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

Because they are squishy and delightful and not a lot of sensory toys were popular back then. But don't make the mistake I made when I was three and assume the nettles on the small potted cactus in the house are equally squishy and squeeze it like a koosh ball; it took about a half an hour with tweezers for my mom to remove all those nettles from my hand...

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

I remember a Christmas party at work, back in the day, where all the Secret Santa gifts were handed out by the managers. This one girl got a Koosh Ball. She didn’t know what it was, and kept asking who in the hell got her a cat toy for Secret Santa?

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

Rosie O'Donnell used to throw these at people on her talk show. :)

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

This still exists where I'm at. I love to throw and catch it; a good stress relief

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

We used to goof around with them at work (overnight stock crew member). We also had a go at "Stretch Armstrong." 1D27490746...ng-toy.jpg 1D274907460659-stretch-armstrong-toy.jpg

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

i love these and can't stand it when my little brother breaks them

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Danny Malone
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12 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They were handy for scaring friends while watching "Arachnophobia"!!!

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

I just spent all my time grabbing a pinch full and tugging on them then letting them go continuously until they started pulling off.

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

They were a sensory thing, too, when you ran your hand over the "hairs."

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

Somebody is a billionaire from selling s**t to kids. More than one family, I'd say.

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

I had a few and I think they were just to have for no purpose kinda like fidget spinners.

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RedBadgerCan'tSwim
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I was a kid they had this things called Kooshlings. They were koosh balls with a face and bendy arms and legs.

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

The purpose was to throw at a sibling and not get into too much trouble.

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

A friend who was a dyslexia specialist used them in some exercises which improved balance. hard to explain here but there was a sequence and it worked.

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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

Great sensory toy. My older brother had a couple attached to his wheelchair tray

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

They're a ball that you can throw and not cause injuries (although they still caused extensive damage to lamps and vases, but they wouldn't break a window or wall)

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M. Stokes
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Used for the speaking cirlce. You couldn't talk unless you were the one holding it. Kept everyone on their best behavior

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Mother of Giants
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have one on my desk. It's my stress reliever when I'm talking too angry customers

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

My money brain loves the way these feel. I'm such a texture-based person, these were my happy fidget toya

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Trash Panda 🦝
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We'd throw them in the above ground pool my uncle had. The water would fly off in 100s of directions. We thought we discovered a secret way to play with them. Man... I hadn't thought about that in years

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

They are back again and all the kids want them again. Now they are kick@a**e big and can get as a dog, cat, etc

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James016
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My sister and I had these. You can have a lot of fun with them.

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

Because they had no purpose. I had so many of these things idek why

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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.