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Deep inside our brains is an ocean of memories, emotions, and feelings that can be unlocked by the correct application of sights, smells, and sounds. Without warning, the theme song of a childhood cartoon or the smell of that one aisle in the corner store by your house can teleport you to another time. It might feel like magic, but nostalgia is a very real phenomenon.
The “Nostalgia” Instagram account is pretty self-explanatory, showcasing content that should be like a healthy blast from the past, both funny and relatable. So prepare for a little trip in time, upvote the images that unlocked some memories, and share your thoughts in the comment section below.
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Because nostalgia focuses so much on memories of how things used to be, both real and imagined, it’s important to keep track of what is a cherished memory and what is a specific, focused-tested set of concepts put together to evoke a specific memory. As cynical as it might seem, politicians, movements and advertisers are all wise to the idea of nostalgia as a method to manipulate people.
The “return to the good, old days” is a common promise for many politicians, and many products will try to associate themselves with potential consumers’ childhoods. Little reminders of childhood do often come with a comforting wave of emotions, just make sure that you don’t let people hijack it to sell you anything.
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That being said, it is a real and verifiable fact that nostalgia can provide a good amount of comfort through times of sadness and uncertainty. Psychologists believe that in certain “doses,” it’s actually pretty important to our mental health. Think of it this way, when current circumstances don’t provide joy, your brain has this nifty little ability to just reach into the past and scoop up things that made you happy before. There might be diminishing returns, but hey, it’s a start.
To maintain the metaphor of nostalgia-as-medication, it is possible to “take” too much. After all, if you feel the past was too good, you might end up longing just to return instead of focusing on the present. The Germans, as always, have a term for this, called “Sehnsucht,” which you can now use as a complicated and pretentious way to talk about longing, desire, yearning, and craving.
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Canadian Cobra Chickens 2 years ago
I'm convinced that if you didn't, you didn't have a childhood. Change my mind.
The origin of “Sehnsucht” (capitalized because the Germans capitalize every noun) is “suffering,” which is ultimately what someone would probably feel if they have trapped themselves in the thought that things will never be as good as they used to be. However, some psychologists believe that over time, this emotion can help a person start to develop and plan out the steps to actually improve things.
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Lady Snowfall 2 years ago
Ah yes, the shin shredders. If your foot slipped off of one of those puppies, it was immediate blood and pain and bandaids and getting your leg doused in hydrogen peroxide and triple bac.
Once you realize the potential of tapping into the past to draft people’s emotions, you might start to see how it’s used everywhere. You might notice that the Instagram logo is, in fact, a drawing of a Polaroid, despite the fact that 99% of the userbase are probably using a smartphone. But somehow, an old camera seems more special and emotional than the many, smaller and often more powerful cameras we carry in our pockets every day.
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And speaking of social media, you have probably seen how, for example, Meta products like Facebook and the aforementioned Instagram have “memory” functions that will randomly show you images from the past, normally on their one-year anniversary. This could of course be a bit misguided, as many people have documented randomly getting images from an illness or a breakup a year ago.
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Heleen the Feline Panda 2 years ago
I still do this when I forget to bring along my cellphone to the toilet 😬
Other companies do their best to tap into this feeling as well. The Nokia 3310 phone was legendary for a variety of reasons, but it seems its reputation for being indestructible goes beyond the physical, as the company relaunched it in 2017. The phone seems like stone-age technology compared to any random smartphone from the last few years, but people do want to relive that two-tone snake game and the feeling of pressing some buttons.
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Tuesday's child 2 years ago
Not a 90s kid, but I still had to learn this. I barely know my times tabels but I do know how to play 'hot cross buns' on the recorder 😁
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Grudge-holding Treefrog 2 years ago
The metal one at my elementary school had a 2 foot drop at the end. It was very dangerous, but so much fun! (Very few burns because of catholic school dress code)
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Upstaged75 2 years ago
Those plastic jugs of brightly colored sugar water! I never saw them in anyone's home - they only showed up at school or parties.
