What is nostalgia like for you?

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Veezle
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What is nostalgia like for you?

Post by Veezle »

While nostalgia may be a common thing, the feeling can be different for different people.

For me, at least speaking for the years of my upbringing, it was not a happy time in my personal life and I wasn't really able to get much enjoyment out of life itself and the world around me. Now that I'm actually free from my former situation and am able to breathe, so much has changed and so much is gone.
It feels like time that was taken away from me that can never be reclaimed, full of experiences I missed out on.

So, what's it like for you? Is it similar to mine, or different?
Last edited by Veezle on Sat May 14, 2022 6:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What is nostalgia like for you?

Post by Serah »

It's similar but maybe not as serious? I transitioned quite late in life and I wish I could have experienced my teenage years as myself... but it was the 2000s in Britain, so who knows if that would even have been possible. I feel like a lot of core experiences passed me by. I feel like I never got to be a girl and now I'm a woman.

Still, most nostalgia is comforting to me. I don't seek it out too often, I like to have new experiences when I can. What drew me to the Yesterweb wasn't nostalgia, so much as a genuine belief that the structure of the old 'net was better than the corporate web today.

But hey, there's nothing like putting on a record I loved when I was 16 or a game I loved when I was 12 and thinking back to a simpler time when it all gets a bit overwhelming. I appreciated those times while they happened and, while I wish I hadn't been hiding myself at the time, the memories are still good.
Last edited by Serah on Tue Aug 02, 2022 12:40 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: What is nostalgia like for you?

Post by Veezle »

Serah wrote: Sat May 14, 2022 6:09 pm What drew me to the Yesterweb wasn't nostalgia, so much as a genuine belief that the structure of the old 'net was better than the corporate web today.
Completely agree. It just saddens me I hardly got to experience it in its prime time (at least as who I am now and not the very troubled person I once was) before it all went down the toilet. I'm just glad now we have things like Yesterweb to help make up for it and I hope it will continue to grow.
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Re: What is nostalgia like for you?

Post by Neonriser »

To me, it is a warm memory. It makes you sad because it cannot be replicated today or tomorrow, but it also makes you glad because you know it has defined you.

It is not to say it was better back then than it is now. That’s a rookie mistake. Sure, it was different back then, but some things did not change. That’s the reality we have to deal with.

What I am trying to say is that there are lessons to be learned from the past, as there are in the present and future. The only difference is that they have shaped us into who we are today. We can use our hindsight, no matter how unpleasant or pleasant they are, to improve ourselves.

By sharing memories, we can find the humanity in each other, which leads to unity. By acknowledging the sweet and bitter parts of nostalgia, we can help understand ourselves and the world better.
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Re: What is nostalgia like for you?

Post by juette »

for me nostalgia is sort of a longing of how things used to be.... like neonriser said, not necessarily better but different. like yeah soem things were better but some were worse. tho obviously i long for the better parts not the worse ones lol
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Re: What is nostalgia like for you?

Post by Sadness »

I've always been obsessed with nostalgia for as long as I could remember. In a way it was like a coping mechanism for me. I would hoard chat logs and old diary entries, always going back to revisit it. I noticed each time I looked back on the previous year, it felt different, almost warmer, and softer, and nicer than I remembered. It's easy to be fooled by it. If you aren't careful, it will convince you the past wasn't so bad.

Plus, there's also an element of "primal nostalgia" I feel. There isn't really a name for it but I see it reflected in stuff like "liminal spaces". Like, I dunno, looking at any "liminal space" image makes me feel like I'm 4 years old, and understand nothing except what everything looks like around me. It brings me a weird kind of comfort sometimes that I can only describe as nostalgia.

I also think it's important to note that nostalgia can be a coping mechanism, especially for people who are isolated. It's like that because nostalgia is comforting, and it even allows us to bond with other people we might not have otherwise met. Like anything else you need to maintain balance and realism or else it's easy to get carried with it.
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Re: What is nostalgia like for you?

Post by nights »

nostalgia actually makes me pretty uncomfortable when it isn't just confined to "oh i used to like this and it's still nice" or "oh the fashion in x time period was cool". i never have anything like "i miss x period of time when i was y and z" or "x period of time was so much better than now because y and z". like with serah, part of it is because i transitioned past the point people usually feel nostalgia for, though it's mostly that i just plain don't like reminiscing or thinking about the past for too long in general.
Serah wrote: Sat May 14, 2022 6:09 pm What drew me to the Yesterweb wasn't nostalgia, so much as a genuine belief that the structure of the old 'net was better than the corporate web today.
this is also the case w/ me - it's less nostalgia and more "we can do this again". i think nostalgia is more useful as concrete inspiration for improvement rather than as a comfort, but that's just me.
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Re: What is nostalgia like for you?

