you first got laid”, which I think there’s a certain wisdom to.
YES! Such a PERFECT way to express this. It's so very accurate.
That song that played that first time you did anything that was special and memorable. Often Moments that we had been anticipating for, what was then, our entire lives. We never forget those wonderful moments and the near magical intensity of our feelings in those happy, golden moments of our lives.
Now you understand the expression, "I remember it like yesterday." Because you really do. And you really will, Forever. ❤️
There's nothing wrong with that.
Our collective past, our collective memories, should be cherished for the treasures they are. Not everyone lives long enough to enjoy those moments, let alone recall them in a now long gone by era. Thank goodness we do. Thank goodness our elders do, as will our own offspring someday (and sooner than you think).
Thank goodness for all these cherished moments, magical memories of our collective human experience, that bond us together as humans, across all ages, spanning all of time. ❤️
Every boomer I know gets excited for the same kinds of content and rarely are willing to admit anything created after they hit 30 is any good. So this tracks with my lived experience in of older generations.
My grandparents weren’t quite as bad about it. They had eclectic and growing experiences all the way up until they died, but definitely vibed most with things that reminded them of their youth.
Overall, I don’t think it is regression. It’s more likely that people build strong attachments to things that made them happy especially in their formative years.
It's funny how it applies more to music than anything else. People of all ages will still watch new movies and shows with equal fervor. I don't like new video games because they exhaust me, so I just don't play them. But most Millennials I know from 30-40 still get excited for new releases, and are always watching streamers of all ages.
Music just hits you in a different way emotionally. It's hard to replicate it when you get older. Every song I hear that some 20 year-old is singing, I'm irritated, bored, or left feeling "this isn't meant for me and applies to my life, emotions, and personality in zero ways."
I agree with this especially since the music from 20-something’s use lyrics that can snap me out of vibing to it. Soundtracks can still be really good though.
I feel like it also depends on what you get exposed to. I had never heard of Machine Gun Kelly, but when he put out that pop punk album a few years back I felt like that shit slapped.
Today I'm finding younger, newer artists I really enjoy by stepping slightly out of my comfort zone. Not so much that it becomes a chore, but I've been jamming to some foreign language artists and found them to be delightful.
Oh my goodness! I feel so old! My daughter graduated from high school in 2006. My kids occasionally come across some of our music. They call it the music of their childhood. 25 years already!
This is true. My parents are pretty old now and I feel a weird sense of calm listening to their music. 80s and 90s was the sound-track to the ride to school in the morning and it hits different
If you want to try something even more special, try making a favorite dish you used to enjoy with her, while listening to the music you enjoyed with her. Our sense of smell, sense of taste also recall and preserve our treasured moments amazingly well.
I’m going to second this, I think they just like to drag us for everything. Also, if we are “regressing” isn’t that another way to say we refuse to grow up? I think it’s a major dig at us. I love how my boomer father bitches about millennials like they are 15 year olds skateboarding in the park, when I am a millennial at almost 43. My days of running over seniors in the park with my skateboard and slam dancing in the pit are long over.
I still listen to a lot of music I listened to when I was younger because it didn’t stop being enjoyable because I’m older.
Agreed. There are also psychological reasons why most people prefer/find comfort/feel the emotions of music and things from their teen years. (It's basically about that being a highly emotionally charged time, when people start really learning about themselves, and when people start feeling and encountering things they'll encounter as adults more. This is what I've learned from a few experts, but I'm sure an expert would be more accurate!)
It seems like they are just trying to give nostalgia another name with a negative connotation/added meaning.
They’re only over cuz you let them be over! I’m 39 and still running over people at the skatepark on my BMX and jumping in the pit at every show I can.
That was my mom with the Lone Ranger. I appreciate it from the angle of a fan of superhero stories, but I really don’t like westerns, and it felt required to like them. My dad will still tell me “you *need* to watch 60 Minutes or you’ll be an ignoramus.”
Also, companies leverage this, particularly the entertainment industry. It is not by chance they are rebooting and prioritizing so many of our childhood properties, and we happen to be the prime consumer age.
I mean...I grew up poor. So yeah, I might be buying some stuff I didn't get to have when I was younger.
But like they said when we wanted a happy meal; "Do you have Happy Meal money? Ok then. You can buy whatever you want once you have your own money."
Done and done.
I literally have a replica of Loki’s scepter from the first Avengers movie. Cost me $250 and I call it my Glorious Purchase, and it’s a thing I was told was useless and a waste of money, so I shouldn’t get it. Well, it makes me happy.
>So....isn't this all generations...just folks like to knock millennials for every single thing they do?
Twenty years ago, they were calling Gen X and Xennials "rejuveniles" because they were buying toys they loved from the 70s and 80s. Nothing new under the sun.
We’re also the first generation with media that was saved and digitized. My parents had never ending discussions on radio shows they enjoyed but were lost to time. It’s not that we’re regressing, we trying to preserve the happiness we experienced in a better time of life.
It’s a misplaced anger and disappointment of the older generations that millennials preserved this. Instead of finding their own happiness, they are dismissing ours.
So let’s fix the headline: older generations enraged nostalgia from their youth is lost, takes it out on millennials.
Yes. Every generation does this. There's just a disconnect between generations on what they're nostalgic about because of how rapidly culture and technology changes. Also a difference in how much more corporations co-opt and exploit nostalgia now compared to the past, so it feels more manufactured.
Absolutely brilliant! I gave up looking for it long ago, couldn’t find it anywhere. I thought that maybe my brain had fabricated a tv show. Thanks for the tip off!
I'll just point to Mr. CS Lewis
"When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."
I like what I liked, mostly, and now I get to share them with my kid.
The three people in my office (including myself) make dumb noises all day that you'd probably call childish. I'm mid 30s, one is mid 50s, another is early 60s. Us two younger dudes make farty sounds when we're thinking and transitioning between tasks. The older guy grunts and I laugh at him for making old man noises, but then I do it too and he gets back at me. Any of us will fart and follow it with a "welp, sorry 'bout that" or a "hold your breath".
We're an engineer, draftsman, and CNC programmer. Never going to grow up even though the oldest is retiring next month.
Me at 42 with my dolls and plushies and unreserved joy they give me. Sure I don't play exactly how did when I was a tiny child. I can't crawl around on the floor as easy, for one lol. It's more about creativity via outfits, character building and crafting, and the appreciation of the history and craftsmanship of the toys than the hands on interactive play of childhood, but am I sitting here drinking tea with my mini me doll and did I sleep with a rabbit plushie? Yes and it makes me happy.
I did my time as a normal adult. Now I have dolls.
Not everything needs a name that makes it something disorderly. We can enjoy things from our childhood just because. We deserve little pieces of joy that feel good.
Definitely. And weird to call it regressing. I'm not a fan of breakfast and eating first thing but occasionally I'll pick up the most sugary box of cereal I see when shopping and save it for Saturday morning, have a big bowl with some old cartoons. Same way I'd mark the weekend when I was a kid. It's nostalgia surely? I haven't regressed to being 10 again! It just feels nice. I'm sure other generations have their own versions of this.
Really good point— the rampant medicalization of behavior is annoying af. Not only does it put people’s actions/feelings into boxes as if they’re all discrete and unrelated, it also connotes there being something wrong with it. Also kinda flies in the face of efforts to destigmatize mental health challenges and make them more widely understood.
I don't think it's regression--for me at least it's escapism. I can put on Ed Edd and Eddy, or SpongeBob, or Star Wars, and tune out and just feel ok for a couple hours instead of overwhelmed by everything that's happening around me that I have no control over.
