Every time I talk with a colleague, specifically those who are much younger than I am, about pop culture references or other memories of my childhood I get a subtle, not so subtle, reminder that I am getting old AF. Heck, I barely understand some of the things my son tells me about pop culture.
That said, my friends, if you are around my age, you too might lament the days of old, before social media, when the only way to remember things was to flip through a photo album, find a concert ticket in a drawer, or experience something that takes you back a decade or two to fond memories.
Social Media Ruined Nostalgia
Today, we don’t have those same nostalgic moments. Today, every social media platform offers you a daily reminder of what happened a year ago, 2 years ago, and sometimes even 8 years ago or more.
This is not a post to trash social media. I genuinely love many aspects of it and spend enough time on them (sometimes too much time) to know the value it brings. And yet, this aspect makes all the old memories that used to create nostalgic moments feel like they happened yesterday and forces the memories.
Forcing Memories & Losing the Spontenaety
Facebook just reminded me about the time I spontaneously booked a flight to Finland with my son to chase the northern lights. Because I made a video about it 4 years ago it popped up as a memory. Which by the way, I am thankful for the recollection. It was an incredible trip. But it’s the spontenaety of the memory that has been lost. The feeling of the brisk air on my face as the winter approaches which might trigger a moment to recall the weather in Rovaniemi, and the incredible trip we had.
’80s and ’90s kids will remember the smell of apple picking with their parents or the taste of a food that transports you back in time. Or just today on my drive home, when Empire State of Mind came up on my Spotify, and I recalled the time I was working in New York at a production studio and met Alicia Keys, and how she was so lovely and gracious, and even took a picture with me, which over the years, I have no idea where it went. All I have left is the memory.
Or that time someone said something about El Nino and I busted into the Saturday Night Live Chris Farley Skit, only to then go down a rabbit hole of all my Chris Farley memories, which I recognize I wouldn’t be able to have were it not for Youtube. But the memory was mine.
We Are All Archivists
Truly, I am not against it. Technology has created the ability to capture everlasting memories and gives the constant reminder of them all the time, at any time. We’ve all become archivists of sorts. It’s an incredible way to catalog our lives and not leave the memory of them to chance. Which also comes at a price.
While I appreciate that deeply, I miss those moments, those true spontaneous nostalgic moments. The ones that make you feel like a million bucks when you have them. The true ones that warm you up with the fondest memories. I know we still have them but it’s different, and I think over time, we numb our brains to using it that way. Like writing cursive. I wish for my kids that it’s not too far gone to have those experiences themselves, or lose the ability to make nostalgia happen.