Post by theymightbefoxes »

Sadness wrote: Sat May 14, 2022 9:18 pm Plus, there's also an element of "primal nostalgia" I feel. There isn't really a name for it but I see it reflected in stuff like "liminal spaces". Like, I dunno, looking at any "liminal space" image makes me feel like I'm 4 years old, and understand nothing except what everything looks like around me. It brings me a weird kind of comfort sometimes that I can only describe as nostalgia.
I don't know if this can be described as the same phenomenon you're describing, but I remember when I was young, like, single digits young, feeling nostalgia from watching the Dragonball GT opening in Japanese and listening to the NES DuckTales moon theme, which is strange because, how could I be nostalgic from such an early age? Nostalgia is the closest and most accurate description of it, but I feel like our understanding of "nostalgia" has to change for that to make sense to me.

Maybe nostalgia, to me, is like being reminded of another world that doesn't exist, to a place where you feel secure, where everyone loves you, where the only source of real conflict is like, sitcom-level stuff. But it's also tinged with longing and sadness and yearning, because life isn't like that, because things change and can't always stay the same, because life can be sad and unpredictable. Nostalgia feels like a really stubborn wish, brimming with idealism and optimism and love for the world. It's a really intoxicating feeling for me, because I'm really passionately aggressively optimistic, but if I'm really down the sad parts really get to me and I wonder like, whether I belong to this world. But I realize that I have to try y'know. It's a motivating force for me, because I want that idyllic life to happen so bad and I want everyone else to have it too, and I strongly believe in doing anything, even small, tiny things, to live up to that.

So like, maybe it doesn't actually have to do with the past, at least, not in any real way -- maybe it's more about mourning the perceived utopian ideals the past represented? Hopefully I didn't word that super pretentiously lol
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Re: What is nostalgia like for you?

Post by Squid-Died »

Serah wrote: Sat May 14, 2022 6:09 pm It's similar but maybe not as serious? I transitioned quite late in life and I wish I could have experienced my teenage years as myself... but it was the 2000s in Britain, so who knows if that would even have been possible. Still, I feel like I lot of core experiences passed me by. I feel like I never got to be a girl and now I'm a woman.

Still, most nostalgia is comforting to me. I don't seek it out too often, I like to have new experiences when I can. What drew me to the Yesterweb wasn't nostalgia, so much as a genuine belief that the structure of the old 'net was better than the corporate web today.

But still, there's nothing like putting on a record I loved when I was 16 or a game I loved when I was 12. and thinking back to a simpler time when it all gets a bit overwhelming. I appreciated those times while they happened and while I wish I hadn't been hiding myself at the time, the memories are still good.
this whole thing is like, identical to me lol. i only started transitioning after i was in my 20’s so a lot of “teenage” experience is missing cuz i spent it too ashamed of my own body to go do cool things with my friends. Most of all i missed out on having some kind of cringe fashion phase so im lowkey trying now XD since i can actually tolerate my own reflection now.

but yeah same as you most if my nostalgia is routed in just stuff i used to enjoy at the time and its cool to revisit
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Re: What is nostalgia like for you?

Post by Cobra! »

I think Nostalgia can be both a blessing and a curse.

On one hand, it feels wonderful, remembering the old days and reliving experiences from back then. Nostalgia has also led to some great new projects, such as this community, and introduces people who were never around at the time to a web that is better than what it is today.

On the other, we can never truly go back to those days, or even pinpoint what exactly made them so great to begin with, so it feels like a massive tease. I also don't like how companies are taking advantage this otherwise wonderful feeling to give us half-baked member movies and quick cash grab remakes, and resellers doing so to artificially up the price of older stuff.

I hate bringing negativity to a discussion, so I'll end with when someone is able to properly utilise it to make their own, original stuff, it can lead to great things! Many tropes from back in the day were inspired by just that.
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Re: What is nostalgia like for you?