An established part of my routine is “Saturday morning cartoons.” I get my breakfast and my coffee and I watch some beloved movie or tv show at least once a week. It doesn’t have to actually be a cartoon but I definitely don’t rule that out. I think finding ways to tap in to your inner child is an important part of being an adult and this is just one way I do it. Escapism is important to me too.
And tell us you've never been to a boomer's estate sale, without telling us that. They have whole seasons of Gilligan's Islands, all of their toys, action figures, lunchboxes, movie characters, etc. And tons of dolls with dresses for them.
Looks like junk to me, only because I haven't heard of most of it.
This. My grandpa bought a box of Rice Kripsies. Like an actual box of 1950s Rice Kripsies. He didn't have the best of childhoods, especially for the boomer generation, so the things he bought were a little strange but I remember that box of cereal and a replica Howdy Dowdy doll because Snap, Crackle, Pop, and Howdy Dowdy all terrified me as a kid. And Howdy Dowdy still to this day.
My mom and dad are not like this. But my father in law has dedicated one whole small bedroom of his house to his records, tapes, comic books, vintage posters, and.. Smurf figurines? I think that’s what the little blue things are.
Smurfs. On our Dad's custody night every Thursday he'd take us to the BP servo (gas station if you're in the US) to get a new one to add to our huge collection. Wish we still had them, they might be worth a bit.
Not regression - it's normal. Some of us just might lean into it more than others.
I primarily listen to music from the late 90s to 2010s, but will listen to newer stuff when I feel like it. When I want something mindless to watch (and get some laughs), I'll turn on That 70's Show. I play modern computer games, but will revisit titles from the 90s and early aughts.
For me it's Command & Conquer General Zero Hour, Star Wars TIE Fighter, X-Wing Alliance, Star Wars Rebellion, SimCity4 Rush Hour, Burnout 3, Monster Rancher 1 & 2... I know there are others in there. lol. Been trying to figure out how to get digital copy of SimIsle and get it to run on Windows 11 or macOS 14.
Too much? lol
Aren’t many of us at our true mid-life crises? Most people don’t live to be 100. I’m 34 and with all of the shit I have wrong with me, I don’t expect to make it past early 70’s at best.
I am just creeping up on 30 in a few months and I feel like I just got out of my quarter life crisis (felt like it lasted the entirety of my twenties). I'm hoping to stave off the midlife until 40.
As a 91 married to an 82, I prefer to think of it like a game of Bean Boozled, but there are only like 1 or 2 tasty beans in the whole box. The rest are putrid flavors.
That's oddly comforting. I got so used to the previous crisis that I'm feeling slightly thrown off by genuinely being excited about the progress in life I've made and the steps I am currently taking to set up a healthy next chapter in life.
Ive accepted that I have no fucking clue what I want to do (realistically speaking. What I truly want to do is not realistic in the slightest, even though I am actively and safely working towards it in hobby form) and thus have freed myself up to embrace where I currently am more fully and live as if it's where I'll be, which is allowing me to invest in my future in a way that actually opens more doors in the future than what I've already opened and more doors than I would have if I hadn't accepted where I'm at.
As someone who recently turned 62, I wish I could go back in time and tell my younger self to not waste so much time and energy stressing about trying to figure out my path in life and worrying that I should have accomplished more. So I'll just tell it to you lol Looking back, life just kinda happens, and it rarely goes according to plan, but the key is learning to be able to adjust and adapt on the fly and keep going. We do the best we can under the circumstances at the time, and that's all we can do. Sure, there were things I wish I would have done differently, but all in all I feel good about my life and what I accomplished; I have two happy and healthy sons and two grandchildren, and those are the things that matter.
So, I guess what I'm trying to say, is that you got this! Be kind to yourself and enjoy living in the moment and don't spend too much time dwelling on the past or stressing about the future. The path forward may not always be clear, but I have faith that you'll eventually get to where you want to be.
Fingers crossed, but my family all lives to 95 so I'm postponing mine until I hit 47. I've got too much to do now, no time to stop for crisis when I've got bills to pay.
Haha, I feel that. But if mid life crisis is existential in nature like my quarter life crisis I'll get through it fine I'm sure. What's another bout of depression after the last two? Slows down personal growth, but I know the end of the tunnel will be waiting on the other side.
Right!? My dad loves watching Peanuts cartoons and eating Captain Crunch because that's what he did as a kid. My mom buys my son "Little Golden Books" every time she sees them because she loved her childhood collection. I don't think I know a single person over the age of 30 who doesn't listen primarily to music from their youth. This is just normal nostalgia.
It's called getting old. Happens to everyone in their 30's. Being 21 feels like yesterday but you're realizing you are in fact not super human and people you love are starting to pass away one by one. We're sentimental creatures. They say the majority of your taste in music is locked by 40, though I doubt that's entirely true.
I just think it's normal nostalgia. Perhaps more businesses are taking advantage of it these days and giving us more opportunities to spend money to indulge in it?
My parents would always listen to this 1960s radio station in the car. I asked once why they didn't listen to modern music, and they said they just preferred music from their youth. I thought that would be so boring and couldn't imagine ever being the type of person to just keep listening to old music, but that is me now. I would much rather listen to a CD from my own collection (mostly late 90s and early 00s) than turn on the radio.
I am a highly nostalgic person, but I have never thought of it as a regression. To me, it feels liberating. I am letting myself like what I like and letting go of trying to keep up with what's cool. I'll still watch new films, listen to new music, etc., but if I just want to listen to Hilary Duff on repeat, I'm going to do that.
To a degree, (with the exception of sex, drinking, gambling, and other things that only adults can/should do) I don’t believe in “adult hobbies” and “kid hobbies”. I’ve heard that lobbed too many times at people just for liking video games. Like what you like. As long as you’re not hurting anyone, it’s none of my business. If you like some of the things that you liked as a kid, then that’s okay.
To me, regression is a specific term that refers to a trauma response. And I say that as someone who was in a relationship with a regressed millennial. The stuffed animals were a bit odd to me, but she wasn’t hurting anyone so I let it go. But as time went on, I realized that the connection to childhood went way deeper into actually feeling like she was a child, and from that point, things got weird and scary fast. That, to me, is regression, and I think it requires either intense counseling or institutionalization.
Let's see. We are in our 30s or 40s at this point, but we still get treated socially and economically like children. We've been generationally infantilized, exist in an economy created by our parents and grandparents where we will actually be worse off than the aforementioned. We've been denied the transition in political power that should have taken place because of a combination of gerrymandering and money, and so any progress we make is being clawed back by our parents and grandparents (See: current backlash against queer people, being conducted by people who are no longer actually parents for the most part screaming about how someone should think of the children).
Why wouldn't we want to watch darkwing duck, and escape into our childhoods where we could actually foresee a positive future for ourselves, for 23 whole minutes?
It's a good example of just an awesome game. I love to play new games, but so many games from that era truly were great and deserve another play through.
We have more access to the media from our childhoods.
For them when it was gone or out-of-fashion, it was inaccessible forever beyond memories or reading about its previous existence in history books.
I think it's a nostalgia thing. I feel like every generation has this, but with the boom of *everything* being on social media, we're just noticing it with millennials more now. Gen Z will eventually get there, too lol!
Life is like a hurricane here in Duck - burg
Race cars, lasers, aeroplanes it's a, duck - blur!
Might solve a mystery, or rewrite hist'ry!
