Although i recognize every decade has positives and negatives, I have some points why some people wish for the past and not just because of childhood or that they had no responsibilities.

1. Music. There were plenty of diverse genres that people had back then and the majority had good messages in them. In certain music genres, there were actual instruments played such as in rock, synthetic pop, and hip-hop and a person can hear it within a song. Additionally, there were more than 2 generations that listened to the same music and it was fun and enjoyable.

2. Hardcore. If one got into a fight with another, they would duke it out until one of them won; then they would become friends and no one got in trouble. If a bully picked on an individual or someone else, then a person would step up and teach them a lesson. Nowadays, even if one is defending him/herself against an opponent, the person will get in trouble and possibly be arrested. Moreover, if someone was hardcore, then it was true and no one would assume that the person is soft.

3. Video Games. In the past, there were home game consoles and arcades which had people go everywhere to play them and not just at home. When games were released, it presented the full content and that was what one would receive. No BS of DLC or other unnecessary stuff. A majority of games also presented single player and multiplayer modes which people would play and have fun with. Whenever a commercial was shown for a hyped up game, the results would be accurate therefore making the money worth it to buy. Furthermore, the games wouldn't just be one genre, they would be diverse as well. Last, the game-play was more important than the graphics itself.

4. Entertainment. I acknowledge some shows and movies today are well done, unfortunately most are horrible. Overtime, reality TV diminished what prime-time shows are. These days, it's all about realism. There's no imagination and plots throughout the story and some of the acting is bland. In addition, some directors seem like they are forcing the scenes instead of not letting it come naturally and there's not much unexpected acts that's not part of the script.

5. Terrorism. Ever since 9/11 occurred, the world hasn't been the same. Yes i know America and other countries had genocides before the horrific event, but the word terrorism wasn't part of everyday language. People then felt more secure in their environment and wasn't worried about an invasion (although there were high crime rates and the cold war, but they were completely different). Kids were to able to play outside until dark unless, they spent the night at their friends house. In addition, no country was in another country's business therefore no wars (unless one lived in another country full of them) and the economy was booming making stuff affordable and the unemployment rate very low.

6. Men and Women. Back in the day, there were plenty of men and women who were gorgeous, they were considered heartthrobs and be featured in magazines, articles, and interviews. Today, there are beautiful males and females; however, most of them aren't being fantasized as much as the vintage idols. What's more is most of the classic celebrities had natural beauty and they didn't have to resort to excessive cosmetics to appear elegant.

7. PC (Political Correctness). In the past, people weren't afraid say offensive terms to someone else. Today, A majority of them avoid using certain expressions to irritate others. A person's views, beliefs, and/or mindset didn't have to adjust with the rest of the crowd. One could have a divergent mentality and people wouldn't be quick to criticize another. Additionally, if some individuals were certain stereotypes, others wouldn't be PC about it.

8. Social Interaction/Technology. In the old days, most people enjoyed themselves and each other. Whether it was a picnic, beach day or even a family reunion, a bulk of folks spoke to each other and it was normal. Nowadays, numerous people don't even say talk to each other because of the technology surrounding them. Likewise, a majority of them are immersed with electronics that they don't go outside for adventures anymore. Even if one was inside the house, the person had a variety of activities to do such as drawing, reading, painting, and building objects. Now, there's less leisure communication of face-to-face/calling and more texting/socializing on web and it seems to draw more people away from each other.

It's ironic you posted this today! :) Jerry Seinfeld himself talked about NETWORK tv's decline! and he's RIGHT. Cable has completely taken over almost. They have some of the best tv shows out right now!

It's ironic you posted this today! :) Jerry Seinfeld himself talked about NETWORK tv's decline! and he's RIGHT. Cable has completely taken over almost. They have some of the best tv shows out right now!
Did he talked about it recently?

I'm nostalgic for the past because back then music and TV, it was just a special moment in time that brought you back to where you were at that specific time and place.

1. Music. There were plenty of diverse genres that people had back then and the majority had good messages in them. In certain music genres, there were actual instruments played such as in rock, synthetic pop, and hip-hop and a person can hear it within a song.


Except that 30 years ago, the comment was that "there used to be diverse genres like rock, folk, and maybe punk. Those genres had actual instruments, unlike the synthesizers used in that Disco and early New Wave stuff, and totally unlike that fake sampled stuff those rappers like Run DMC used."

5. Terrorism. Ever since 9/11 occurred, the world hasn't been the same. Yes i know America and other countries had genocides before the horrific event, but the word terrorism wasn't part of everyday language. People then felt more secure in their environment and wasn't worried about an invasion (although there were high crime rates and the cold war, but they were completely different). Kids were to able to play outside until dark unless, they spent the night at their friends house. In addition, no country was in another country's business therefore no wars (unless one lived in another country full of them) and the economy was booming making stuff affordable and the unemployment rate very low.

