Nostalgia, a sentimental longing for the past, is a very common and highly social-emotional experience. It is centered around the self, important social connections, and meaningful life events. In other words, when our mind drowns itself in these sentimental memories, it makes us revisit the precious moments we shared with friends and loved ones.
So to invite you on a new trip down memory lane, we at Bored Panda are continuing our series on the popular subreddit r/Nostalgia, and have once again compiled its best recent posts. Continue scrolling to check them out, and if you missed our earlier publications, catch up here, here, and here.
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Who Remembers Making Textbook Covers From Grocery Bags In The Late 1970s And 80s?
Erasers That Never Erased Anything
Research often shows that nostalgia is a primarily positive emotion that can lift people's spirits. But in these studies, participants are usually asked to recall a past event that makes them feel most nostalgic, and the Dornsife team at the University of Southern California thinks that this approach tends to result in people recalling a unique and overly positive, fond memory.
They have found the opposite may be true. Just like in Bruce Springsteen’s nostalgic song Glory Days, people look back to the good times when they feel dissatisfied with their current life.
Manual Credit Card Machine. You Know The Sounds It Makes
A Top 10 Gift If You Were A Kid In The 90’s, I Present To You, The Ultimate Surround Sound Audio, Complete With The Option To Extend The Speakers 2 Feet While Simultaneously Having A Glow-In-The-Dark Solar System On Your Ceiling
Rear Door Ashtrays; Playing With These As A Kid On Car Rides
"When people are asked to describe something that makes them feel very nostalgic, the positive elements dominate,” said David Newman, the study’s lead author and a Ph.D. candidate at USC Dornsife. “They think of a pleasant past experience, and the memories they bring to mind have a positive influence on how they see their own life.”
So, the USC Dornsife team captured how frequently people may feel nostalgic and how intense their feelings are in daily life. The psychologists asked about 230 undergraduate students, in exchange for course credit, to complete daily questionnaires for 14 days.
Who Remembers The Parachute Guy. Would Always Get Stuck Up A Tree Or On A Roof
I still love these guys lol - the excitement you feel as you yeet it off the top of the staircase - ah, the good days…
Getting To Play With The Parachute In The 90s Was Peak “Life Is Good”
Back When I Was Growing Up, Ice Cream Came In A Box!
Then there were 10 boxes of just the strawberry part left in the freezer
These diary studies included questions about whether they had positive or negative interactions with friends or acquaintances, experienced positive moments of achievement, or had negative moments, such as falling behind on coursework.
They also asked about events that could potentially evoke feelings of nostalgia, such as whether the participants had heard a song on the radio that they hadn’t heard in a while.
Image Transferring With Silly Putty
The 64 Pack Of Crayons With A Built In Sharpener
The Clear Craze Of The 90s When Almost Everything Was Clear
Leather Phone Cases Used By Some Dads In The Early 2000s
The results showed that people were likely to feel nostalgic when things were going wrong in the present.
"These negative experiences colored nostalgia in a negative light," Newman said. On days when people felt nostalgic, they reported feeling more stressed, depressed, and lonely; expressed more regret and rumination; were less satisfied with their life, and reported lower self-esteem. They also felt less peaceful and calm and expressed more rumination on the following day.
Anybody Else Have Parents Who Saved National Geographics And Included Them On The Family Bookshelf?
Weekend Nights At The Skating Rink Were As Close To A Nightclub Scene As Us Pre-High Schoolers Got Back In The Day
I had my first kiss at the local roller rink in 1990 when I was 13. Cal-Skate lol. It's still in business in the same location 😊
The Original Mouse Trap
I still have mine circa 1963. My desperately want Christmas present. Now my grandkids have grown out of it.
Windows 95 Themes
But although people tend to feel nostalgic when they have had negative experiences, the team of psychologists found another surprising positive correlation.
People were likely to feel nostalgic on days “when they had helped others, were reminded of old friendships or music, felt inspired and engaged in social media use," the researchers explained.
The Original Facebook
Pre 9/11 When A Kid Was Able To Visit The Cockpit Of An Airplane
Pizza Hut Glasses
They would bounce and bounce and bounce if you dropped them. No hiding it!
Highlights Magazine
My great grandma at one point had a Highlights subscription, one issue included a game that she carefully removed and taped together, we played it with buttons. I wish I could go back and actually listen when she talked.
Based on their analysis, Newman and colleagues concluded that nostalgia is a mixed bag — but the mix is decidedly negative in day-to-day life.
"The results from these studies stand in sharp contrast to the prevailing conclusion from previous research, which had indicated that nostalgia is a mixed but predominantly positive emotion,” Newman said.
"Deliberately engaging in the recollection of extremely nostalgic moments may improve well-being,” he said. "But in most situations in daily life, feeling nostalgic may not feel very pleasant."