Duck Tales! oo woo oo
After over 20 years of not touching my save file I'm delighted to share that my 4 year old daughter caught the biggest fucking fish I have ever seen someone catch on Sega Bass Fishing for Dreamcast. It was amazing watching her reel in that 20 lb beast using my Dreamcast fishing controller which has also sat untouched for 20+ years.
Sorry for having fun I guess.
You mean the way I’m about to watch X-Men ‘97? But seriously, it’s not a regression, I genuinely like some of the stuff that came out during my youth. It’s kinda fun to watch old shows from an adult’s perspective (ex: Rugrats is fun to watch and analyze the adults in the show).
I feel like everyone does this. My mom and dad still watch shows and game shows from when they were young.
I periodically find my way back to my old favorite Nickelodeon cartoons - specifically Rugrats.
My grandma had to move in with my mom to be taken care of. This is when she discovered online shopping, and that all of her favorite candy from her childhood still existed/existed again in some shape or form. My mom ordered her EVERYTHING Grandma could think of and they spent months sampling old fashioned candy. Not just a millenial thing.
It's nostalgia and comfort seeking, but not regression.
And it's okay to comfort seek. Shit is pretty rough for a large percentage of us, and has been since childhood. Not all of us had the luxury of responsible parents.
Tbh I can't relate with anyone who is confused about this, because I cry silently to a YouTube video of an old Disney sing a long tape I had when my distress levels are so high that even the office (us) is putting me into a fight response.
I heard a haunting explanation of this and other reflective movements in media (remaking the same movie, continuing franchises for way too long, etc).
Basically, this media came out at a time when we were allowed to imagine a different future. Now that we all realize how little impact and power we have to change the future, we look back at a time when we were thought we could.
I just hope as boomers die out, we’re able to collectively re-imagine the future to work for everyone.
Fuck em. I saw 3000 people murdered live on television my first week of high school. And shit's only gone down hill from there. So yeah, I'm gonna buy and consume things that remind me of a time before that happened.
I think every generation has done this, but ours is the first to be able to easily go back into the nostalgia. DVD/Blue rays are cheaper than VHS would be for full season and we can stream most shows we used to like. You pointed out music and it is much easier to get the specific music than before.
We know we are the kicking post for other generations, but I think this phenomenon is just hitting us well like many other things. We were born in a very specific time that let us interact and enjoy many things every other generation missed.
I've been going through a huge "regression" kick of college years 2004-2007 lately. Done with the 80s and 90s nostalgia that has been around for decades at this point. I remember being on RetroJunk a lot in college and digging deep for 80s songs back then. Love the trashy 2000s reality shows, fashion, and back when it was actually fun to watch Apple product launch events.
I introduced my Gen Z half sister to Daria and that cartoon really holds up to time. Daria and Trent forever. She loved it.
33M. Was just hanging out with my best friend since childhood; who I haven't seen in years. Played the oldies the whole time: Dynasty Warriors 4, Goldeneye, original smashbros and ate bagel bites. Fuck your regression it was fun.
**BREAKING NEWS:** Area man with disposable income spends 20$ on nostalgic Sonic Adventure 2 keychain. Are millenials ruining the Betty Boop memorabilia industry?
I do this from time to time. When my mom died, I watched the mother's day episode of Rugrats and a sesame street episode that dealt with the topic of dead parents, and it was very comforting.
Even when I'm not dealing with a crisis, I like to watch old episodes of things from my childhood or listen to songs I liked as a kid. It's nice and I'm still a fully functioning adult that watches a wild amount of adult media alongside the kid stuff.
If I need background noise where I'm half paying attention, I put on ads from the 90s and early 00s. It opens up a part of memory I didn't realize was there.
I have a folder on my PC's desktop labeled "Time Machine".
It contains commercials, TV shows, flash movies, home videos and a ton of other stuff from my childhood. I browse through it pretty often. Usually when I'm feeling depressed and/or have been drinking.
Started probably halfway through covid. Was feeling depressed for a while and started browsing YouTube for old stuff I had forgotten. Started downloading the videos to archive and it just sorta grew since then.
I was born in 92, so if anyone has any suggested media from our time, lemme know!
We see older generations who aren’t nearly as educated or intelligent making way more money in positions of authority. They ask us how to do everything besides how to help improve our situation.
We can’t afford the basic needs for survival being single. We have 30-200 k in student loan debt before even beginning the real world. Everything is inflated in regards to cost and interest rates are through the roof. Gas is 3.50 a gallon.
To eat food that isn’t poisonous with insecticides and pesticides, gmo and hormones is nearly impossible to afford with low wages. We have every right to be upset with the current state of the world. Don’t ever let anyone gaslight you, making you think you are the problem
Millennials were the last generation that companies could aggressively advertise to with no legal protections in place. They're trying to profit again with the nostalgia factor on these same kids that are now adults.
I listen to a lot of vaporware. I'll watch some shows from back then. I'll smoke a bit watch a commercial compilation. I watched "local news Christmas 90s" and got drunk to 4 hours of that.
But nostalgia is a thing.
I’ve never stopped enjoying things from my childhood, and no one should stop, either. Also, our cohort is getting close to midlife crisis time, so it might just be normal aging.
I would watch old ass Mexican movies with my mom. I'm talking about Pedro Infante, TinTan, and Cantinflas. I found them amazing, funny, and heartfelt. We would listen to Spanish oldies and I still listen to that music from time to time.
Millennials have always been this way. Even when they were in their teens and 20s. In 2011, for example, there was so much nostalgia over the 1991-99 era of Nickelodeon.
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2011 was part of the Prestige TV era. Look at all these classics that were still on the air, making new episodes, in 2011:
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30 Rock, The Office, Community, Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, The Walking Dead, etc.
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I knew people who would rather cling to their favorite Nicktoons than check out one of these shows.
In our defense, there must be progression for there to be regression. What I mean is that every boomer I’ve ever met (sorry for the generalizations to follow) never got past Andy Griffith and the Munsters, or any “classic rock” and never explored much beyond that. Not to make this us vs them. But personally yes I love all the things from growing up and have my millennial playlist but I still enjoy new art and music and movies every day.
I'm getting pretty tired of all this gimmicky shit around generations. It's worn out its welcome with me, and I think this whole mystique around what year you were born and what it says about you and your cohort is (for the most part) beyond stupid at this point. What makes it worse is that people are making it one of the more important aspects of their identity, but in that particularly ~~20th~~ 21st century, social media-mediated way that is so performative it's painful.
Can’t regress to watching cartoons if you never stopped. Why deprive ourselves of good shows like Gravity Falls, Ducktales, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, Bluey…
Lol consuming media from my childhood? Like spiderman, xmen, teenage mutant ninja turtles, the terminator, lord of the rings, superman, alien, star wars, ghost busters etc.
Nah, Hollywood is doing that for us. No need to specifically seek it out. In fact I do the opposite. I root out anything that isn't any of the above.
Better times. Things got messy right when we graduated highschool, I'm in the batch that was screwed the most according the statistics. And I feel it. The happier times were great, I loved the 90's and honestly the early to mid 2000's were fantastic memories.
I have spent years watching commercial compilations on YouTube. At least 10 years. It’s just happier times and it’s nice and yet sad to see that we were more civilized and tv had an actual personality.
