30 Times People Were So Blinded By Their Own Nostalgia, The Internet Called Them Out For It (New Pics)
Interview
Ah, The Good Old Days(™)! A time when everything was (allegedly) better: the music, the food, and even the fabric of society. Though… which era are we talking about, specifically? For some, it might be the ‘70s and ‘80s. For others, it’s the ‘90s and early 2000s. While others yearn to live a century or two ago, periods they never experienced firsthand.
Nostalgia is great in small doses, but too much of it can make you miss the beauty of the present. The r/lewronggeneration subreddit is a witty online community that is “dedicated to satirically mocking” folks who are completely and utterly “blinded by their own nostalgia.” We’ve collected some of their most cringeworthy posts to show you how many people wear rose-colored glasses to an unhealthy extent.
Bored Panda got in touch with the team that runs r/lewronggeneration, and one of the moderators, u/oh_dangit, was kind enough to answer our questions. Read on to see what they told us.
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J’accuse!
Like Three People Will Get This
Well, I'm one (I grew up with cassette tapes). So.... who are the other two here?
Inverse Reversal
I found my dad's old Gameboy today. Sad thing is it doesn't work, but his gamestar does
We were interested to get the moderator's take on why the r/lewronggeneration subreddit has seen so much success over the years. "I think that the anti-nostalgia baiting message that is attached to the subreddit and has been there since its inception resonates with a lot of people who don't have strong feelings of nostalgia for one thing or another," u/oh_dangit told Bored Panda.
"One of the core beginnings was based on music; such as people who becry musicians nowadays for creating their own sound and making it unique to themselves," they said.
We were also curious to find out more about what it's like to moderate an online community of this size. According to u/oh_dangit, being a moderator mostly "comes down to dealing with spam and people leaving comments that break rules."
Not Sure If This Has Been Thrown Around Before But I Think It Belongs Here
Romantic music then: Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down Romantic music now: Yummy yummy yummy yummy (no offense, I just wanted to rickroll)
🦓
they did what they wanted around the world and created so the terrorists----
I Got No Words
Remember when: What other people might think of us controlled our lives.
They added: "Though there is a lot of reposting since heaps of [stuff] like this is reposted constantly. Maybe in the past, when there were more actual posts and popular posts, I think that there'd be far more time committed to moderating," they said that the times have changed a bit.
The moderator also shared their thoughts on where the line is when someone's become far too immersed in nostalgia: "Looking too much towards the past will only hurt your perspective towards the future," they said.
The r/lewronggeneration community has been going strong for nearly a decade now. Founded in mid-August of 2013, the sub has grown to house over 300k members since that time.
According to the moderator team running the whole show, the subreddit itself was created out of annoyance over the ‘born in the wrong generation’ that fans of ‘60s and ‘70s rock often express. So there’s a special emphasis on music on r/lewronggeneration, but other forms of nostalgia are welcome, too, from other forms of media to societal trends.
Kids Today Are So Stupid
Ah yes, because every young person is eating tide pods these days, definitely not just a small number of stupid people
Never Realised You Had To Listen To Modern Music, And That Statements Just Blatantly Untrue
That’s Probably Not The Flex You Think It Is…
Breaking news: teens of EVERY generation (yes, it’s true. Some generations worse than others) break the rules, do drugs, drink, cheat, push boundaries, swear, screw, steal, lie etc. You all did at least one of those things, and probably knew someone that did it all. That’s just what teens do, test waters, figuring c**p out, rebelling. It’s just a fact. The only thing that really matters is getting past it all and coming out the other end a sane, healthy, law abiding, loving, kind, well adjusted adult. THATS what’s worth bragging about and being proud of.
The mods ask the members to post images and videos that fit the spirit of the subreddit. In short, the content should be focused on “quasi-nostalgic attitudes, often with a sense of superiority.” However, posts can’t have anyone’s identifying information displayed in them, whether that’s actual names or internet usernames. The point is to gently mock over-the-top nostalgia, not the individuals themselves.
Moreover, members of r/lewronggeneration ought to avoid posting content that they created themselves. Meanwhile, if anyone’s in the mood for some satire, they’re welcome to go for it, but they have to add the ‘Satire’ flair to make it clear to everyone else.