Cd-Rom Games
The Most Relatable Rugrats Quote: "It's Four O'clock In The Morning! Why On Earth Are You Making Chocolate Pudding?" "Because I've Lost Control Of My Life" 1993
Eating Mac N' Cheese By Arranging A Single Noodle On Each Fork Tine
Taking Flintstones Vitamins Growing Up
The Way The Sanford King Size Permanent Marker Smelled
Styrofoam Airplanes
Nothing That Wasn’t Candy Ever Tasted More Like Candy That Ludens Cough Drops
I've got a big candy dish full of these right now beside me in bed right now! My son and I both are on the tail end of a week long COVID infection. Thank God it wasn't anything worse than having the flu (thank you vaccines!). Those body aches, though, there's no description for them they were so intense. Anyway, Luden's cough drops are the best cough aide you can buy, other than liquor😁!
An Ancient Memory. Busytown Mysteries
I refuse to accept this is obsolete. Every one of my nephews was given a Busytown book as their first gift from me.
Short Circuit
Came Across My Game Boy Earlier Today While Cleaning Out Some Old Boxes
A Favorite Show From Childhood. Anybody Remember Muppet Babies?
Whistle Pops (1970's)
Wendy’s Sunrooms
I Found These McDonald's Transformer Toys In My Parents' Attic Recently
Og Goosebumps (1992-1997)
My 8yo fell in love with these books, just like my sisters and I almost 30 years ago... Not obsolete at all
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I loved the "you chose the scare" versions where you could make choices on what the protagonist should do! I always got mine killed.
Omg I had like 70 of these and my mom put them all in the trash after I moved. I'm still sad about it. Loves the others too where you could chose the story. Don't exactly remember their name but them all had glitter on the cover with the name. Loves them all:,-(
I wish I kept all mine. My faves were 'say cheese and die' 'the curse of the mummy's tomb' and 'werewolf of fever swamp'
Goosebumps wasn’t that scary, ngl, but it was still a good book series
We just uncovered my wife's COMPLETE Goosebumps collection from Quebec the other day.
I've read a few of their books growing up. My favorite one was "Stay Out of the Basement".
I had almost the entire collection…I would spend my weekends devouring them.
I managed to get the original 60 from relentless looking in garage sales when I was younger, but I ended up selling them some years later. Good books though, these were the first real books that really hooked me into reading. I loved the unforeseen plotwist at the end of almost every book! My favorite were the Monster Blood ones, especially the 3rd one!
Most popular books in school for awhile. Every Scholastic book order seemed to have these.
These are still being published. They're in every classroom at the school I'm at.
Here’s how old I am. I loved it when my oldest son brought one home from the school library. Totally got me hooked.
They were very popular in my elementary school then they were suddenly banned because "a little kid pushed another kid"/bullied another kid in one of the stories and that "was a bad example". My school was awesome in other ways though.
I once read 7 of those in one day when I was at home with pneumonia. My mother had to go to the library to bring me some more. Funny thing is: she wouldn't let me read Harry Potter because she was crazy religious back then, but she didn't know anything about this series, so she had no problem with me reading it!
Read these in the 1st grade. My teacher and librarians didn't believe I could read them, amazed them when I could
Someone donated a ton of these to me for my Little Free Library! I always include one or two when I put new books in it.
Oooooh, I loved these books, and the tv series that was based on it. My parents never understood the fun of freaking myself out with those spooky stories... 😁 The story I remember best was about a girl who thought she dreamed of a big fire in her house, but it turned out it actually happened, she didn't survive it and she had become a ghost. But she, and the reader, didn't know that at first. The story revolves around her puzzling together that she's dead. I found the whole idea of that so creepy...
I remember reading one of the puppet/ventriloquist ones, her hand going into the controls in the head as closing around a warm peanut butter and jelly sandwich and squishing between the fingers... The imagery has never left me. This is usually always my first immediate thought about brains.
Still have them and i am collecting them.. they are definitely not obsolete
Tale Spin (1990-1991)
Aim (1997-2017)
How many CDs did they mail out over the years? One million? 10 million? Billions?
Who Watched "Are You Afraid Of The Dark?" Growing Up? What A 90s Masterpiece
"The Hologram Store" That Sold Beauties Like These At The Mall
Different Decade, Same Spooky Family
Apple Computers In Late 90s/ Early 2000s
Back when they offered affordable design for the masses. That went downhill fast from there...
Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark. Nightmares For A Kid In The 90's
For My First Father's Day My Incredible Wife Bought Me My Favourite Toy From My Childhood So My Son And I Can Play Together. She Even Re-Did All The Stickering
My grandma got this exact one for me and my cousins along with a pirate one and a wild west one... love it
Rollercoaster Tycoon 🥹
McDonald's Packaging From The Early 90s
Hybrid Theory And Meteora Were Big Parts Of My High School Years. Linkin Park
The Old Taco Bell Packaging (Also The Easy Button)
Gameboy, American Girl Dolls, Blockbuster, Beanie Babies, Longaberger Baskets, Boom Box, And A Bowl Cut. The Dream Of 1998z
Malcolm In The Middle
Lost (2004)
Somewhere between the third and the nth season I just stopped paying attention on the plot and just stayed to watch Sawyer without a shirt...
