Everyone has experienced nostalgia in their lives, whether that be when scrolling through Instagram and finding a reel of an old show or cleaning out your closet and finding an old elementary school project.

Nostalgia is a sentimental longing for the past. To clearly define something as nostalgic, according to psychologist Clay Routledge, it must have a social component, personal meaning and a triggered emotion.

“[I] usually [feel nostalgic] if I hear the jingle of a show that I would watch, or the smell of an inflatable house,” junior Camden Muir said.
Nostalgia does not have to be from a personal memory, but rather it can encompass a longing for any past time period, even if someone was not a part of that.
The Barbie movie, the revival of the ‘90s and early 2000s fashion trends and the comeback of vinyls are all examples of current trends that add to the nostalgic feel of the present day.
Social media is also a magnet for nostalgia. With more access than ever before, social media is a platform where users can share and reminisce about their past experiences.
So why exactly is everyone feeling so nostalgic? One reason may be the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Krystine Batcho, a psychology professor at LeMoyne College, nostalgia can be triggered as a result of social isolation, disconnectedness or loneliness.In a time period where everything was out of control, nostalgia helped people feel they had at least some grip on their life.

Nostalgia is a reminder of what you’ve been through and promotes you to move forward.
“I think, as a society, we’re progressing so fast. And with all that progress comes a lot of change and humans are not really comfortable with change and I think [with] nostalgia, it’s comforting,” junior Alyssa Noorani said.
With recovery from the pandemic still happening and talk about a recession, the recent increase in the nostalgic culture makes sense. People want to be reminded of the joyful times. Feeling nostalgic is also most apparent in transitional periods of a person’s life.
“I think [Generation Z] in particular, feels like they are adulting too fast and long for when they were a kid and simpler times,” Muir said.

According to Routledge, teenagers and young adults encounter nostalgia the most because they are currently experiencing the most influential times in their lives. Fast paced changes make life chaotic, causing people to reminisce and often default to what they know made them happy in the past.
Nostalgia isn’t really a memory in the sense that it is more of a romanticized version of the past.
“If I am attaching a positive memory to something and I look back on it, I easily block out details,” Noorani said. “I just focus on the good because that’s the part that I want to remember.”
However, it is important not to get caught up in the past.
“If you get too much into the nostalgic stuff, it can be bad…because you really can’t go back to those times anymore,” junior Taha Sekerci said.
Reminiscing about a past that no longer exists can make it hard to picture the future. On the other hand, knowing that nostalgia isn’t a perfect snapshot can help get over being stuck in the past.
Learning to enjoy reminiscing allows nostalgia to be a good thing.
Sekerci, who moved to the United States in 2021, especially likes to look back on life in his home in Turkey.
“When I see trees, I remember our village, which makes me feel nostalgic because I used to be really happy there,” Sekerci said.
Nostalgia can help people through hard times. Being able to relive those past moments can help you stay grounded.
“If I am having a bad day and I run across something that reminds me of a time when I was young and hopeful all the time, it brings really positive memories,” said Noorani. “It lifts my mood. And I think [nostalgia is] a really organic way to just boost your mood.”
When people are faced with a lot of stress, nostalgia can help to naturally reduce it. It helps people feel motivated and confident to face the future since after all, nostalgia is a reminder that lives have meaning and are capable of happiness.
Currently, you may yearn for the carefree days of elementary school, chasing friends on the playground and fighting over who gets to play with the rubber bouncy ball. But one day in the future, you will look back at the high school moments you are experiencing right now and feel nostalgic for these times. So live in the moment. Enjoy the present. As the famous quote goes, “Don’t cry because it’s over; smile because it happened.”