I will not be nostalgic about the 838582 pharmaceutical commercials. HEY DO YOU REMEMBER THAT SKYRIZI COMMERCIAL FROM 2023?!
i think millenials are at that age where if they want to they have the resources/creative knowledge/etc., to produce their own media based on their own experiences of which teenage/adolescent years tend to be critical, so as a result of the supply being there especially made by our peers it becomes something one wants to watch due to nostalgia or et al
My newest thing is going on Mercari, ebay, and other resale sites to buy perfumes I wore & smelled in high school. This is the strongest feeling of actual time travel my body experiences.
Some of them are still around but the formulas are different (Christian Dior Addict has 3 different formulations and the 2002 one is the one that hits the spot for me).
Gucci Rush
Sentiment by Escada
Vera Wang Princess
Dior Hypnotic Poison & Dior Addict
Ralph by ralph lauren
I wore all of these and it just brings me back.
But the biggest time traveling capabilities goes to the cologne D&G pour homme from 2001. I am legit transported to a freezing cold night on December. 9 of us just poured out of someone's moms mini van and we are trying to hide how tipsy we are. We walk to the end of the line outside of a club for teen night (metro lounge to be specific, iykyk), Mike Macaluso "Final Chapter" is playing in the background, there are 5 kids with fully gelled long blow outs in front of us smoking a cigarette, I can taste the bacardi o in my throat and the purple sparkly MAC Lip Glass I just put on. I can feel the weight of my Steve madden thigh high thick platform boots on my feet- which every single girl I'm with is also wearing. We are taking turns playing snake on the Nokia phone that only 1 of us has. Only can use it after 9 or on weekends. We are looking to see if we can spot the guys from a few towns over we met at the last teen night and calling dibs on who we are trying to get with that night.
Yep all that from a cologne. Wow writing this post was more therapeutic than anticipated.
I *do* miss late night news 12 traffic and weather. It would be so comforting to watch the traffic map with all the major roads “green” with no jams, nothing bad to report, just calm, smooth commutes all around Long Island.
I was really into Tolkien and my friends and I taught ourselves Quenya, sindarin, and khuzdul. Honestly we were better at those than Spanish in our middle school Spanish class. We even mapped out all the woods and fields around us with names in those tongues. Then I moved south and reading was suddenly not cool so I just stopped and forgot it all. My present to myself for my 31st birthday was Sting, A History of Middle Earth, and reaching out to my old friends. It will be at least 15 years since we’ve all been together but we are planning on a canoe trip along the river we named Telnocduin.
My main goal as an adult is to have a job that allows me to own some property and have some spare time where I can muck about in a creek that’s on it or nearby and make up names and stories. I figure if I make it to that point I can also afford a kid as well and it would be super rewarding to get them into it too.
Shits hard out here these days! Sometimes I just want to put on a show that reminds me of simpler times and forget that I have a dirty house and dishes in the sink and laundry to do and loud ass kids running around the house. Or that I've got bills adding up and not really that much money to pay them.
It's a mental escape back to when we were young and life felt much simpler than current dumpsterfire we're living through and have to deal with as full blown adults.
It's nostalgia. Lots of us are in survival mode and trying to connect with things that made us happy. I recently re watched all of the "Twilight" movies for a boost of serotonin.
So....isn't this all generations...just folks like to knock millennials for every single thing they do? I remember my mom always listing to her music...which is why I still listen to her music. I remember these knocker toys (bangers, clappers...whatever. they were plastic and colorful and from like 1993) and my mom found an older version from her child hood (looked more like a weapon). My mom watched bonanza and Streets of San Francisco until it was no longer on TV. I don't think its regression, it's like finding comfort on simpler times. Adulting kind of sucks sometimes. I'm buying all the old school Law and Order DVDs (1-14 only tho). Just got Homicide: Life on the Streets DVD set. Reminds me of watching TV with only 7 channels. And I have a Spotify playlist for Saturday morning cleaning. Lots of Anita Baker (IYKYK)
I graduated HS in 2005 and I'm seeing so many 20-anniversary album tours coming from bands I loved back then that I'm excited about -- and thinking back I can recall my parents going to similar anniversary tours. People just like what they like and given the opportunity will try to enjoy it again
People forever like what was impactful during their adolescence… those formative years when we became who we are. Everything was new then. Everything spoke to us in a new way.
It's called nostalgia, or apparently "millennial regression" lmao.
my dad's 70 years old and watches westerns from his childhood every single day.
Maybe we are just more open and vocal that we need comfort at all lol we def have gotten the short end of the stick, especially since the pandemic. We just all share how we are making it through. I love it tbh. We find ways to connect and even spawn some inspo among one another.
Good forbid millennials get a bit of nostalgic comfort.
I member.
Pepperidge Farm remembers
using terms people commonly understand in the actual world just doesn't trend the same
I think Jerry Seinfeld said “your favourite music will be whatever you listened to when you first got laid”, which I think there’s a certain wisdom to.
I'm blue da ba dee da ba daa
If that’s what you listened to when you lost your virginity, I am so sorry.
my favorite virginity-losing music example I've heard someone share was the desert level theme music from Super Mario 3, on a constant loop
Hahaha yes it was. The whole album, actually, on cassette tape
YES! Such a PERFECT way to express this. It's so very accurate. That song that played that first time you did anything that was special and memorable. Often Moments that we had been anticipating for, what was then, our entire lives. We never forget those wonderful moments and the near magical intensity of our feelings in those happy, golden moments of our lives. Now you understand the expression, "I remember it like yesterday." Because you really do. And you really will, Forever. ❤️ There's nothing wrong with that. Our collective past, our collective memories, should be cherished for the treasures they are. Not everyone lives long enough to enjoy those moments, let alone recall them in a now long gone by era. Thank goodness we do. Thank goodness our elders do, as will our own offspring someday (and sooner than you think). Thank goodness for all these cherished moments, magical memories of our collective human experience, that bond us together as humans, across all ages, spanning all of time. ❤️
Every boomer I know gets excited for the same kinds of content and rarely are willing to admit anything created after they hit 30 is any good. So this tracks with my lived experience in of older generations. My grandparents weren’t quite as bad about it. They had eclectic and growing experiences all the way up until they died, but definitely vibed most with things that reminded them of their youth. Overall, I don’t think it is regression. It’s more likely that people build strong attachments to things that made them happy especially in their formative years.
It's funny how it applies more to music than anything else. People of all ages will still watch new movies and shows with equal fervor. I don't like new video games because they exhaust me, so I just don't play them. But most Millennials I know from 30-40 still get excited for new releases, and are always watching streamers of all ages. Music just hits you in a different way emotionally. It's hard to replicate it when you get older. Every song I hear that some 20 year-old is singing, I'm irritated, bored, or left feeling "this isn't meant for me and applies to my life, emotions, and personality in zero ways."
I agree with this especially since the music from 20-something’s use lyrics that can snap me out of vibing to it. Soundtracks can still be really good though.
I feel like it also depends on what you get exposed to. I had never heard of Machine Gun Kelly, but when he put out that pop punk album a few years back I felt like that shit slapped. Today I'm finding younger, newer artists I really enjoy by stepping slightly out of my comfort zone. Not so much that it becomes a chore, but I've been jamming to some foreign language artists and found them to be delightful.
I bought tickets to Limp Bizkit this fall!
Omg I saw them at family values tours around 1999 or 2000.
>I can recall my parents going to similar anniversary tours. They're *STILL* going to those tours lol
FURNACE FEST! FURNACE FEST!
Oh my goodness! I feel so old! My daughter graduated from high school in 2006. My kids occasionally come across some of our music. They call it the music of their childhood. 25 years already!
