The Unexpected Benefits (and Risks) of Nostalgia

Psychologists consider nostalgia a complex emotion and it may have both benefits and risks.

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[jimtuv]

I miss the days that I had nostalgia. Those were truly the best of days I used to remember.

[MusiCaninesTheMusicalDogs]

I'm so old I miss the times when I used to miss stuff.

[StefanVeenstra]

Nostalgia is like a ruler for individual measurement.
When I feel lonely, I long back to the days friendships were in abundance. It also reminds me of past decisions I evaluate on how it worked out for me.
Sometimes it gets the better of me, most times it reminds me of how relative everything is.
Although I was a misanthropic suicidal years ago, the deaths of some of my best friends make me feel like I challenging myself to keep on going.
Sure, I miss the time spend with them, the memories, the nostalgia, they empower me whenever I'm down.

[secondsuccess]

Nostalgia really isn't what it used to be.

[NewMessage]

When I grew up, we didn't have nostalgia like you kids do today, and we liked it that way! Ohhh.. the good ol' days.

[slagondrayer]

I know too many people who waste their days away now trying to relive the past they think was somehow better, trying to have that same "good" experience, its really sad.
On the other hand, The Matrix was awesome when it came out, now its terrible.

[jsredrose]

I live in a constant state of nostalgia. Part of the reason why I'm a historian! Pretty cool to see that it has a functional purpose.

[evelynellsworth]

I get nostalgic SO MUCH, sometimes even for things that haven't ended yet. That tertiary Si really kicks me in the rear sometimes

[microbuilder]

Interesting video...I love nostalgia, and look forward to the day of my passing. More research is needed.

[grass]

2:23 couldn't it be that the reason the people who thought about nostalgic things gave less death-related answers than the others is simply because they had thought about something other than death which it got off of their minds? and the reason people gave death-related answers was because it was still fresh in their minds, unlike the people who were thinking about something nostalgic after thinking about death? or am i missing something?

[Lemanic]

"Nostalgia can screw with your memory a bit" *cue Sonic the Hedgehog fans*

[HyperDragon]

Over the past year, I've updated my most favorite movies list like 4 times, and I haven't been in High School in years.

[Kitsudote]

02:40 Coffee is neutral? Not for a programmer :)

[horseenthusiast]

Fascinating! I am an extremely nostalgic person (sometimes to my detriment), so learning about how nostalgia works helps me navigate my life a little more critically and easily. What's funny is I was actually really obsessed with The Legend of Zelda in middle school, so all the Zelda talk (plus the fact that I've been replaying Ocarina of Time recently) made me feel really, REALLY nostalgic.

[lyndasutherland]

Thanks to your insight, I can say that I still care more deeply for some shows I watched when in my childhood, because my much beloved Grandmother also enjoyed those shows - even though she watched them when much older. In other words, that old show reminded me of a favourite loved one, during a time I felt moderately safe from the big, adult world.

[mraaronhd]

For me, nostalgia really hit in ‘07-‘08. I had a fall out with my best friend back in ‘03 and I was pretty sad over the situation. Then he came back into my life maybe back in ‘06-‘07, but he really came back to date my older sister and our dynamics just weren’t the same. Also, him and my other best friend (who was also one of his best friends) weren’t really talking either. I just missed that dynamic we all used to have back in ‘99-‘03. Combine that with YouTube and the internet, I became super nostalgic for time period. It made it hard to move in my life because I just yearned for that time period of being young and having fun with my best friends- discovering common hobbies together like Pokémon, anime, video games, and just things like that.

Fast forward to today- we’re all in our 30s now; we’re all married (my best friend did marry my sister so he’s now family); we’re all talking again. It’s definitely nice, and I hope my son can experience the joy that I had felt when I was 12-15 years old.

[ItsMe-oxlm]

Well, I am 26 years old, and I hate nostalgia, because it drives me to the path of depression. And I always think that the past was better than the present, so...

[jerryshunk]

How cruelly sweet the echoes that start ~ when memory plays an old tune on the heart !!! " Ol' Dobbin, ' Eliza Cook ~~~

[tangbein]

My nostalgia started when I was 26 - coincidently with my quarter life crisis. It was from this point that I started thinking about for example when a videogame came out, and how the release of this videogame was only a certain number of years after another event.

[NessaWyvern]

3:31 my dad brought home this TV series that he loved as a kid, called "Evil Roy Slade" saying that it was great... And then we started watching it, it was terrible, and he got really embarrassed XD