People Are Submitting Their Parents’ Coolest Old Pics To This Instagram Account, Here Are 35 Of The Best Ones

Yours truly may or may not have been inspired to work out, try some bolder fashion statements, and even try growing a mustache in the coming months after soaking up all of the vintage inspiration from the Old School Dads page. At the time of writing, the account had 156k followers, up from 10.7k fans just over half a year ago.

It’s easy to see why the page is so popular. It taps into our sense of nostalgia, our love for our parents, and our desire to see weird hairstyles and fashion trends. It’s the mix of love, longing, and comedy, as well as the desire to share our own family pics, that really gets people hooked.

Meanwhile, the Old School Moms Instagram feed has gotten even more attention than the one about dads. Currently, OSM has a whopping 239k followers and counting! Classy moms are taking the prize for first place right now, but we know that the dads are bringing their A-game as well in this friendly competition.

Chase, the founder of Old School Dads and Old School Moms, told Bored Panda that he feels “a very genuine kind of way” about both pages, and he’s glad that this comes through in his work.

“While the photos feature dads and moms, I think the overwhelming shared experience of the people who tune in to the feeds and what the photos tap into is the experience of having had a mom, or having had a dad, or having been a kid in a certain time and place,” he said that it’s the shared nostalgia and relatability factor that really reels people in.

“It’s a universal experience, so I think it’s an easy one for a community of disparate souls to connect over. Plus, the captions under the photos are funny, and people like funny,” the founder explained the appeal of the old school pics. He added that he recently conducted a poll and a whopping 89% of followers found the captions he writes funny. Meanwhile, 11% said that they ‘hated’ them. “I guess you can’t please everyone.”

“I think nostalgia is a deep part of the human condition, it’s why our parents and grandparents tell us so many of the same stories,” Chase said that these stories take them back to a time and place that they remember being happy. We do the same—though we might not notice it.

“I think that’s the appeal of old school photography: it either teleports us back to a place we’ve been and miss, or it lets us travel to places our loved ones cherished.”

According to Chase, what matters isn’t the tech that’s used to take photographs, but that what’s captured “is the power of a moment and the characters in it.” Analog or digital, it’s the emotions in the shot that truly speak to the photographer, the people in the frame, and anyone else flipping through the (physical or digital) album.

Bored Panda was curious to get Chase’s opinion on when everyone will begin considering moms and dads from 2022 to be old school. He said it really depends on how you look at it.

“I’m a 40-year-old father of a 3-year-old and, without a doubt, there’s a large contingent of 16–30-year-old crowd who sees a parent like me who doesn’t dress like them, talk like them, or think like them and already labels us as old school,” he shared his thoughts.

“On the other hand, based on the age range of photos I get, people tend to think their dad qualifies as old school when they’re looking back 20+ years. So, my message to parents is: hang in there if your kids don’t like you now because in 20 years they’ll be bragging about you on the internet.” Which is great news for anyone who enjoys being thought of as cool.