Absurdity

What's so great about nostalgia? Things seem a bit better in the past, but part of enjoying nostalgia is reminiscing with others and talking about things. Connecting with a common past. I loved the shows I watched as a kid, and my kids do too. It seems easier now to connect about the past, there was limited media, only so many channels, so many books. Now there is YouTube and streaming and endless shows on so many platforms. I wonder if my children will have the same connection with nostalgia. Often when I am at a new workplace I can connect with people the same age talking about cultural milestones we went through together, animporhs, Simpsons, transformers, YTV, Star Trek TNG, Reboot, anime etc.

Now with YouTube they seem to watch so many play throughs and walk throughs, will they connect to others in 20 years time over that?

We had such a niche selection back then, you watched ytv, fox if lucky, now there is worldwide media to consume constantly.

I read an article that Gen z consumes media at a much faster pace and moves on a lot quicker. Where we would run a joke or a meme into the ground for months or years they will move onto the next one in weeks or days, and there can rapidly be a whole new sub division of memes created on memes that are weeks old created on memes that are weeks old. Much easier for inside jokes to pop up and harder to stay caught up on humour and cultural memes if you fall behind.

In the end they will be different and forge their own paths forward and make connections their own way. The sheer volume of media they have now is a blessing and a curse we have passed on to them and I hope they find a way to responsibly navigate it and stay happy. Through shows, books, games, there is more media produced in a day now than they can consume in a lifetime, choice is important. What they enjoy, what is popular, what friends recommend, what critics recommend. Personally I put less and less stock in critics and rely more on user reviews of people I feel are similar to me.