Communism. Ever since the Berlin Wall went up, the world hasn't been the same. Yes I know America and other countries had actual genocides with body counts in the seven figure range instead of the 5-6-figure range of Korea and Vietnam, but the word communism wasn't part of everyday language. People then felt more secure in felt more secure in their environment and wasn't worried about an invasion (although there were high crime rates and WW2, but they were completely different). Kids were to able to play outside until dark unless, they spent the night at their friends house. In addition, no country was in another country's business therefore no wars (OH GOD I CAN'T PARODY THIS POST ANYMORE BECAUSE KOREA, VIETNAM, AND 2 MILLION DEAD IN POL POT'S KILLING FIELDS ARE FUNNIER THAN ANYTHING I COULD WRITE)


7. PC (Political Correctness). In the past, people weren't afraid say offensive terms to someone else. Today, A majority of them avoid using certain expressions to irritate others. A person's views, beliefs, and/or mindset didn't have to adjust with the rest of the crowd. One could have a divergent mentality and people wouldn't be quick to criticize another. Additionally, if some individuals were certain stereotypes, others wouldn't be PC about it.


Sorry for snarking at you on the first two points.  This one's actually an interesting disagreement, because it's cyclical. 

Before I went to college, my understanding of the workplace was that things were pretty barbaric.  It was dimly realized that "have sex with me or lose your job" quid-pro-quo sexual harassment was unacceptable, but it was regarded as normal to ogle people, make wisecracks about their anatomy, and what-not.  Copping of feels, etc., was considered vaguely distasteful but ultimately not a matter worthy of legal or policy attention.

When I went to college, PC/SJW was really just getting started.  We called it "PC", not "SJW".  This was the era of Andrew Dworkin, who went from radical outsider in the early 80s to finding common ground with the Meese administration on issues of pornography, to wit: ban it all.  (Dworkin's extremism was such that she wrote that consensual sex between two heterosexual persons, was also an act of male-on-female rape.  This was almost a mainstream position amongst the PC vanguard of the day.) 

Off campus, the next big thing was Clarence Thomas vs. Anita Hill.  Was it sexual harassment to talk to a subordinate about your pr0n collection and make comments about people leaving pubes on your can of soda?  Well, yeah, but did anyone believe Anita?  Well, no.  But that didn't stop it from being headline news, and from several cases setting new legal precedents.  The courts found (wisely, I think) that the employer has a duty to make sure employees are protected from each other.

The gist of it was that if you graduated college in the late 80s through the early 90s, you entered a workforce in which the rule was that if anything you said offended someone, you were guilty and subject to losing your job.  Not because of anything you did, but because the person you misspoke to might win a lawsuit against the company for permitting a hostile work environment.  Human Resources works for the company, and would pre-emptively fire the accused to prevent anyone from successfully claiming victim status and suing the company for millions.

The cycle ended, oddly enough, with the (first) Clinton administration.  Bill Clinton pulled back on the religious fundamentalists at the DoJ, and for some strange reason, those whose politics would have predisposed them to the conclusion that a blowjob between Boss of All Bosses and a subordinate like, say, some intern, reflected an abusive power relationship regardless of how much the subordinate wanted it, suddenly developed a blind spot when it came to harassment. :)

The time when, as you put it, "people weren't afraid say offensive terms to someone else," reflected an interval of common sense.  The last time I went through the corporate version of sexual harassment training - no, they didn't teach us to harass, they just rambled for a while and made us sign something that would help the company if we ever acted like idiots at work - the rules were surprisingly commonsensical.  If you want to ask a co-worker out, you might be an idiot for putting your personal interests ahead of your career, but go ahead and ask.  If she says no, you don't get to ask again, ever.  But the upside is that you won't get fired, and you won't expose the company to legal risk by asking once.

That compromise of the 90s-00s was a pretty reasonable compromise.  No touching.  No ogling.  But if you like someone, you can ask, just respect their answer.  Just don't act like (*trigger alert*) dicks (/*trigger alert*) to each other and nobody has to get sued or fired, and everybody comes back to work tomorrow.  I remember being utterly flabbergasted by an actual HR professional, hired by my company's own HR department in order to immunize the company against harassment lawsuits, telling a roomful of us that employee fraternization was actually OK.  If you want a car analogy, it was like learning that the your 1950s Cadillac had antilock brakes and airbags all along, instead of a giant metal spike coming out of the steering wheel pointed at your chest.  No, DUI is still stupid and there's no excuse for it, but it's OK to go faster than 20 miles an hour without worrying about dying in a fireball.

As you point out now, the pendulum has swung back the other way.  But my point is that it's not a one-way thing.  The present-day hypersensitivity of SJWs to "triggers" or words like "dongle" is merely a swing back towards the Dworkinite radicalism of the late 80s and early 90s.  You don't have to be a GamerGate redpiller to know that people shouldn't act like (*trigger alert*) dicks (/*trigger alert*) to each other.  You just have to wait a couple more years for it to blow over and for common sense to reassert itself.

I'm nostalgic for the past because back then music and TV, it was just a special moment in time that brought you back to where you were at that specific time and place.


I agree with Howard. I don't believe nostalgia is as complicated as all this. To me, nostalgia is an emotional (and sometimes irrational) connection with something we will not get back again.