“Stranger Things” is another case-in-point, where much of the appeal is an idealized image of the 80s, alongside many of the tropes and cliches of 80s children's movies, such as the iconic “ET.” The show was a brilliant move by Netflix, as it managed to both attract gen x viewers who wanted to relive a past era while simultaneously creating nostalgia among younger viewers, a sort of self-perpetuating false memory of the past.
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Channo Sagara 2 years ago
All i remember is my rage tapping them so hard to the table because the pointer won't behave.
TJ Wilkins 2 years ago
Tapping?!! I would beat it on the table and a couple got flung across the room (well as far as it would go before the cable grabbed it). I thought heaven had arrived when I got a wireless trackball. Still prefer to a mouse though.
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Garth 2 years ago
(Retired IT Admin here) At the university I worked at, the accounting department would wear them out. The head of accounting would call me to tell me that her mouse balls were dirty and could I clean them for her ? I ended up ordering extra mouse balls... 😂
Shaun Coleman 2 years ago
Head of accounting and she thought that paying someone an IT salary to clean mouse balls was cost efficient???
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Blue Bunny of Happiness 2 years ago
I still use a trackball rather than a mouse. It’s still incredibly satisfying popping the ball out and peeling the crud off the contacts. Highly recommended.
David 2 years ago
One time, the gunk build up was SO bad that I pulled the ball out and I couldn't see anything stuck to the ball - smooth surface. But then I realized that smooth surface was the dirt/gunk and I 'peeled' it like an orange and the ball worked properly again. In my defense, as best I can recall that one was not my mouse. I used to work on other people's computers. Though at times my own mouse ball got pretty bad.
Mary Peace 2 years ago
Neither did I, and I'm over 60 but I don't think we had them in the UK. Read the comments and gradually got the idea.
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Wet Dolphin 2 years ago
The ball under the computer mouse. Nowadays they use light sensor stuff instead.
Load More Replies... S. E. in Indiana 2 years ago
Just bought a brand-new Logitech trackball. Using it to scroll this list as we speak.
Mike Chenoweth 2 years ago
Stole all of the balls from the computer lab and left them in random places throughout the school...
Broker Ray 2 years ago
I used to take out the ball from coworkers mouse. I'm not sure why they didn't think that was funny.
Jenna Logan 2 years ago
It's the roller ball inside a mouse that you could remove and clean off..it had some weight to it too if I remember correctly lol
Ąåřţđęşịɠŋȿ 2 years ago
mouse ball! pull that sucka out and alcohol soak. squeaky clean and accurate mousing
Brady Rhoads 2 years ago
We used to steal the rubber ball from the mouse and then watch the librarian lose her s**t. Sorry Ma'am.
Frances Mccloud 2 years ago
You could take the ball and see how long it takes for someone to notice!
EarthGrowl 2 years ago (edited)
I swear they worked better then the little red light! Once I got my first glide point touch pad I tossed the mouse. I prefer the touch pad on a laptop.
Walter Brameld 2 years ago
It depends on the surface. Optical mice need a visual texture with lots of detail to track. They don't work all that well on solid colors.
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MrsFettesVette 2 years ago
When you're getting bored waiting for your friend on AOLIM to type their response so you casually unscrew it and pull out the little trackball...
Krod Mandoon 2 years ago
Used to like taking them out and just rolling them around in my hand. Come to think about it, I think that was my first "fidget" thingy!
Patrick Linnen 2 years ago
I kept the mouse balls when the office was replacing the older mice.
J to the G 2 years ago
My School glued the cover with super glue so the balls couldn’t be stolen 🤣
Living Example 2 years ago
It's important to keep your mouse balls clean and in good working order. That's what my vet told me.
Smokey Too 2 years ago
Chasing the little ball around the room after I inevitably dropped it while wiping it clean!
SilntObsvr 2 years ago
My first one required installing an expansion card inside the computer...
RavenTheCat 2 years ago
I miss these and yet I don't, also im 23 and owned several of these mice
Some specialists have started to develop a concept of “forestalgia,” which is a sort of hopeful belief that in some imagined future, many things will be better. While an idealized future has existed for centuries, the advent of science fiction has created multiple generations who actively think about what the next few decades will bring.
