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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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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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#17

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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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Bloobee bloobee bloo bloo bloo
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I just bought these for my 14 year old daughter who asked for them knowing her hair is too short and that she would never wear them even if she could

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

My friend is 55, she keeps a couple of them in her jewelry box, next to a 150-year-old siver adornments.

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

Sadly yes. I have a picture of myself in the year 2000 where I've pulled the top of my hair back in 2 inch sections with tons of these things. I look like Buffy Summers. Cringe. In my defense, everyone did it. ;)

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

had some in last week. One drawer of my jewelry box is full of the things. What I really need are the cheap dollar store star-shaped metal barrettes. Just lost my last one yesterday.

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

Bring this hairstyle back! But the pain of stepping on them was like legos.

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

Haaaate them!!!! People exaggerated and had their heads full! Monstrous...

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

I succumbed to peer pressure and did it too! I think I used like 10 of them at a time. So tacky!

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tabithapaquette98
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah, I still have them. I haven't used them in forever, but I can't get rid of them either!

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

Guess I'm really old....I bought them for my daughter when SHE was little!

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

I have HUGE ones now that i got when i was on the street in '19! They're big enough to use as banana clips!

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Peta Hurley-Hill
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had 3 little girls and they all had their hair done with what seemed like hundreds of these .

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

I use to get excited when the county fair came around because there were stands that sold all kinds of these including glitter ones

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

These ones plus the larger metal ones with the flapping wings were a nightmare for my hair.

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Sarcastic and Proud
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The girls' version of the lego brick land mine. Except legos stayed intact

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

I still have some white and bright green ones I never wore. Might as well do it now.

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just a lazy witch
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Stepping on one of those was worse than stepping on lego. Still can feel it digging into my heel even now. :D

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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.