In the meantime, everyone’s asked to be civil, and polite, and to “keep the elitism at the door.” While disagreements are perfectly fine (and, if we’re honest, completely unavoidable on the internet), calling other users names and insulting them is way over the line. What’s more, the mods frown upon low-effort posts, redditors who spam memes, and repost irresponsibly.
Quite Literally
We Are Not The Same
Men Today No Longer Want To Break Free
Valentina Stoycheva Ph.D. explains in a post on Psychology Today that nostalgia can lead to unhelpful behaviors and have negative consequences when taken to an extreme.
“The difference between helpful and harmful nostalgia is the difference between incorporating the positive emotions of reminiscing into the present versus renouncing the present for the sake of reinstating and perpetually reliving some moment in the past,” she writes.
Those Were Ye Good Ol' Days
Man, Boomers Who Post [things] Like This Completely Forgot The Message Of The Breakfast Club
![Man, Boomers Who Post [things] Like This Completely Forgot The Message Of The Breakfast Club](https://www.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/blinded-by-their-own-nostalgia-posts-14-64a28c0142b5b__700.jpg "Man, Boomers Who Post [things] Like This Completely Forgot The Message Of The Breakfast Club")
Modern Cartoons Suck Now
In Stoycheva’s opinion, overindulging in nostalgia is similar to overusing salt or pepper in your dishes, leading to the present being “colored by the negative emotions, in favor of glorifying some moment in the past.” There’s a need for balance here so that nostalgia doesn’t consume someone’s life.
Is This Welcome Here?
I don't understand why people turn "generation bashing" into a sport. Every younger generation loses some skill, knowledge or experience that the older generation had, but they gain something new. It's always been that way. Every younger generation becomes the older generation. Time is a river. Appreciate the journey.
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Just as it's ridiculous to characterise all 'kids today' as lazy and privileged, so it's ridiculous to characterise all 'boomers' as selfish and perversely didactic.
Yeah, there's no good stereotype. Would be helpful if people could get into the habit of adding "some" or "many" to these things. Such a small thing could have a big impact on the downright scary levels of anger everywhere these days.
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Boomer here….never took drugs, never glorified war as my father spent six years fighting Hitler,. Kids were always disrespectful to the previous generation. You guys didn’t invent it. 🤨🤪
Actually, even during the 60s, there were hundreds of thousands of teens who weren't hippies and went the conservative route. Today there are two types of boomers: those conservatives that make life a pain for the rest of us and the used-to-be hippies that still don't believe in war and are still fighting for all our rights 60 years later.
And used to be hippies that don't care so much anymore or never did actually care about politics or social issues and don't vote or know nothing and vote conservative anyway.
Load More Replies... I an a late to the party boomer born in 1958. I must say that I am personally shocked by how the old boomers have done 180 degree turn from their beliefs when they were young.
Same. Born in 1964 so among the last of the boomers. I don't really like being lumped in with the rest of the older boomers. I don't share their values at all.
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I am a boomer today. I have never heard any boomer say that. What I DO say though is at least for USA kids I feel like they would benefit from spending a few months in another country, particularly a less well off country - so they would have a greater appreciation for stuff they take for granted.
How about lne of the many countries better than ours. America likes to ACT like it's a bastion of freedom but it's not how come you guys always only bring up the worse countries and not the dozens of better?
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I have yet to hear a boomer say kids should kill in wars, and I believe right back to the turn of civilisation that elders demand respect. You get back what you give.
Happens practically on a daily basis here at BP. If you're over 60, you're worse than Hitler. Especially if you're white, male and American.
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I think it is pretty much a sure bet that noone who was anti war in the 60s and 70s is going around saying that young people should go off to war today.
It's the Boomers who never went to war, or perhaps not have ever joined the military, who think the youth should be forced to join the military and go to war. I also think they just say c**p like that because they're miserable.
It just wouldn't be BP if they didn't get in a dig at Grandma and Grandpa, would it?