Post by unbody »

Sadness wrote: Sat May 14, 2022 9:18 pm Plus, there's also an element of "primal nostalgia" I feel. There isn't really a name for it but I see it reflected in stuff like "liminal spaces". Like, I dunno, looking at any "liminal space" image makes me feel like I'm 4 years old, and understand nothing except what everything looks like around me. It brings me a weird kind of comfort sometimes that I can only describe as nostalgia.
Ahhh I love this take. I don't know if I would say I experience liminality the same way, but I think I experience nostalgia as a kind of liminality. This just made me realize how all of my early childhood memories manifest as images really similar to weirdcore stuff lol I guess that's part of the appeal
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Re: What is nostalgia like for you?

Post by Cobra! »

unbody wrote: Sun Jun 12, 2022 7:54 pm
Sadness wrote: Sat May 14, 2022 9:18 pm Plus, there's also an element of "primal nostalgia" I feel. There isn't really a name for it but I see it reflected in stuff like "liminal spaces". Like, I dunno, looking at any "liminal space" image makes me feel like I'm 4 years old, and understand nothing except what everything looks like around me. It brings me a weird kind of comfort sometimes that I can only describe as nostalgia.
Ahhh I love this take. I don't know if I would say I experience liminality the same way, but I think I experience nostalgia as a kind of liminality. This just made me realize how all of my early childhood memories manifest as images really similar to weirdcore stuff lol I guess that's part of the appeal
I feel that way for "Gen X Corporate" aesthetic. It was one I was exposed to as a kid, and to me it invokes a feeling of wonder and adventure.
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Re: What is nostalgia like for you?

Post by Veezle »

Cobra! wrote: Sun Jun 12, 2022 10:02 pm
unbody wrote: Sun Jun 12, 2022 7:54 pm
Sadness wrote: Sat May 14, 2022 9:18 pm Plus, there's also an element of "primal nostalgia" I feel. There isn't really a name for it but I see it reflected in stuff like "liminal spaces". Like, I dunno, looking at any "liminal space" image makes me feel like I'm 4 years old, and understand nothing except what everything looks like around me. It brings me a weird kind of comfort sometimes that I can only describe as nostalgia.
Ahhh I love this take. I don't know if I would say I experience liminality the same way, but I think I experience nostalgia as a kind of liminality. This just made me realize how all of my early childhood memories manifest as images really similar to weirdcore stuff lol I guess that's part of the appeal
I feel that way for "Gen X Corporate" aesthetic. It was one I was exposed to as a kid, and to me it invokes a feeling of wonder and adventure.
I think I have a similar thing too, like a desire to go back to the places I only saw when I was very young and explore them more (just as they were then) as an adult. I'm not sure but I've always thought this feeling came from spite at the fact that I was only a mere child at that time, and even though I know that's not my fault and nothing to be ashamed of, when I was a kid I desperately wanted to grow up so the people around me wouldn't look down on me and treat me like dirt. I think that feeling has left me a sense of deep resentment and bitterness, and a longing to see my life as I wished how it could have been. I think the fact that world has changed so much has added to that bitterness because I feel like the experience was taken away from me too soon and I never got a chance to really be a part of that experience.

That probably sounds weird I know. As I've mentioned before I have a lot of PTSD relating to my childhood, so maybe this is a form or effect of it as well?
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Re: What is nostalgia like for you?

Post by unbody »

Veezle wrote: Sun Jun 12, 2022 11:36 pm I think I have a similar thing too, like a desire to go back to the places I only saw when I was very young and explore them more (just as they were then) as an adult.
Can definitely relate to the PTSD stuff and wanting to explore. I'd say that urge to exploration is what makes my emotions about early childhood memories so similar to the ones about liminal memes. For me I think it's less so about wanting to explore the places I went to now as an adult and more like a strange desire to physically step into a memory or some kind of otherworldly manifestation of the past with all of its distortions and explore that to uncover the secrets lying underneath the harsh/aggressive/painful banality of my childhood. Idk if that makes sense lol
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Re: What is nostalgia like for you?

Post by lavender »

Cobra! wrote: Sun Jun 12, 2022 10:02 pm I feel that way for "Gen X Corporate" aesthetic. It was one I was exposed to as a kid, and to me it invokes a feeling of wonder and adventure.
lots of the common nostalgic items from my age end up feeling kinda dry or boring to me, but i get nostalgic about themes like this because of how it separates the aesthetic into something that's "other", especially in the case of technology of the gen-x corporate era. it feels decidedly like something that is an object and i can see as such.

the aesthetic trend of the last 15 or so years in contrast has been centered around ultra-minimalism, clean and hard edged and glassy. it has a kind of soullessness that suggests it wasnt intentionally designed in any way and that rubs me the wrong way. it's industrial without the grime that the industrial world incurs, it's weirdly dystopian and suggests to push the imperfections of the world behind a curtain.

so i guess nostalgia to me is really heavily tied with aesthetics of different eras, approaches to design that suggest the zeitgeist of the time, and relationships to the world around us that were much different (and to me, often preferable) when i was younger.
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Re: What is nostalgia like for you?