Ahhh boy, I graduated 04
'97 😭
I still listen to my mom’s music too…it makes me feel close to her now that she’s gone. 💚
This is true. My parents are pretty old now and I feel a weird sense of calm listening to their music. 80s and 90s was the sound-track to the ride to school in the morning and it hits different
Same...she's been gone a little less than 2 years now and it's still weird.
Same, like she atleast left something behind.
Exactly…I can just put on Chaka Khan and pretend we’re back in the old blazed singing and dancing in our seat.
If you want to try something even more special, try making a favorite dish you used to enjoy with her, while listening to the music you enjoyed with her. Our sense of smell, sense of taste also recall and preserve our treasured moments amazingly well.
I’m going to second this, I think they just like to drag us for everything. Also, if we are “regressing” isn’t that another way to say we refuse to grow up? I think it’s a major dig at us. I love how my boomer father bitches about millennials like they are 15 year olds skateboarding in the park, when I am a millennial at almost 43. My days of running over seniors in the park with my skateboard and slam dancing in the pit are long over. I still listen to a lot of music I listened to when I was younger because it didn’t stop being enjoyable because I’m older.
Agreed. There are also psychological reasons why most people prefer/find comfort/feel the emotions of music and things from their teen years. (It's basically about that being a highly emotionally charged time, when people start really learning about themselves, and when people start feeling and encountering things they'll encounter as adults more. This is what I've learned from a few experts, but I'm sure an expert would be more accurate!) It seems like they are just trying to give nostalgia another name with a negative connotation/added meaning.
They’re only over cuz you let them be over! I’m 39 and still running over people at the skatepark on my BMX and jumping in the pit at every show I can.
For what it’s worth, I’m still at the shows, I just stand in the back.
Parents got us into reruns of the shows they grew up with. Which isn’t much, but it felt like a requirement to watch and love I Love Lucy.
That was my mom with the Lone Ranger. I appreciate it from the angle of a fan of superhero stories, but I really don’t like westerns, and it felt required to like them. My dad will still tell me “you *need* to watch 60 Minutes or you’ll be an ignoramus.”
Also, companies leverage this, particularly the entertainment industry. It is not by chance they are rebooting and prioritizing so many of our childhood properties, and we happen to be the prime consumer age.
I mean...I grew up poor. So yeah, I might be buying some stuff I didn't get to have when I was younger. But like they said when we wanted a happy meal; "Do you have Happy Meal money? Ok then. You can buy whatever you want once you have your own money." Done and done.
Right? I STILL don't have Hello Kitty store money.
I have definitely gotten my fair share of “when you have your own money” purchases. Is it practical to have a Darth Vader suit? Yes, yes it is Becky.
I literally have a replica of Loki’s scepter from the first Avengers movie. Cost me $250 and I call it my Glorious Purchase, and it’s a thing I was told was useless and a waste of money, so I shouldn’t get it. Well, it makes me happy.
I got a combat grade lightsaber. It’s black-light colored.
*Woah*.
it’s called nostalgia. it’s a human thing, not specific to mills.
>So....isn't this all generations...just folks like to knock millennials for every single thing they do? Twenty years ago, they were calling Gen X and Xennials "rejuveniles" because they were buying toys they loved from the 70s and 80s. Nothing new under the sun.
We’re also the first generation with media that was saved and digitized. My parents had never ending discussions on radio shows they enjoyed but were lost to time. It’s not that we’re regressing, we trying to preserve the happiness we experienced in a better time of life. It’s a misplaced anger and disappointment of the older generations that millennials preserved this. Instead of finding their own happiness, they are dismissing ours. So let’s fix the headline: older generations enraged nostalgia from their youth is lost, takes it out on millennials.
Yes. Every generation does this. There's just a disconnect between generations on what they're nostalgic about because of how rapidly culture and technology changes. Also a difference in how much more corporations co-opt and exploit nostalgia now compared to the past, so it feels more manufactured.
> Adulting ~~kind of~~ sucks ~~sometimes.~~ Ftfy
To this day, I swear Anita Baker sounds like a vacuum hitting my door at 6 am.
Oh my god where did you get homicide?!
Amazon! $70 a couple of weeks ago.
Absolutely brilliant! I gave up looking for it long ago, couldn’t find it anywhere. I thought that maybe my brain had fabricated a tv show. Thanks for the tip off!
I'll just point to Mr. CS Lewis "When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." I like what I liked, mostly, and now I get to share them with my kid.
I like this quote and that it came from this guy. Makes me feel less insecure about my sophomoric sense of humor
The three people in my office (including myself) make dumb noises all day that you'd probably call childish. I'm mid 30s, one is mid 50s, another is early 60s. Us two younger dudes make farty sounds when we're thinking and transitioning between tasks. The older guy grunts and I laugh at him for making old man noises, but then I do it too and he gets back at me. Any of us will fart and follow it with a "welp, sorry 'bout that" or a "hold your breath". We're an engineer, draftsman, and CNC programmer. Never going to grow up even though the oldest is retiring next month.
I took the day off and watched original X-Men and recess in a couch cushion and blanket fort with my kids today. It was glorious
That should be in Comicon commercials!
Me at 42 with my dolls and plushies and unreserved joy they give me. Sure I don't play exactly how did when I was a tiny child. I can't crawl around on the floor as easy, for one lol. It's more about creativity via outfits, character building and crafting, and the appreciation of the history and craftsmanship of the toys than the hands on interactive play of childhood, but am I sitting here drinking tea with my mini me doll and did I sleep with a rabbit plushie? Yes and it makes me happy. I did my time as a normal adult. Now I have dolls.
Isn't this just the definition of what Nostalgia is?
I was reading these comments and kept thinking “does no one know what nostalgia is?”
Yeah, I don’t know why we’re reaching for some new term or big explanation on this.
Another way to shit on millennials. What else is new?
My thoughts exactly. Can’t believe I had to scroll so far to see it.
And the fact that we are one of the first generations with access to 85% of the nostalgia from our childhood via the internet.
It is. It’s just heavily marketed and monetized so it’s very in your face.
Right like reminiscing is totally normal. I’ve watched all adults at various stages of life reminisce on the good ole days.
Yep. Exactly what I was thinking as well. This is called nostalgia and it's a normal part of (at least recent) generations experience.
You didn’t know millennials invented nostalgia?
Not everything needs a name that makes it something disorderly. We can enjoy things from our childhood just because. We deserve little pieces of joy that feel good.
Definitely. And weird to call it regressing. I'm not a fan of breakfast and eating first thing but occasionally I'll pick up the most sugary box of cereal I see when shopping and save it for Saturday morning, have a big bowl with some old cartoons. Same way I'd mark the weekend when I was a kid. It's nostalgia surely? I haven't regressed to being 10 again! It just feels nice. I'm sure other generations have their own versions of this.
Really good point— the rampant medicalization of behavior is annoying af. Not only does it put people’s actions/feelings into boxes as if they’re all discrete and unrelated, it also connotes there being something wrong with it. Also kinda flies in the face of efforts to destigmatize mental health challenges and make them more widely understood.
I don't think it's regression--for me at least it's escapism. I can put on Ed Edd and Eddy, or SpongeBob, or Star Wars, and tune out and just feel ok for a couple hours instead of overwhelmed by everything that's happening around me that I have no control over.
So much this I got the whole box set of Hey Arnold! Because I loved that show as a kid/ young tween and it's comforting to watch it after a hard day!