Which maybe they deserve sometimes? By the way, I am 59 years old this month. But I am realistic because boomers, like every generation, has gotten things wrong.
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They're ignoring Boomers in the 70s, they were called the "Me Generation" then. Plenty of those Boomers are still around, only concerned about themselves. Yeah, I'm looking at you, Dad.
People are using "boomer" as a synonym of "old", but it actually refers to a specific group.
The thing is, this happens with every generation. My mother's parents (born in the 1910s) lamented what my mom did coming of age in the '50s. The cycle repeated with my siblings when they came of age in the '70s and then with me in the '90s (my mom hated it when I rebelled and stopped listening to country music 24/7 and grew hair on my chin and listening to Metallica). Now? I find myself doing the same thing from time to time. I miss the '90s. We didn't label everything. One day the next generation will say they don't want labels and the current generation will yell at them for it.
Frank Zappa, born 5 years before the baby boom: “We’re Turning Again” rips Boomers pretty hard. Zappa smacks Gen X with “Tinsel Town Rebellion” and “Valley Girl”
I know, the opportunity for power often f***s people up.
"I had to walk to school, uphill, both ways, in the snow, was no shoes on!"
My dad would tell me this and in his small hometown you could see the school from my grandma's house 3 blocks away. When I made the 2 mile walk home in high school he'd just tell me I was young and it was good for me.
Load More Replies...Fyi - The Thing On The Right Is A Pencil Sharpener And The Thing On The Left Is A Pencil
The funny thing is, I seem to still be using these untensils now....
"Cars Now Don't Have Any Character"
Some individual examples where people go overboard with nostalgia include getting excessive plastic surgery in order to create the illusion of youth, hoarding things, and using social media to track down their ex-partners. On a societal level, overindulging in nostalgia can lead to people glorifying their historical past without acknowledging the collective traumas of the past.
For Reelz
Damn :((
Vintage Le Wrong Generation
Nostalgia, according to Stoycheva, is focused on simplicity rather than complexity, so it can backfire as an emotional regulatory strategy because the world itself is so complex. According to her, this can be countered by coming face to face with our own biases and beliefs and tackling uncomfortable feelings of shame and longing.
Ah The 80s, You Know The Time When You Could Make Real Friends And Walk Around Not Being Scared
They're All On Cocaine
Of Course All The Comments Were Saying "Sad But True"
Stoycheva suggests that everyone who’s feeling nostalgic for an activity, a period of time, and people to ask themselves these questions: “What emotion am I after? In engaging in nostalgia, what former self-state am I seeking to recreate? How will this help me and also how can I stay rooted in the present while I also feel the positive emotions of reminiscing? Am I avoiding complex emotions? If so, what are they, and why are they so hard for me? Where else can I seek help in managing my emotions?”
I Too Am Absolutely Horrified By Men On Scooters
In 79 a young adult could afford a clunker and it was simple enough to fix up. Today it might be 1 scooter is all the two could afford.
"Why Aren't Soldiers Like My Hollywood Heroes"
Today's Generation Is Lazy
As a Gen Xer, I disagree with this. I know people like to portray the Millennials and Gen Z like this, but it's nonsense. My generation got hosed. But nothing like these generations have. I admire how they don't take c**p from companies and challenge the idea of "work hard and you'll get ahead". The truth is their is a natural reaction to companies exploiting them. And all you need to do is open your eyes and you will see it. The model businesses operate under now demands that kind of response. They broke the social contract between between companies and workers. And they did it in a deceptive manner. Pensions, healthcare, and social security are a few examples. They made sure to take care of the Boomers so they wouldn't call foul and let Gen X & Y work old school style without the rewards. And we were too inexperienced to see it. From the time I turned 18 I have seen home costs jump from $30k for a house to $350k. While the federal minimum wage went from $2.35 to $7.25. Insane.
In the meantime, Bored Panda has previously written about how people tend to be the most nostalgic for those periods of time when they were happiest. For many, that’s their childhood because they had fewer responsibilities. However, if someone had an awful childhood, you most likely won’t find them reminiscing about that period of time.