Post by irkeneon »

It's real "Dervish not being a normal person" hours for this post.

I'm in a system and didn't fully exist until the body was 16 or 17, so while nostalgia exists for me it's weird. I feel absolutely no connection to anything that happened to the body before I formed and don't even really recognize old pictures of it. The earliest I might feel some connection to is maybe around 14 at the latest.

Most of my nostalgia occurred from when I was forming so it's things connected to whatever we were involved in with high school, but that was such a period of trauma for us so the feelings range from it feeling as something liminal or not fully real, or as something which causes anxiety or fear, and no matter what it's intense.

There's also a lot of really unfortunate nostalgia in things like emotional self harm, traumatizing online communities, or extreme autistic burnout that feels extremely wrong to miss, but if I get into a state of missing it then it's not good.

I was actually talking to our mom about something similar the other day where I feel like my life didn't really start until I was 21, which I'm currently 21 and didn't turn 21 until a couple months ago, but some really intense things happened around our birthday and it just felt like a turning point where I just started to feel like I really am a person, and everything else before then feels like a haze of just struggling with existence.

so yeah it's a weird answer and maybe a lot more intense then it would be for anyone else, but then again nostalgia is always a topic that has the potential to get deep :v
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Re: What is nostalgia like for you?

Post by CyberCat2000 »

This is gonna be a hard one.

Nostalgia is kind of an interesting thing to think about. For me, it's revisiting the past as well as re-evaluating the things I've done in the past. It's a good way for me to learn about what went right and wrong for myself. Besides this, it's also revisiting things I liked when I was younger to see if they held up. I admit, I also have a thing for retro stuff, so nostalgia is also learning about old things and how they can be relevant in today's world!
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Re: What is nostalgia like for you?

Post by OppositeKeith »

i have very mixed feelings about it.

on one hand its good to remember your journey as a person growing up with the people around you, the media you consumed, and the websites you used to explore. it may not be the same as you were as a kid but its good to know it will mostly still be there to be re watchable and revoke those memories. as well as bring people together and be used more than a pass time to look back.

on the other hand i dont like how nostalgia can warp peoples perspectives on what was life like back then as well as distorting the past itself on what culture it was like and ignoring most of the flaws that came about it throught out its year or decade. and i of course dont like how companies use to market IPs they probably wouldve never touched in their lives if it wasnt for the nostalgia that came with it.

despite all that though its hard to come across this topic without sounding like an asshole to people who just want to share their memories as a kid. i was lucky enough to get things like the wii and and watch shows like curious george because i had a harder time making friends before my entrance into high school and even when i did make friends i hesitated and lied to them instead just to have something in common. ive made friends ever since and im rarely ever talking about nostalgia nowadays. im still very young and im taking that to enjoy everything thats around me today. from forum sites to discord and music ill enjoy it while it lasts.
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Re: What is nostalgia like for you?

Post by swifty »

it's definitely a sort of like... melancholy feeling for me. there were a few bright spots in my past, but it was also a very hard time for me for various reasons. it's not as wistful as 'i wish it was like this again' - in fact, i think it's best that it never goes back to that again, ack! - but just more of.... ahh, i don't know! but it's definitely not a feeling of wanting to go back at all.
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Re: What is nostalgia like for you?

Post by nightwolf334 »

It is really frustrating for me. I did not get my life together until I was in my mid-twenty's. I wasted a lot of time as a teenager chasing what I thought made me happy and not really focusing on the important stuff. I guess my younger years were actually quite fun and joyous. Fourteen to Twenty-one were pretty tumultuous because my health was horrible and in turn I had no energy and could not really accomplish anything - so I just did what I could. I made some pretty stark changes as an adult and really I am more nostalgic about the journey of that change than I am for anything that happen before that. Thinking too far back brings me a profound sadness of wasted potential. Though, as I am still on the rise from my mid-twenty's I actually have some preemptive excitement about the nostalgia I will feel towards the journey in the current chapter of my life I am in once its over.
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