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Audra Sisler 2 years ago
I was ALWAYS taking pictures in high school with camera like this! Such good times! 🥺
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Almarako94 2 years ago
I loved how the series got better with every episode. Not like most shows today
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ƒιѕн 2 years ago
Sugar, spice, and everything nice These were the ingredients chosen To create the perfect little girl But Professor Utonium accidentally Added an extra ingredient to the concoction-- Chemical X Thus, The Powerpuff Girls were born Using their ultra-super powers Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup Have dedicated their lives to fighting crime And the forces of evil!
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Susan Green 2 years ago
That’s why I always hate driving behind logging trucks on the highway.
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Alfonsothenerdyalpaca 2 years ago
Now with grimace’s birthday a lot of people are starting to realize.
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Chris D'Asta 2 years ago
The good 'ol days. Ditch weed and Night Train. Take the train to the city and jump in the pit at a proper Punk show.
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TonyTee 2 years ago (edited)
Wowww forgot about this, now I can remember I was the leader of the bunch quite a bit cause I was one of those goody two shoes kids in class xD So I was always getting a “reward sticker” on the chart, from what I can remember by the time I got to 3rd grade teachers had done away with this, I couldn’t care regardless, was too young to think anything of it. But this just brought back such memories of something I totally forgot about 👌🏼
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Mel The Axolotl 2 years ago
Even now they're all jumbled. Nintendo switch and Xbox have A+B swapped and X+Y swapped, so when I use one for a while then I'm disoriented when I use the other
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Kayla Albert 2 years ago
I would get the paper never had money to order but always circled want I wanted hoping I'd magically get it lol
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David Martin 2 years ago
After seeing all four of my brother's boys growing up, I can confidently say having a young boy that refuses to ever wear clothing actually makes this show 100% accurate
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pug nose curly tail 2 years ago
As my son once said when he was a little boy, "You turn them inside out, and then they jump up and fart."
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Upstaged75 2 years ago
Kids still use these! I tutored 1st graders a few years and ago and these were part of the required school supplies. The kids were more interested in making towers than doing math with them though. :)
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PlatinumTheCat 2 years ago
I must be a 90’s kid in disguise because I get most of these, this is CatDog
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Tuesday's child 2 years ago
This book is really bad once you really think about it. If you brag a lot and your friends get jealous, just rip off your body parts so every one feels good about themselves!
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Chris D'Asta 2 years ago
I worked for both of those companies in the nineties. Also Family Video and Dollar Video.
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Colleen Glim 2 years ago
Dragon tales was the favourite show in my house. 🎶Emmy wished on a dragon scale and that’s what started dragon tales🎶
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PlatinumTheCat 2 years ago
I have nintendogs on DS and I haven’t played it in a while, I’m sort of surprised the DS still works
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Alfonsothenerdyalpaca 2 years ago
The smiley face fries a so mushy. Is it just me or does no one like these?
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Sapna Sarfare 2 years ago
Skeletor.. In India, till 90s. we have the govt run channel called Doordarshan. But we had the best of shows and cartoons. Sunday morning were cartoon time... He-man was one such cartoon show. Since not everyone had TV, our house had the kids come in the morning to see the cartoons and all...
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Tuesday's child 2 years ago
But you want to stay in your nice bed and not have to go to school in the cold rainy weather. I know this feeling. Only as my dad was like "ok I'm leaving now" I would jump out of bed and get dressed at lightning speed
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PlatinumTheCat 2 years ago
What 8 year old has an iPhone!?!? I’m 13 and I don’t even have an iPhone
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Lakota Wolf (she/her) 2 years ago
A travesty compared to the original :( TBH, I haven't liked any of the live-action remakes yet.
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What do you think ?
TheReader19 2 years ago
I'm going to buy BGT Malakai Bayho's new CD tomorrow; still love CD's and records. Tapes are to much faff.
