71 Nostalgic Photos That Take A Trip Back To The 1980s

Imagine you woke up this morning and somehow ended up back in 1985. You reach for a can of Aqua Net and tease your hair as tall as physically possible. The radio kicks on and Madonna is blasting through the speakers. 

You throw on a windbreaker, grab a Pop-Tart on the way out the door, and head off to meet your friends at the arcade. Sounds like a pretty solid morning to us.

Sadly, none of us actually have a time machine tucked away in the garage. Reminiscing is about as close as we can get, and it usually comes with a soft ache. That feeling even has a name with a pretty interesting origin story.

According to Time magazine, the word “nostalgia” was coined all the way back in the 1600s by a Swiss medical student. He used it to describe homesick soldiers fighting in European wars, and it basically translates to a kind of pain about returning home.

For a long stretch of history, people genuinely thought nostalgia was a medical problem. Clay Routledge, a psychologist at the Human Flourishing Lab, told Time it was “originally thought of as a brain disease.”

Some of the early theories were pretty out there. Doctors floated ideas about demonic forces being at play, and at one point folks even blamed the clanging of cowbells for damaging soldiers’ inner ears. Scholars kept treating that yearning feeling like something dangerous for centuries after.

Turns out they had it backwards. Newer research, including studies Routledge himself has led, shows that missing the past can actually be really good for you. It helps you feel more connected to the people around you and softens judgment toward folks who might seem different from you. 

Leaning into old memories can also boost your self-esteem and add a real sense of meaning to your everyday life. Some studies even suggest it can make you a little happier overall.

As much as nostalgia belongs to the past, though, it has a way of pointing us to the future. Someone might think back on summers spent with a grandma who’s no longer around, feel that familiar pang of sadness, and then use those memories as motivation to build something similar with their own kids.

As Routledge put it, “It’s looking backwards, but it’s because you want ideas for how to move forward.” Pretty cool way to reframe the whole thing.

So besides scrolling through throwback posts like the ones on this list, there are some fun ways to really soak up that warm fuzzy feeling. One easy option is putting together a playlist of songs from your teens and twenties, since that’s the music most people gravitate toward for the rest of their lives.

Think “Take On Me” by a-ha, a bit of Whitney Houston, some Prince, maybe “Livin’ on a Prayer” for good measure.

Food is another easy one. One study cited by Time found that people reach for comfort meals from their past when they’re feeling isolated. 

Smells are especially powerful, whether that’s a Sunday pot roast simmering on the stove or fresh cookies coming out of the oven. If you grew up in the ’80s, you might want to break out the fondue set or dig up a box of Dunkaroos while you’re at it.

Even better, none of this has to be a solo activity. Call up an old friend or invite the family over and put on a movie like The Breakfast Club. Swap stories about mixtapes and whatever wild fashion choices you made back then. 

The whole point of nostalgia is that it brings people closer, and sharing it out loud tends to make it hit even stronger. So tell us in the comments what you miss most about the ’80s, and please don’t hold back on the details.

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