I was doing a research on nostalgia and pop culture, and I notice that once people hit their 30s, they start to feel nostalgic for pop culture that's 20 years old. They are going to yearn for their preteen and teen pop culture.  I've seen this a million of times. People who are ages 30-33 are most likely going to feel nostalgic for the mid to late 80s pop culture when they were in their preteens and/or teens.  People who are ages 34-39 are going to feel nostalgic  for the late 70s and early to mid 80s when they were in their preteens and/or teens.  Every decade has a nostalgic period.  The 1950s was the nostagia of the 1930s.  The 1960s was the nostalgia of the 1940s.  The 1970s was the nostagia of the 1950s.  The 1980s was the nostalgia of the 1960s.  The 1990s was the nostalgia of the 1970s.  The 2000s is now the nostalgia of the 80s. And, sooner or later, the 2010s are going to be the nostagia of the 1990s.  This has been going on forever.  I notice that when I turned 30 this year, I start to feel nostagic for late 80s pop culture.  I started to feel nostagic for New Jack Swing when it first came out.  I went to a 20-year celebration for New Jack Swing in September 8 of this year.  All of a sudden, I feel like I'm in my preteens, middle school days again.  I started to buy New Jack Swing music all of a sudden.  I started to watch old RnB videos from 1987 to 1989.  I was like, "What happen to me?  Why am I feeling nostalgic?"

I pretty much agree. :) Although there's a difference between personal and mainstream nostalgia. I don't think it really became "cool" in terms of reviving music, fashion or styles until the early 1970s...once the '50s got old enough, and probably seemed innocent and distant after the Vietnam War, JFK's assassination, a more drug-influenced hippie culture and other overall dark events of that time.

One other contributing reason why it didn't seem to be around before then, was that times before the '50s weren't really something alot of people wanted to remember. The Great Depression, more of a conformist mentality and open discrimination, sexism, as well as alot of people struggling and living through poverty, etc.

Also, people experience it much younger now. In the past, it was probably more like 35 before people got really into it. Now it's more like teens and early 20s where it really starts, lol.

I pretty much agree. :) Although there's a difference between personal and mainstream nostalgia. I don't think it really became "cool" in terms of reviving music, fashion or styles until the early 1970s...once the '50s got old enough, and probably seemed innocent and distant after the Vietnam War, JFK's assassination, a more drug-influenced hippie culture and other overall dark events of that time.

Also, people experience it much younger now. In the past, it was probably more like 35 before people got really into it. Now it's more like teens and early 20s where it really starts, lol.


I notice that, too.  I don't know, but I had STRONG nostagic feeling for the 1985-1989 lately.  Maybe it's because that's when I first moved in with my father in 1985, and it was awesome RnB, rap, and pop  around that time.

If you think about it Jesse the 50s and the 60s were the first times in history when children/teens started pulling away from their parents. It started with Rock & Roll in the 50's and went on to evolve from being just about a difference in music to a difference in styles, experiences, and political values.  Once kids started to take the reins of their own lives they changed the way the world rotated on its axis... part of this is because of advances in technology.

Thanks to TV the kids got to see that not everyone acted the way they did in their town (the way their parents acted) and once they were exposed to the "big bad world" they absorbed as much as they could and wanted even more.

I think the nostalgia thing is not just about grasping at youth....I think its about embracing that feeling of rebellion and independent expression and wanting to get away from the REALITY of today and go back to the IDEALISM of yesterday....

Let's face when we were kids we thought being adults would be "so cool"  now that we have reached adulthood we learn it kinda sucks and long for the idealic times when we thought we could control the world!

^ I can agree for the most part, especially with the last statement. I mean when I was 10 I thought people who were the age I am now were really cool (twentysomethings in, say 1992). What I didn't realize is that is also means having to be a fully functioning adult for the first time in many ways, and deciding your whole life on your own, which can really be hard. It's not all like Wayne's World and I wish it hadn't taken me this long to realize that. I could've appreciated my early teen years more. From about 12 to 15 I wanted to be treated older, and kind of casted off some traditional kid/young teen things to an extent.

If you think about it Jesse the 50s and the 60s were the first times in history when children/teens started pulling away from their parents. It started with Rock & Roll in the 50's and went on to evolve from being just about a difference in music to a difference in styles, experiences, and political values.  Once kids started to take the reins of their own lives they changed the way the world rotated on its axis... part of this is because of advances in technology.

Thanks to TV the kids got to see that not everyone acted the way they did in their town (the way their parents acted) and once they were exposed to the "big bad world" they absorbed as much as they could and wanted even more.

I think the nostalgia thing is not just about grasping at youth....I think its about embracing that feeling of rebellion and independent expression and wanting to get away from the REALITY of today and go back to the IDEALISM of yesterday....

Let's face when we were kids we thought being adults would be "so cool"  now that we have reached adulthood we learn it kinda sucks and long for the idealic times when we thought we could control the world!





