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Do you know why we love to be nostalgic about the past so much? Well, as you know, everything used to be much better, bigger and more interesting. There used to be Tetris, slot machines and Internet Explorer, and now... now there is only a light sadness for those wonderful times when we were younger.

And we will be taking just this fascinating journey into the good old days with you, thanks to Bored Panda and this collection of absolutely wonderful vintage memes, lovingly collected by a dedicated Instagram account. So fasten your seatbelts, put your favorite cassette into that old Sony Walkman, here we go!

More info: Instagram

#1

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Amberlie Mikelsen
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was about 6 when I opened my Angel Tree present and received the AUTHENTIC Crayola 256 Box Set (I knew how much it cost, something like $25) and not 1, not 2, not even 5, but 10 whole coloring books all for just me! My parents swear they thought I had won the lottery!

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Mad Dragon
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

These are still around! Last Christmas I bought one for my husband and one for my daughter (and one for myself).

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The most interesting thing is how our perception of "good old days" changes over time. As someone whose teen years were in the 90s, I remember very well how the adults resented these newfangled Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls, comparing them to the great rock classics - certainly not in favor of the youth. And now, nearly thirty years later, we're shedding tears watching the reunited Spice Girls on YouTube, and this time their hits are in our hearts somewhere between Stairway To Heaven and Under Pressure. So tell me what you want, what you really, really want... and I'll tell you, we want to go back to our childhood again.

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Upstaged75
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Schools still use these for counting. I tutored 1st grade a few years ago and the kids all had them.

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The Numerator
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I count all day, anything and everything. Always have, always will. I'd love to count all of these.

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ThisisEngland
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Tiddlywinks. We all had them but don't remember anyone playing with them ever. I think kids used to choke on them or end up having to go to A&E to get them removed from their nostrils. So they got a bad rep for a while.

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Huddo's sister
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We had my mum's old set and tried to play it a couple of times but were never successful.

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Long-Haired Tanjiro
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I would steal those from my teacher and show them off at recess, got caught and was forced to count every single one I stole, at the time I had trouble counting to 20..there were 50 or so.

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Val!
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

it didnt matter if you thought you picked all of them up off the floor, you will still find a stray one SOMEWHERE

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Riley Quinn
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember what they sounded like going through the beater brushes of the vacuum.

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Ruby Richards
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I just played the home game of Bingo last night. They had these in miniature!

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Mary Tonningsen
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Those are 'modern' Tiddly Winks! The ones I played with were not see-through. That was back in the late '50s or early '60s.

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LapCat
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think we used something very similar to this in the 80s to learn math in school.

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Curly Q
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And then you out them over one another and experience new colors. Also, the "Mom, you're purple!"

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Alice Teasdale
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And they're identical to the lollies they gave out at Bertie's 24 hour pancake kitchen so always make me think of sugar in my teeth. Yum

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Tostones
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

These were for Bingo and they were all over the house till they switched over to the bottles of ink with the sponge under the cap.

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Moosy Girl
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That’s a lot of winks but where are the squidgers and the pot??

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Sunny Day
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People who know got the ones with a metal border, and a magnetic wand to clear the cards quickly.

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Zoey Rayne
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We use them as counters for math lessons with elementary schoolers at our tutoring center. I told two little girls that they were from an old game my mom played called tiddlywinks. They thought the word was so hilarious that after a good giggle over it, they asked me to write it down so they could remember it and share it with others.

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Emma Boston
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I played with those in elementary school and I’m a Senior in high school now! I LOVED those!

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Disinforminationalisticalities
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yep, there was always a Tupperware container full of them, no matter whose house you were in. I don't think anyone knew what they were for, bur we all had them, just incase. 🤣🤣🤣

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Psychologist Alan R. Hirsch in his report, “Nostalgia: A Neuropsychiatric Understanding,” defines nostalgia as a yearning for an idealized past - “a longing for a sanitized impression of the past, what in psychoanalysis is referred to as a screen memory - not a true recreation of the past, but rather a combination of many different memories, all integrated together, and in the process all negative emotions filtered out."

And indeed, the more we live in this world, the more value we attach to things and phenomena from our youth. Often downplaying what we have now. Although, you know, I personally would probably sell my soul if I had my current smartphone somewhere in the late nineties!

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FabulousMari
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't know if I can throw mine away. It's like saying good bye to a faithful friend. When Spotify is down or my music is so obsolete that it doesn't exist in digital form, my faithful compact disc's will always be there to sing to me. Now, I just don't know what to play them on...

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And, of course, the Internet and social networks come into play, literally fixing every step of any more or less famous person. For example, would we be so categorical in adoring Michael Jordan as the greatest basketball player of all time if we were guided not only by old VHS tapes of his games and Space Jam? Or would we vehemently discuss each of his missed shots and failed interviews like we do with LeBron James? Okay, okay, the second Space Jam really wasn't even half as good as the first one! Or is this where nostalgia kicks in again?

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Haru
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And there were these extra curricular teachers that would hand them out if you did good or smth like that

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Be that as it may, memes are a great excuse to take a little trip back in time, recharge with the energy of our youth, and return again to the crazy, fast contemporary world that has become so incredibly small with the development of all these technologies. Okay, let's digress for a couple more minutes - just scroll this list to the very end, point out the memes you like best and just share your own viewpoint on whether nostalgia is really that cool.

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Mad Dragon
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had the clear phone in my room, and the ringer was LOUD! I would turn off the ringer and it would still light up when it rang, so my friends could call me late at night and not wake up my parents (I had my own phone line in my room paid for by my babysitting money).

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Andy Resh
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah. Well. Have you ever had one slip out of your grasp only to give you a minor knuckle fracture?!!!!!

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Mad Dragon
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They are easy to throw and catch, and the sound they make when you catch one is the same as their name (Koosh!),

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Betta Fish
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

yooo my grandma had them and let us eat golden ghrams in front of the tv on saturday mornings, probably one of my favorite memories

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dean tirmizi
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This isn’t nostalgic, the first movies was 2010. The first iron man movie is older than this, wouldn’t call that nostalgic, and this pic is from the 2019 movie

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Note: this post originally had 42 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.