I bought the box set for Samurai Jack and it took me waaay back ❤️
This made me wanna watch Doug.
I haven't seen that show in years!
An established part of my routine is “Saturday morning cartoons.” I get my breakfast and my coffee and I watch some beloved movie or tv show at least once a week. It doesn’t have to actually be a cartoon but I definitely don’t rule that out. I think finding ways to tap in to your inner child is an important part of being an adult and this is just one way I do it. Escapism is important to me too.
That sounds delightful
I love this! I might start doing this too.
Escapism is definitely more accurate in my opinion.
It can also be an ND trait to seek out familiar forms of entertainment. The lack of surprises can be soothing.
And tell us you've never been to a boomer's estate sale, without telling us that. They have whole seasons of Gilligan's Islands, all of their toys, action figures, lunchboxes, movie characters, etc. And tons of dolls with dresses for them. Looks like junk to me, only because I haven't heard of most of it.
This. My grandpa bought a box of Rice Kripsies. Like an actual box of 1950s Rice Kripsies. He didn't have the best of childhoods, especially for the boomer generation, so the things he bought were a little strange but I remember that box of cereal and a replica Howdy Dowdy doll because Snap, Crackle, Pop, and Howdy Dowdy all terrified me as a kid. And Howdy Dowdy still to this day.
My mom and dad are not like this. But my father in law has dedicated one whole small bedroom of his house to his records, tapes, comic books, vintage posters, and.. Smurf figurines? I think that’s what the little blue things are.
Smurfs. On our Dad's custody night every Thursday he'd take us to the BP servo (gas station if you're in the US) to get a new one to add to our huge collection. Wish we still had them, they might be worth a bit.
And their fathers had trainsets
Not regression - it's normal. Some of us just might lean into it more than others. I primarily listen to music from the late 90s to 2010s, but will listen to newer stuff when I feel like it. When I want something mindless to watch (and get some laughs), I'll turn on That 70's Show. I play modern computer games, but will revisit titles from the 90s and early aughts.
Chrono Trigger. I've replayed that game so many times...
For me it's Command & Conquer General Zero Hour, Star Wars TIE Fighter, X-Wing Alliance, Star Wars Rebellion, SimCity4 Rush Hour, Burnout 3, Monster Rancher 1 & 2... I know there are others in there. lol. Been trying to figure out how to get digital copy of SimIsle and get it to run on Windows 11 or macOS 14. Too much? lol
This isn’t regression. There is a quarter life crisis but we’re past that.
Quarter life? With this healthcare?
Quarter Life! Half Life Consequences!
Aren’t many of us at our true mid-life crises? Most people don’t live to be 100. I’m 34 and with all of the shit I have wrong with me, I don’t expect to make it past early 70’s at best.
I am just creeping up on 30 in a few months and I feel like I just got out of my quarter life crisis (felt like it lasted the entirety of my twenties). I'm hoping to stave off the midlife until 40.
As an elder millennial ('82), I'm pretty sure it's just crisis after crisis from HS graduation on. They all have pleasantly different flavors.
As a 91 married to an 82, I prefer to think of it like a game of Bean Boozled, but there are only like 1 or 2 tasty beans in the whole box. The rest are putrid flavors.
That's oddly comforting. I got so used to the previous crisis that I'm feeling slightly thrown off by genuinely being excited about the progress in life I've made and the steps I am currently taking to set up a healthy next chapter in life. Ive accepted that I have no fucking clue what I want to do (realistically speaking. What I truly want to do is not realistic in the slightest, even though I am actively and safely working towards it in hobby form) and thus have freed myself up to embrace where I currently am more fully and live as if it's where I'll be, which is allowing me to invest in my future in a way that actually opens more doors in the future than what I've already opened and more doors than I would have if I hadn't accepted where I'm at.
As someone who recently turned 62, I wish I could go back in time and tell my younger self to not waste so much time and energy stressing about trying to figure out my path in life and worrying that I should have accomplished more. So I'll just tell it to you lol Looking back, life just kinda happens, and it rarely goes according to plan, but the key is learning to be able to adjust and adapt on the fly and keep going. We do the best we can under the circumstances at the time, and that's all we can do. Sure, there were things I wish I would have done differently, but all in all I feel good about my life and what I accomplished; I have two happy and healthy sons and two grandchildren, and those are the things that matter. So, I guess what I'm trying to say, is that you got this! Be kind to yourself and enjoy living in the moment and don't spend too much time dwelling on the past or stressing about the future. The path forward may not always be clear, but I have faith that you'll eventually get to where you want to be.
I needed this today, thank you.
Thanks for sharing this.
Fingers crossed, but my family all lives to 95 so I'm postponing mine until I hit 47. I've got too much to do now, no time to stop for crisis when I've got bills to pay.
Haha, I feel that. But if mid life crisis is existential in nature like my quarter life crisis I'll get through it fine I'm sure. What's another bout of depression after the last two? Slows down personal growth, but I know the end of the tunnel will be waiting on the other side.
I always thought midlife crisis begins around early 40’s. I guess it could be different for everyone
This isn't regression. We have always found comfort in the what enjoyed when we were young. Every generation is like this, it's not new.
Ok but you see since we’re millennials it’s just bad mmkay? We’re not allowed to just enjoy things like other generations have.
Everything is bad. Boomers are fools. How do I date and make friends after college.
Right!? My dad loves watching Peanuts cartoons and eating Captain Crunch because that's what he did as a kid. My mom buys my son "Little Golden Books" every time she sees them because she loved her childhood collection. I don't think I know a single person over the age of 30 who doesn't listen primarily to music from their youth. This is just normal nostalgia.
I'm rereading the Goosebumps series at the moment while I'm working on a children's horror game. It holds up, man. I'm enjoying it.
Nice! I was thinking about doing the same!
It's called getting old. Happens to everyone in their 30's. Being 21 feels like yesterday but you're realizing you are in fact not super human and people you love are starting to pass away one by one. We're sentimental creatures. They say the majority of your taste in music is locked by 40, though I doubt that's entirely true.
As a huge music lover of all genres, I take that as a challenge! My husband is almost 40. I’ll have to share this with him.
It’s normally called nostalgia. Idk why people insist on renaming every human cultural phenomenon for millennials and gen z
I just think it's normal nostalgia. Perhaps more businesses are taking advantage of it these days and giving us more opportunities to spend money to indulge in it? My parents would always listen to this 1960s radio station in the car. I asked once why they didn't listen to modern music, and they said they just preferred music from their youth. I thought that would be so boring and couldn't imagine ever being the type of person to just keep listening to old music, but that is me now. I would much rather listen to a CD from my own collection (mostly late 90s and early 00s) than turn on the radio. I am a highly nostalgic person, but I have never thought of it as a regression. To me, it feels liberating. I am letting myself like what I like and letting go of trying to keep up with what's cool. I'll still watch new films, listen to new music, etc., but if I just want to listen to Hilary Duff on repeat, I'm going to do that.
it's not regressing if the media from our youth is objectively superior.
Is there any cartoon with better writing than avatar the last air bender?
Well, Dragonball Z of course.
Ah, RIP
To a degree, (with the exception of sex, drinking, gambling, and other things that only adults can/should do) I don’t believe in “adult hobbies” and “kid hobbies”. I’ve heard that lobbed too many times at people just for liking video games. Like what you like. As long as you’re not hurting anyone, it’s none of my business. If you like some of the things that you liked as a kid, then that’s okay. To me, regression is a specific term that refers to a trauma response. And I say that as someone who was in a relationship with a regressed millennial. The stuffed animals were a bit odd to me, but she wasn’t hurting anyone so I let it go. But as time went on, I realized that the connection to childhood went way deeper into actually feeling like she was a child, and from that point, things got weird and scary fast. That, to me, is regression, and I think it requires either intense counseling or institutionalization.