Note: this post originally had 125 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
It's a nice nostalgia trip, but someone really needs to learn what "obsolete" means.
You can still sometimes get them in candy shops. I know of at least 5 places where I live that have them still.
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Oh... Um. If obsolete means my daughter played/watched etc. What am I? Ultra -obsolete? Uber-vintage? Damn. I'm still in my 40's
Oh my gosh, I just found mine when I cleaned out some totes!
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Wax Lips... Candy Cigarettes, Pine Bros Cough Drops, Commodore 64's, 8 inch floppy disks...
Does anyone remember The Young Ones https://www.google.com/search?q=the+young+ones&oq=the+young+ones&aqs=chrome.0.0i355i433i512j46i433i512j0i512l4j46i512j0i512.10698j0j1&client=ms-android-google&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#imgrc=dTyoxYqEM9dlqM
I guess what's nostalgia for some people is 'just a little while ago " for others.
This list has reminded me where my processed food addiction came from. Not to sound like a geezer, but between profit maximization and health concerns, modern snack foods can't hold a candle to the industrial, toxin filled, abominations before god that were the chemical snack food chimeras of deliciousness in the 90's.
Hand crank car windows. Fighting over who gets "shot gun" and the window seat. Halloween masks you couldn't see out of. NOT wearing a seat belt or helmet. 8 track tapes. Common sense
So funny this came up in my feed! Just last night my husband was so excited putting one of those planes together. About an hour later I came into the living room from the kitchen and got abruptly hit in the face by it not realizing I was walking into a flight zone……Such child nostalgia for sure 😒🤣
The best - und so sustainable: Making Textbook Covers From Grocery Bags. How is this done nowadays?? I loved doodeling on the covers :-)
You want obsolete? I was born in 1953-I didn't get half of these. Gen X?
" 50 Obsolete Things To Prove How Much The World Has Moved On And Changed ".the american world that is !
all I can think of while going through this is Animaniac's "Randy Beaman's Pal"
i mean this in the best way possible, but these lists always make me upset. the people who grew up with this stuff have children, like my parents had all this and they saved a bunch and stuff and so me and my siblings understand a good deal of this stuff. and some of this is still in use and popular. stop saying only 80s and 90s kids will understand, because i was born in 2007 and i understand.
Don't be upset over people feel nostalgic for things from their youth. 15 years from now you'll be doing the same thing with the fads of today.
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It's a nice nostalgia trip, but someone really needs to learn what "obsolete" means.
You can still sometimes get them in candy shops. I know of at least 5 places where I live that have them still.
Load More Replies... Oh... Um. If obsolete means my daughter played/watched etc. What am I? Ultra -obsolete? Uber-vintage? Damn. I'm still in my 40's
Oh my gosh, I just found mine when I cleaned out some totes!
Load More Replies... Wax Lips... Candy Cigarettes, Pine Bros Cough Drops, Commodore 64's, 8 inch floppy disks...
Does anyone remember The Young Ones https://www.google.com/search?q=the+young+ones&oq=the+young+ones&aqs=chrome.0.0i355i433i512j46i433i512j0i512l4j46i512j0i512.10698j0j1&client=ms-android-google&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#imgrc=dTyoxYqEM9dlqM
I guess what's nostalgia for some people is 'just a little while ago " for others.
This list has reminded me where my processed food addiction came from. Not to sound like a geezer, but between profit maximization and health concerns, modern snack foods can't hold a candle to the industrial, toxin filled, abominations before god that were the chemical snack food chimeras of deliciousness in the 90's.
Hand crank car windows. Fighting over who gets "shot gun" and the window seat. Halloween masks you couldn't see out of. NOT wearing a seat belt or helmet. 8 track tapes. Common sense
So funny this came up in my feed! Just last night my husband was so excited putting one of those planes together. About an hour later I came into the living room from the kitchen and got abruptly hit in the face by it not realizing I was walking into a flight zone……Such child nostalgia for sure 😒🤣
The best - und so sustainable: Making Textbook Covers From Grocery Bags. How is this done nowadays?? I loved doodeling on the covers :-)
You want obsolete? I was born in 1953-I didn't get half of these. Gen X?
" 50 Obsolete Things To Prove How Much The World Has Moved On And Changed ".the american world that is !
all I can think of while going through this is Animaniac's "Randy Beaman's Pal"
i mean this in the best way possible, but these lists always make me upset. the people who grew up with this stuff have children, like my parents had all this and they saved a bunch and stuff and so me and my siblings understand a good deal of this stuff. and some of this is still in use and popular. stop saying only 80s and 90s kids will understand, because i was born in 2007 and i understand.
Don't be upset over people feel nostalgic for things from their youth. 15 years from now you'll be doing the same thing with the fads of today.
Load More Replies...