As a child of the 80s, there are countless things from my childhood that I have simply forgotten. Whether it’s from the inundation of products in today’s world or my depreciating memory as I get older, remembering things from being a kid tends to get hard and harder as time goes by.
Of course, we all have those moments when we are cleaning the house and come across our favorite oldies but goodies–a.k.a. high school letters and yearbooks, photos with out-of-date hairstyles/fashions, gimp key chains, and maybe even a sweet mix tape or two.
It’s amazing how the mind works. Certain things from our past tend to create a sense of nostalgia for us, or a sentimentality towards the past that is typically associated with happiness. And the objects bringing about these “remembered” feelings, in turn, become responsible for taking us back to that time and out of the present. Your mind goes “back in the day” and your body stays here, so to speak.
While this may seem normal for a lot of us, especially in terms of childhood recollections, psychology tends to write off nostalgia as simply being “stuck in the past.” Studies show that the people experiencing nostalgia the most are those with fewer social ties in the present; it can, in a sense, counteract feelings of loneliness. This means that perceiving the “memory” as being better than the actual event may be a defense mechanism to overcome feelings of loneliness. The simplest example of this would be feeling homesick when you are out of town.
I, for one, enjoy trips down memory lane! Nostalgic instances in my life remind me of the good times I had as a kid and where I come from. And I’m Remembering! is a site that can truly help others of the 80′s and 90′s generation stroll down memory lane.
Who remembers Discovery Zone? Lite Brite? The Babysitters Club? The California Raisins? Shrinky Dinks? It’s all coming back, right? The I’m Remembering site posts random pictures on the regular to help create this sense of nostalgia for us.
What’s so bad about vivid memories, anyways? Sure, it can create a type of detachment from reality; but are reminders of the pop-culture from your childhood really that bad?
Sometimes, a mental visit to the past can give us warm fuzzies, bring us back to a good time in our lives; they give us hope that if things are terrible now, it is always possible to get to that happy place again. Sure, life as a kid is as simplistic as it comes. And while we were so busy worrying about what we would have to trade for lunch at school, our concerns at that point were really nothing but trivial.
As long as we don’t get lost in our memories, and remain present at the end of the day, a little nostalgia really can’t hurt; it’s just got to be kept in check!
And besides, who can honestly say no to reruns of Saved By the Bell, 90210, and Growing Pains anyways?