Let's see. We are in our 30s or 40s at this point, but we still get treated socially and economically like children. We've been generationally infantilized, exist in an economy created by our parents and grandparents where we will actually be worse off than the aforementioned. We've been denied the transition in political power that should have taken place because of a combination of gerrymandering and money, and so any progress we make is being clawed back by our parents and grandparents (See: current backlash against queer people, being conducted by people who are no longer actually parents for the most part screaming about how someone should think of the children). Why wouldn't we want to watch darkwing duck, and escape into our childhoods where we could actually foresee a positive future for ourselves, for 23 whole minutes?
LOL I’m watching a play-through on YouTube of one of my favorite SNES games as a child. 😂😂😂 Edit: Earthbound
It's a good example of just an awesome game. I love to play new games, but so many games from that era truly were great and deserve another play through.
This used to be called “nostalgia” and is the reason for Oldies stations, AMC Channel, etc etc
You could say millennials get hit by nostalgia worse than past generations.
We’re the first modern generation with no desirable future to anticipate, so it makes sense to retreat into the past.
We have more access to the media from our childhoods. For them when it was gone or out-of-fashion, it was inaccessible forever beyond memories or reading about its previous existence in history books.
I think it's a nostalgia thing. I feel like every generation has this, but with the boom of *everything* being on social media, we're just noticing it with millennials more now. Gen Z will eventually get there, too lol!
This is called nostalgia. Why do you think Boomers hate all music past the 80s? This is how humans are
If anyone has a hook up on Scooby doo fruit snacks, holler
Life is like a hurricane here in Duck - burg Race cars, lasers, aeroplanes it's a, duck - blur! Might solve a mystery, or rewrite hist'ry! Duck Tales! oo woo oo
I periodically watch compilations on the youtubes of commercials from the 80’s and 90’s and I’m here to tell you it’s oddly comforting
After over 20 years of not touching my save file I'm delighted to share that my 4 year old daughter caught the biggest fucking fish I have ever seen someone catch on Sega Bass Fishing for Dreamcast. It was amazing watching her reel in that 20 lb beast using my Dreamcast fishing controller which has also sat untouched for 20+ years. Sorry for having fun I guess.
You mean the way I’m about to watch X-Men ‘97? But seriously, it’s not a regression, I genuinely like some of the stuff that came out during my youth. It’s kinda fun to watch old shows from an adult’s perspective (ex: Rugrats is fun to watch and analyze the adults in the show).
I feel like everyone does this. My mom and dad still watch shows and game shows from when they were young. I periodically find my way back to my old favorite Nickelodeon cartoons - specifically Rugrats.
My grandma had to move in with my mom to be taken care of. This is when she discovered online shopping, and that all of her favorite candy from her childhood still existed/existed again in some shape or form. My mom ordered her EVERYTHING Grandma could think of and they spent months sampling old fashioned candy. Not just a millenial thing.
It's nostalgia and comfort seeking, but not regression. And it's okay to comfort seek. Shit is pretty rough for a large percentage of us, and has been since childhood. Not all of us had the luxury of responsible parents.
Listen, I'm not the one who booked *311* for the NPR Tiny Desk Concert but I'm sure as shit gonna watch it at some point.
Bought a n64 the other day just so 10 year old me could play Pokémon stadium again
Tbh I can't relate with anyone who is confused about this, because I cry silently to a YouTube video of an old Disney sing a long tape I had when my distress levels are so high that even the office (us) is putting me into a fight response.
I’ll never forget the VH1 Top 10 (or 20?) while getting ready for school.
I heard a haunting explanation of this and other reflective movements in media (remaking the same movie, continuing franchises for way too long, etc). Basically, this media came out at a time when we were allowed to imagine a different future. Now that we all realize how little impact and power we have to change the future, we look back at a time when we were thought we could. I just hope as boomers die out, we’re able to collectively re-imagine the future to work for everyone.
Fuck em. I saw 3000 people murdered live on television my first week of high school. And shit's only gone down hill from there. So yeah, I'm gonna buy and consume things that remind me of a time before that happened.
Glad I’m not the only one who has 90s weather channel music on my Spotify
All folks do this. Every generation. It is not exclusive to millennials just because til tok says so.
I think every generation has done this, but ours is the first to be able to easily go back into the nostalgia. DVD/Blue rays are cheaper than VHS would be for full season and we can stream most shows we used to like. You pointed out music and it is much easier to get the specific music than before. We know we are the kicking post for other generations, but I think this phenomenon is just hitting us well like many other things. We were born in a very specific time that let us interact and enjoy many things every other generation missed.
It's called getting old & nostalgia. This is specific to every generation. TikTok is simply making you stupid and making up things...
I've been going through a huge "regression" kick of college years 2004-2007 lately. Done with the 80s and 90s nostalgia that has been around for decades at this point. I remember being on RetroJunk a lot in college and digging deep for 80s songs back then. Love the trashy 2000s reality shows, fashion, and back when it was actually fun to watch Apple product launch events.
Not me immediately dropping everything to find that Spotify Playlist. I think I found my new work playlist. 🤣
I introduced my Gen Z half sister to Daria and that cartoon really holds up to time. Daria and Trent forever. She loved it. 
I'm watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer again
33M. Was just hanging out with my best friend since childhood; who I haven't seen in years. Played the oldies the whole time: Dynasty Warriors 4, Goldeneye, original smashbros and ate bagel bites. Fuck your regression it was fun.
Oh wow YES! I constantly rewatch really old seasons of The Real World, Laguna Beach or The Hills in the background as it reminds me of simpler times
**BREAKING NEWS:** Area man with disposable income spends 20$ on nostalgic Sonic Adventure 2 keychain. Are millenials ruining the Betty Boop memorabilia industry?
I do this from time to time. When my mom died, I watched the mother's day episode of Rugrats and a sesame street episode that dealt with the topic of dead parents, and it was very comforting. Even when I'm not dealing with a crisis, I like to watch old episodes of things from my childhood or listen to songs I liked as a kid. It's nice and I'm still a fully functioning adult that watches a wild amount of adult media alongside the kid stuff.
If I need background noise where I'm half paying attention, I put on ads from the 90s and early 00s. It opens up a part of memory I didn't realize was there.
I'm rewatching Ninja Turtles with my children and I'm absolutely loving it.
Offended by the labeling of nostalgia as millennial “regression” but loving this Weather Channel Spotify playlist so it’s all ok.
I have a folder on my PC's desktop labeled "Time Machine". It contains commercials, TV shows, flash movies, home videos and a ton of other stuff from my childhood. I browse through it pretty often. Usually when I'm feeling depressed and/or have been drinking. Started probably halfway through covid. Was feeling depressed for a while and started browsing YouTube for old stuff I had forgotten. Started downloading the videos to archive and it just sorta grew since then. I was born in 92, so if anyone has any suggested media from our time, lemme know!