Not only do things change outside of our families, things don't stay the same inside our families. As loved ones get old and die we are faced with the gripping reality that what we once knew is not constant, continually changing and it's this change that is out of our control that frightens us so we look back to times that comfort us, when we knew where we stood in life.

For example, I don't consider 9/11 a reason why I am nostalgic for the some blissful naive past that wasn't there to start with. Wars, terrorism and conspiracies have arrived and departed way before our youth meant anything. USA (at least since World War II) has always had some opponent to face whether it was Korea, Vietnam, Russia, Iraq, Afghanistan or ISIS.

Sometimes I feel that I want the past back but I know it can never change, we can only look forward to the future.

Sometimes I feel that I want the past back but I know it can never change, we can only look forward to the future.


Well...Enjoy your wonderful memories but, as you say, don't let them control the life you want to lead.  :)

Well...Enjoy your wonderful memories but, as you say, don't let them control the life you want to lead.  :)


Agree with this.  You can never relive old times.  If you try, you will fail miserably.

Nostalgia is appealing because we tend to look back through rose-colored glasses.  Plus, many of the times and experiences we are nostalgic for were during our formative years when they were new, fresh, exciting experiences.  The music of the era reminds us of those times.  That's why I like the late '00s so much.  That was by far the most exciting period of my life and the greatest period of personal growth I've ever experienced.  Looking back though, it was anything but carefree and it wasn't all sunshine and roses.

When you think about your day to day life back then though, was it really as awesome as you remember it?

When you think about your day to day life back then though, was it really as awesome as you remember it?

I guess you could say it was an OK time period.

3. Video Games. In the past, there were home game consoles and arcades which had people go everywhere to play them and not just at home.

Indeed so...... Now all there is IS COMPLETE TRASH in any arcades now!!

This joke called "WOW ENTERTAINMENT" -- Nothing but garbage in it.... And they wonder why no one is in there @ these malls??

I went to a bowling alley that had an arcade yesterday...... Tons of games.... NOTHING GOOD!!!!!!!!!

There was a huge pacman game there.. HUGE FLASHY LED SCREEN (Probably 10ft tall) .... HURT MY EYES TO LOOK AT IT..... PIECE OF TRASH!!!


Everything about the world sucks now.... Clothes are made of the thinnest material possible and feel horrible.........

clothes suck arcades suck all the fun stores in my City are gone.  I don't want to go to our roller rink to hear Barbie girl

Sometimes I'm wondering if some people on this board are geniune masters of irony or the biggest captains obvious yet. Hopefully the former because...

I guess some people don't want to live in the "now", they prefer the past and enjoy to stay there.

Well whats good about "NOW" Howard??

Nothing buddy........

People who have babies should be ashamed of themselves.... Bringing an innocent child into this hell hole!!!

People who have babies should be ashamed of themselves.... Bringing an innocent child into this hell hole!!!
Maybe because they just want to have a baby and their situation is doing great so they afford it all, and you should be ashamed for judging people like this completely out of the blue!!!!

Well whats good about "NOW" Howard??

Nothing buddy........

People who have babies should be ashamed of themselves.... Bringing an innocent child into this hell hole!!!

*dead*

everybody, listen to me

Well whats good about "NOW" Howard??

Nothing buddy........

People who have babies should be ashamed of themselves.... Bringing an innocent child into this hell hole!!!

Maybe you should watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCm9Ng0bbEQ

I like a decade which was until recently hated on a lot (the 2000s). I would dare say I even prefer the manufactured pop music it had compared to the bland, tame and incoherent music we have this decade. I also like the more androgynous fashion of that decade.


The music and the fashion of the 2000s was either manufactured pop and maybe some forgettable mainstream fashion trends, but the alternative scene looked and sounded highly non-conformist. Everything just seems to be hipsterized in the 2010s, with gendered fashion and bland and incoherent music in an attempt to not sound like corporate trash and to somehow sound like they have artistic value.  As for TV shows, I don't think I can comment too much because my opinions are too specific to be applied to others and I generally don't watch a lot of TV, but I think they had some of the same things that made the 2000s appealing to me aesthetics-wise.


The fact we mostly have internet speeds of at least one megabyte per second is why DLCs, online multiplayer and microtransactions have been popular in games. This information highway is also why you see more game leaks now. Streaming also got more popular, because iPhones have made data hoarding difficult (they can't accept SD cards) and streaming services have pitched themselves as solutions to piracy, so now music can't be yours through technology as opposed to simply just copyright law, but this is for another topic.


As for terrorism, I guess it may have been due to increasingly globalized politics. I would justify more globalized politics in order to allow people from oppressive countries (Korea and Iran were in better positions in the past IMO, which has mostly to do with politics though) to flee political persecution, but I guess some people abuse this.


As for phones affecting how we communicate with each other, one could blame the people who bought iPhones in the first place and thus popularized the smartphone trend. One could also just use voice and video calls more although I guess text chats are more economical.

......I guess I was in a vile mood yesterday,I didnt mean to make anyone mad.......

Well whats good about "NOW" Howard??

Nothing buddy........

People who have babies should be ashamed of themselves.... Bringing an innocent child into this hell hole!!!


It could be better.