Though nostalgia can be a good coping strategy when you’re feeling blue, it can interfere with our daily lives. For instance, if we constantly compare the present to the past and feel like nothing ever measures up in terms of values and quality, then we’ll feel disappointed.
Quirky
So We've Come To This Now
Bruh
It’s vital to remember that our memories aren’t perfect: they’re not as accurate as we might think and we might be reliving only the moments we want to remember. Meanwhile, the present has many opportunities to be seized, even if the world has changed and will continue to change.
For some more posts about nostalgia and r/lewronggeneration, check out Bored Panda's earlier feature over here.
Being Against Racial Slurs ≠ Soft Generation
Can’t believe they’re not letting us use racial slurs anymore ffs, let’s go back to the good old days of getting away with racism and not learning and growing as people! /s
Got That Right ....!!!
weird that the best music off all time has allways been written in your puberty
Johnny Is Looking At You Snl ...craig Ferguson
Does This Count As Lewronggeneration?
As much as I love modern games I find myself looking for more 'pick up put down' games where you don't have to save them. Ones that entertain but you can just switch off...like Snake
Is It Considered Lewwronggeneration?
Yeah….no
Gentlemen .... This Is Not Xbox Rock Band
So Many Ways To Debunk This
Feel Free To Repost
I mean, I'm gen X but the lower comment definitely applies to me. My job has pretty much already disappeared due to AI and I have a family to feed (and a mother who wonders why the French are kicking up a stink about their pension rights).
The Wwe Wasn't Like This Picture Until The Late 1990's
After that whole WWE vs WCW and ECW takeover, I kinda lost interest. By that point wrestling had peaked for me after watching it since I old enough to change the channel. Macho man, Ultimate Warrior, The Rock before he became the rock, DX are all now memories seared into my brain.
There Are No Bricklayers Under The Age Of 50 Apparently
I Think He'd Still Be Considered A Psychopath Today
Anyone else who is an introvert hate it when you get these shows about killers and the first thing the experts say is "They were a loner, kept themselves away from others, had no friends, rarely socialised "
Dang Kids And Their Healthy Lungs!
Normal... Happier
Ahhh Yes. That Recent Development Of Cheating
Things People Complained About In The 2000s-Early 2010s But Now Love
This Has 4.2k Upvotes And Counting
Doesn’t Matter What Year It Is , Always Happens
More Of This From R/Cartoons
Ticktock App Bad, Brain Trauma Good
Aww Yes, Simple Plan Was The Height Of Early 2000s Music
The whole early 2000s pop punk is the best, New Found Glory, Sum 41, Good Charlotte, Blink 182, Green Day just to name a few. I still listen to them daily!
Todays “Music”
Comment On A Morrissey Video…
"I was looking to be a n*b and then I became a n*b and heaven knows I'm miserable now."
Born In The Wrong Generation
No Title
🤦🏾♂️
Not Even Giving It A Chance Bruh
These People Are Common In The Gaming Community. At Least Someone Called Her Out
"The Patrick Star Show" Became A Top Rated Show. Their Reaction? This
Apparently Writing Notes Is No Longer A Thing
R/Memes Be Like
This Person Is Being Edgy For The Sake Of Being Edgy
And This Meme Is Trying To Make The She-Ra Then Look Like A Positive
Does This Fit?
This is less about nostalgia but more of the "Them V Us" conflicts that really should not be happening. History has taught us this time after time and yet it still happens.
I hate these nostalgia memes and I'm a middle-aged man. I love a bit of nostalgia but I hate the way it is weaponised to make younger generations seem bad. It's just dumb. Every generation complains about "kids today" while simultaneously contributing to the culture they are complaining about. Hate modern movies? How old do you think the studio execs are? Hate the internet? How old do you think the people who run TikTok (and benefit most financially) are?
"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers." --Socrates
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This thread... It's bad. Whoever thought it was a good idea to post should feel bad...
This thread sucks... and also, why did I get downvoted for saying I liked the art style of the GoldenEye game?
There's a lot of bigotry that BP calls nostalgia in many of these posts.
Sheesh, this article sucked. It was pretty much young people bad, old people good. This was a waste of an article.