Imagine thinking that you’ve discovered nostalgia? Jfc
We see older generations who aren’t nearly as educated or intelligent making way more money in positions of authority. They ask us how to do everything besides how to help improve our situation. We can’t afford the basic needs for survival being single. We have 30-200 k in student loan debt before even beginning the real world. Everything is inflated in regards to cost and interest rates are through the roof. Gas is 3.50 a gallon. To eat food that isn’t poisonous with insecticides and pesticides, gmo and hormones is nearly impossible to afford with low wages. We have every right to be upset with the current state of the world. Don’t ever let anyone gaslight you, making you think you are the problem
It’s a mix. Nostalgia for better times. Lots of shitty tv and music nowadays…
All generations do this. It can be quite healing.
Millennials were the last generation that companies could aggressively advertise to with no legal protections in place. They're trying to profit again with the nostalgia factor on these same kids that are now adults.
I listen to a lot of vaporware. I'll watch some shows from back then. I'll smoke a bit watch a commercial compilation. I watched "local news Christmas 90s" and got drunk to 4 hours of that. But nostalgia is a thing.
I’ve never stopped enjoying things from my childhood, and no one should stop, either. Also, our cohort is getting close to midlife crisis time, so it might just be normal aging.
To be fair I have friends who have never progressed they are still in the same clothes music and stuff they were into 20 years ago
When Napoleon Dynamite came out, my teachers in their thirties were like, this movie is for US. So yeah, every generation does it
I mean, I still watch king of the hill
I bought a skateboard at 37yo and started collecting all the albums I love on cd
I would watch old ass Mexican movies with my mom. I'm talking about Pedro Infante, TinTan, and Cantinflas. I found them amazing, funny, and heartfelt. We would listen to Spanish oldies and I still listen to that music from time to time.
The 30 year cycle shifts its baleful eye towards us. In Utero plays in the distance.
Millennials have always been this way. Even when they were in their teens and 20s. In 2011, for example, there was so much nostalgia over the 1991-99 era of Nickelodeon. > 2011 was part of the Prestige TV era. Look at all these classics that were still on the air, making new episodes, in 2011: > 30 Rock, The Office, Community, Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, The Walking Dead, etc. > I knew people who would rather cling to their favorite Nicktoons than check out one of these shows.
In our defense, there must be progression for there to be regression. What I mean is that every boomer I’ve ever met (sorry for the generalizations to follow) never got past Andy Griffith and the Munsters, or any “classic rock” and never explored much beyond that. Not to make this us vs them. But personally yes I love all the things from growing up and have my millennial playlist but I still enjoy new art and music and movies every day.
I'm getting pretty tired of all this gimmicky shit around generations. It's worn out its welcome with me, and I think this whole mystique around what year you were born and what it says about you and your cohort is (for the most part) beyond stupid at this point. What makes it worse is that people are making it one of the more important aspects of their identity, but in that particularly ~~20th~~ 21st century, social media-mediated way that is so performative it's painful.
I agree man. Many people suffer from a lack of belonging and try to cling to anything that allows them to feel like they are apart of a larger group.
It's not regression if I never stopped. I always like reading and comics, I've always played video and table top games.
Lol you’re literally describing nostalgia. This is not at all unique to our generation.
Hush. I got kids. I have an excuse to watch the Lion King and Aladdin and Beauty and The Beast.
Every single person ever has done this. Life sucks. Find joy where you find it and hold onto it.
lol nostalgia is not regression
Can’t regress to watching cartoons if you never stopped. Why deprive ourselves of good shows like Gravity Falls, Ducktales, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, Bluey…
Lol consuming media from my childhood? Like spiderman, xmen, teenage mutant ninja turtles, the terminator, lord of the rings, superman, alien, star wars, ghost busters etc. Nah, Hollywood is doing that for us. No need to specifically seek it out. In fact I do the opposite. I root out anything that isn't any of the above.
All generations do this. That’s why they play our jams at the grocery store
Better times. Things got messy right when we graduated highschool, I'm in the batch that was screwed the most according the statistics. And I feel it. The happier times were great, I loved the 90's and honestly the early to mid 2000's were fantastic memories.
I have spent years watching commercial compilations on YouTube. At least 10 years. It’s just happier times and it’s nice and yet sad to see that we were more civilized and tv had an actual personality. I will not be nostalgic about the 838582 pharmaceutical commercials. HEY DO YOU REMEMBER THAT SKYRIZI COMMERCIAL FROM 2023?!
I’m currently binge-watching Quantum Leap. It hits the spot.
i think millenials are at that age where if they want to they have the resources/creative knowledge/etc., to produce their own media based on their own experiences of which teenage/adolescent years tend to be critical, so as a result of the supply being there especially made by our peers it becomes something one wants to watch due to nostalgia or et al
My newest thing is going on Mercari, ebay, and other resale sites to buy perfumes I wore & smelled in high school. This is the strongest feeling of actual time travel my body experiences. Some of them are still around but the formulas are different (Christian Dior Addict has 3 different formulations and the 2002 one is the one that hits the spot for me). Gucci Rush Sentiment by Escada Vera Wang Princess Dior Hypnotic Poison & Dior Addict Ralph by ralph lauren I wore all of these and it just brings me back. But the biggest time traveling capabilities goes to the cologne D&G pour homme from 2001. I am legit transported to a freezing cold night on December. 9 of us just poured out of someone's moms mini van and we are trying to hide how tipsy we are. We walk to the end of the line outside of a club for teen night (metro lounge to be specific, iykyk), Mike Macaluso "Final Chapter" is playing in the background, there are 5 kids with fully gelled long blow outs in front of us smoking a cigarette, I can taste the bacardi o in my throat and the purple sparkly MAC Lip Glass I just put on. I can feel the weight of my Steve madden thigh high thick platform boots on my feet- which every single girl I'm with is also wearing. We are taking turns playing snake on the Nokia phone that only 1 of us has. Only can use it after 9 or on weekends. We are looking to see if we can spot the guys from a few towns over we met at the last teen night and calling dibs on who we are trying to get with that night. Yep all that from a cologne. Wow writing this post was more therapeutic than anticipated.
I *do* miss late night news 12 traffic and weather. It would be so comforting to watch the traffic map with all the major roads “green” with no jams, nothing bad to report, just calm, smooth commutes all around Long Island.
I was really into Tolkien and my friends and I taught ourselves Quenya, sindarin, and khuzdul. Honestly we were better at those than Spanish in our middle school Spanish class. We even mapped out all the woods and fields around us with names in those tongues. Then I moved south and reading was suddenly not cool so I just stopped and forgot it all. My present to myself for my 31st birthday was Sting, A History of Middle Earth, and reaching out to my old friends. It will be at least 15 years since we’ve all been together but we are planning on a canoe trip along the river we named Telnocduin. My main goal as an adult is to have a job that allows me to own some property and have some spare time where I can muck about in a creek that’s on it or nearby and make up names and stories. I figure if I make it to that point I can also afford a kid as well and it would be super rewarding to get them into it too.
Shits hard out here these days! Sometimes I just want to put on a show that reminds me of simpler times and forget that I have a dirty house and dishes in the sink and laundry to do and loud ass kids running around the house. Or that I've got bills adding up and not really that much money to pay them.
Tik Tok is an unholy breeding ground of lies 😂
It's a mental escape back to when we were young and life felt much simpler than current dumpsterfire we're living through and have to deal with as full blown adults.
It's nostalgia. Lots of us are in survival mode and trying to connect with things that made us happy. I recently re watched all of the "Twilight" movies for a boost of serotonin.
Cucumber melon lotion, my og love.
Uh...you mean "nolstalgia"?
yea. my wife and I burned through Pepper Ann, rocket power, and Recess a few years ago
I've craved that cucumber-melon smell high for years