  This is true because when I was a preteen, I wanted so bad to look older.  I wanted to look like Salt n Pepa and Janet Jackson.  I didn't want the pig tails that I used to wear, not at 11 years old.  I wanted to wear those doorknocker earrings, but my father told me that it's too big for me, so he bought me the smaller ones.  I remember when gold rope chains and gold doorknockers, and gold name-plate earrings were very popular in the black community.  Now that I'm 30, I wish I was a preteen and a teen now when things were simple and you didn't have a lot of responsibilities that you do now except housechores.

  This is true because when I was a preteen, I wanted so bad to look older.  I wanted to look like Salt n Pepa and Janet Jackson.  I didn't want the pig tails that I used to wear, not at 11 years old.  I wanted to wear those doorknocker earrings, but my father told me that it's too big for me, so he bought me the smaller ones.  I remember when gold rope chains and gold doorknockers, and gold name-plate earrings were very popular in the black community.  Now that I'm 30, I wish I was a preteen and a teen now when things were simple and you didn't have a lot of responsibilities that you do now except housechores.


The first day I got the Sims game for my PS2 I stayed up 27hours straight playing it... my clock was going so fast my poor character only had time to work, eat, clean, go to the bathroom & sleep.  She barely had a personal life or outlet for entertainment. I'd spent all this time getting her to work to make money to buy cool toys but she never had time to appreciate the toys cuz she had to work to keep a roof over her head... after 27 hours I realized that my Sims character was living my life!  I thought how sad...I've been playing for more than a day and neither my character nor me are happy with our lives...I have never played again!  ;D

The first day I got the Sims game for my PS2 I stayed up 27hours straight playing it... my clock was going so fast my poor character only had time to work, eat, clean, go to the bathroom & sleep.  She barely had a personal life or outlet for entertainment. I'd spent all this time getting her to work to make money to buy cool toys but she never had time to appreciate the toys cuz she had to work to keep a roof over her head... after 27 hours I realized that my Sims character was living my life!  I thought how sad...I've been playing for more than a day and neither my character nor me are happy with our lives...I have never played again!  ;D









Sometimes being an adult sucks!!!  >:(  The only good thing about being an adult is independence.

Sometimes being an adult sucks!!!  Angry  The only good thing about being an adult is independence.

yeah  >:(

^ It does. I think it's because everyday is less and less certain, whereas when you're a kid and even a teen to a lesser extent, your basic existance is more "secured" so you don't have to worry about supporting yourself and all. Once you're like 17-20 you really start noticing this change, but it's really set in stone by the midtwenties.

^ It does. I think it's because everyday is less and less certain, whereas when you're a kid and even a teen to a lesser extent, your basic existance is more "secured" so you don't have to worry about supporting yourself and all. Once you're like 17-20 you really start noticing this change, but it's really set in stone by the midtwenties.
  I'm going to give you a karma for this because you drop some serious logic!!!  That is SOOOOO true.  Like I said on one of my posts on the 80s board, once you hit 17, 18, and 19, your taste buds for pop culture starts to change little by little.  You don't give up pop culture right away, of course, but like you said,  your adulthood is set in stone when you're 24, 25, or 26 and sometimes 27, but I know you are a full grown adult by the time you hit around these ages.  When you turn 18, you are a legal adult by law, but you have yet to learn how it is to be an adult, and that's why you are a full-grown adult once you hit your mid twenties

Thanks. :) Yeah, I think about 16 to 25 is the real "midpoint stage decade" of your life - where you look like an adult, but aren't yet used to being in that life yet.

Thanks. :) Yeah, I think about 16 to 25 is the real "midpoint stage decade" of your life - where you look like an adult, but aren't yet used to being in that life yet.
Sometimes some people don't become a full-grown adult until they're 26 or 27.  Some people mature slower than others.

i started feeling nostalgic when i turn 15... wiiieeeeerd...

Sometimes some people don't become a full-grown adult until they're 26 or 27.  Some people mature slower than others.


Exactly, it depends on the person. Some 12 year olds are probably way more mature than some 40 year olds, lol. I guess on average, you're probably right, though. I do think people act and generally come off much younger today. Doesn't it also seem like in the '80s, people in their thirties seemed like they were generally old and out of touch (that's the impression I get from TV shows and movies), now they're more like "older young adults"?

i started feeling nostalgic when i turn 15... wiiieeeeerd...


Dude I was 9 if that makes you feel any better, lol.

Of course with me, alot of it had to do with personal things in my life changing at the time, so whenever something became different, it was noticeable enough for me to compare it to the time before it.

In 1993 I was calling 1987 "the good old days" lol.

I also see that trend for feeling nostalgic for things 20 years and onward. I guess for me, it started more like at 10 years. When I was 20, I couldn't believe that it had been 10 years since I'd turn 10 and that was one of the best years I could ever recall. Now that I'll be turning 26, I am getting more nostalgic because things 20 years ago are actually times I really remember. I was at Blockbuster tonight and they had a 20th Anniversary edition of Harry and Hendersons on the racks, and I was a bit shocked it had been around that long. It never seemed like it was THAT long ago. Boy, oh boy, I can just imagine what turning 30 will do to me  ;D