New rule! Anyone who does some sort of "Blah Blah Blah.... We are not the same" whinge gets an instant swift kick in the shins so that they actually have some real and legitimate pain to whine about.
Your name is Marno, my name is Marco. We are not the same.
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Yes. That is exactly what happens to most people and there's nothing you can do to stop it. It's all perfectly normal, unfortunately.
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wow what a wonderfully hateful article. keep it up! /s
Couldn't even make it through the whole list. Griping about how "things were so much better at (insert time in the past)" is boring, depressing, predictable and stupid. YOUR parents said the same thing about your generation. So just stop.
Remember that it's good to look back and reminisce every now and then, but people often start romanticizing the past because maybe their present isn't looking all that great and their future brings a lot of uncertainty. I get it, life seemed much simpler and less complicated back then compared to today. But, they start having a distorted view of the past while both ignoring problems of the past while currently ignoring the present.
The one about "vibrant LA chicks" is a picture of the three girls who were part of the Manson family and involved in killing a senator's wife.
The title says that this is about seeing the past through rose-colored glasses, and forgetting about the bad stuff. That's what the title says, but that's not what the list is about. Like, at all.
As a boomer (born when Truman was president) all of this nostalgia nonsense is nonsense. Times are better now, even with all of the current drama. In 30 years people will be talking just as nostalgically about the 2010s.
Generational politics does not equal nostalgia. It amounts to bigotry and stereotyping which helps no one.
I was hoping (as the title suggests) to see the internet calling out the misplaced nostalgia... not just the misplaced nostalgia posts
The posts on BP are getting steadily worse.
Load More Replies... This is less about nostalgia but more of the "Them V Us" conflicts that really should not be happening. History has taught us this time after time and yet it still happens.
I hate these nostalgia memes and I'm a middle-aged man. I love a bit of nostalgia but I hate the way it is weaponised to make younger generations seem bad. It's just dumb. Every generation complains about "kids today" while simultaneously contributing to the culture they are complaining about. Hate modern movies? How old do you think the studio execs are? Hate the internet? How old do you think the people who run TikTok (and benefit most financially) are?
"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers." --Socrates
Load More Replies... This thread... It's bad. Whoever thought it was a good idea to post should feel bad...
This thread sucks... and also, why did I get downvoted for saying I liked the art style of the GoldenEye game?
There's a lot of bigotry that BP calls nostalgia in many of these posts.
Sheesh, this article sucked. It was pretty much young people bad, old people good. This was a waste of an article.
New rule! Anyone who does some sort of "Blah Blah Blah.... We are not the same" whinge gets an instant swift kick in the shins so that they actually have some real and legitimate pain to whine about.
Your name is Marno, my name is Marco. We are not the same.
Load More Replies... Yes. That is exactly what happens to most people and there's nothing you can do to stop it. It's all perfectly normal, unfortunately.
Load More Replies... wow what a wonderfully hateful article. keep it up! /s
Couldn't even make it through the whole list. Griping about how "things were so much better at (insert time in the past)" is boring, depressing, predictable and stupid. YOUR parents said the same thing about your generation. So just stop.
Remember that it's good to look back and reminisce every now and then, but people often start romanticizing the past because maybe their present isn't looking all that great and their future brings a lot of uncertainty. I get it, life seemed much simpler and less complicated back then compared to today. But, they start having a distorted view of the past while both ignoring problems of the past while currently ignoring the present.
The one about "vibrant LA chicks" is a picture of the three girls who were part of the Manson family and involved in killing a senator's wife.
The title says that this is about seeing the past through rose-colored glasses, and forgetting about the bad stuff. That's what the title says, but that's not what the list is about. Like, at all.
As a boomer (born when Truman was president) all of this nostalgia nonsense is nonsense. Times are better now, even with all of the current drama. In 30 years people will be talking just as nostalgically about the 2010s.
Generational politics does not equal nostalgia. It amounts to bigotry and stereotyping which helps no one.
I was hoping (as the title suggests) to see the internet calling out the misplaced nostalgia... not just the misplaced nostalgia posts
The posts on BP are getting steadily worse.
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