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Tuesday's child 2 years ago
I'm not a 90s kid,but I was still able to relate to a few of these
TheReader19 2 years ago
Gen X from UK here could relate to a lot of that stuff; the rest reminded me of my kids childhood. Ps 1980 was 25 years ago OKAY
Janet Howe 2 years ago
I haven't had this much fun reading BP in a long time. Laughed my butt off at the comments. This nostalgia is great stuff! After a while, I get sick of all the retaliation, boo-hoo and in-law stories.
the quickening 2 years ago (edited)
Fanta or Jaffa (orange soda) for Finns. ✌️
Load More Replies... censorshipsucks 2 years ago
I knew most of these (South Africa). We had (have) a lot of american cultural influence.
Eva 2 years ago
I'm a late ish gen z kid and I understand a majority of this stuff, half of it because I went to a poorish, small, private Catholic school for 2-5, now 6-12 I'm in a richer public school, which was a culture shock on its own from the shared Chromebooks and the computer lab to having our own frickin frackin MacBooks.
Michelle M 2 years ago
At the end of the thread, you’ll find a very tiny “Note: this post originally had 137 images blah blah blah.” Click on the 137 and that’s it. It’s in every shortened post. Hope this gets upvoted so that many people can see it.
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Michelle McCarson 2 years ago
This was one of the best meme feeds I have seen in a very long time. This made me very very happy although making me feel quite old. I will be sharing most of these photos
StitchIsCuteAndFluffy 2 years ago
There’s an Alec Benjamin song, called 1994 (when he was born), that describes some of these things! (Also the early 2000s)
the quickening 2 years ago
So 90s is now what 80s was when I was growing up; the cool period of time children wished they'd been born in. lmao
William Neal 2 years ago
HA! I recall ACTUALLY threading the 16 mm Birns and Sawyer projectors in grade school. Absolutely LOVED it. (No, I wasn't a teacher's pet otherwise.) But am ever indebted and grateful for being able to do this.
Moosy Girl 2 years ago
They should make a „57 glorious 30’s memes that you might be too young for” list.
TheReader19 2 years ago
I'm going to buy BGT Malakai Bayho's new CD tomorrow; still love CD's and records. Tapes are to much faff.
Load More Replies... Tuesday's child 2 years ago
I'm not a 90s kid,but I was still able to relate to a few of these
TheReader19 2 years ago
Gen X from UK here could relate to a lot of that stuff; the rest reminded me of my kids childhood. Ps 1980 was 25 years ago OKAY
Janet Howe 2 years ago
I haven't had this much fun reading BP in a long time. Laughed my butt off at the comments. This nostalgia is great stuff! After a while, I get sick of all the retaliation, boo-hoo and in-law stories.
the quickening 2 years ago (edited)
Fanta or Jaffa (orange soda) for Finns. ✌️
Load More Replies... censorshipsucks 2 years ago
I knew most of these (South Africa). We had (have) a lot of american cultural influence.
Eva 2 years ago
I'm a late ish gen z kid and I understand a majority of this stuff, half of it because I went to a poorish, small, private Catholic school for 2-5, now 6-12 I'm in a richer public school, which was a culture shock on its own from the shared Chromebooks and the computer lab to having our own frickin frackin MacBooks.
Michelle M 2 years ago
At the end of the thread, you’ll find a very tiny “Note: this post originally had 137 images blah blah blah.” Click on the 137 and that’s it. It’s in every shortened post. Hope this gets upvoted so that many people can see it.
Load More Replies... Michelle McCarson 2 years ago
This was one of the best meme feeds I have seen in a very long time. This made me very very happy although making me feel quite old. I will be sharing most of these photos
StitchIsCuteAndFluffy 2 years ago
There’s an Alec Benjamin song, called 1994 (when he was born), that describes some of these things! (Also the early 2000s)
the quickening 2 years ago
So 90s is now what 80s was when I was growing up; the cool period of time children wished they'd been born in. lmao
William Neal 2 years ago
HA! I recall ACTUALLY threading the 16 mm Birns and Sawyer projectors in grade school. Absolutely LOVED it. (No, I wasn't a teacher's pet otherwise.) But am ever indebted and grateful for being able to do this.
Moosy Girl 2 years ago
They should make a „57 glorious 30’s memes that you might be too young for” list.
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