Nostalgia is a funny thing. It can make us think back fondly on things that, at the time you hated. It can make things precious to you when, at the time, you totally took them for granted.
With our current lives being as bonkers as they are in 2020, the question of nostalgia becomes a bit more complicated. One reddit user asked:
In 40 years what will people be nostalgic for?
And we'll be honest, some of this seems like romanticizing inconvenience (looking at you, "flipping channels" response.) but some of this really got us thinking. Will we miss some of the ripple effects of this pandemic? Will there be a time when stars are harder to see? In 40 yrs will Trump be looked back on as a wacky old grandpa?
Here are some of the more popular responses.
YouTube
I think YouTube. Like how us 80/90s babies miss early Nickelodeon and Saturday morning cartoons I think future generations will miss the unlimited content.
- StonerLB
Yeah, I don't dislike the stuff that's on there now [well, other than the obligatory ads], but there was definitely a DIY quality to a lot of the older YouTube videos. Now they all seem like professional productions, which again isn't bad, but it's just different.
I already miss the early days of YouTube where you had friends instead of followers and you rated videos out of 5 stars and you could directly reply to vids with other vids sigh the good ol' days
Oh and the algorithm was actually good! God knows why they messed with that, I used to spend hours on there stuck in a tunnel, now I watch 1 vid and I'm done.
- Artaxxx
Privacy Please
black and white goodbye GIF by FilmStruckGiphyPrivacy
If the governments do it "right", they'll slowly erode people's privacy rights, and few if any will notice or complain.
In fact, it's already working. Congress renewed the Patriot Act last November, and the Senate voted this year to allow the CIA and FBI the ability to view US citizen browser history without a warrant. Do you remember either event being seriously covered in major media outlets, and do you remember any mass public outcry? Me neither.
Many people are repeatedly bringing up private data collection by companies. This is also a serious issue, and it's not mutually exclusive. Both problems need to be fixed.
Gaming Through The Years
"Back in my days we used videogames with controllers!"
I was talking to my sons the other day, they asked me about my first job.
I was telling them how fun it was working at McDonald's in high school and a friend that I made.
"We would finish our shift then go to the mall and play games at the arcade"
At that instant I realized I might as well said "We would get a root beer float at the soda shop then go to the sock hop to meet some girls in our hot rods"
Crazy how fast things change
Stealing A Simple Joy
Poppable bubble wrap.
In case you haven't seen, there is now bubble wrap that will not pop. All the bubbles are connected and have plenty of free space. It's bad.
I hate that bubble wrap that the air just moves to the next bubble when you try to pop it. That stuff should be illegal.
From somebody who likes to pop bubble wrap,
what. In the fcking hell. Did you just say?
If you are taking about what I think you are taking about, it is technically more effective because it is cushioned but doesn't pop. But I found out that you can pop it by bunching up one row of them and squeezing. It honestly just as satisfying if not more, in my opinion, once you learn how to do it. Safer transport and better popping
- AndyWR10
High Quality Guns
High quality nerf blasters
Nerf no longer makes anything worth buying unless you think it looks nice in my opinion. If you are not already, buy all your blasters and darts from Dart Zone!
Kind of related... what happened to good super soakers?
When I was a kid we had super soakers that you pumped up and they stored air pressure in a tank, then you could shoot a consistent water stream.
Now when I see kids play with "super soakers", the guns don't seem to have a pressure tank. The gun fires on every pump. It doesn't store pressure.
What the hell. That's obviously a downgrade.
I think I saw something once that said it was related to a patent dispute or something?
This is so true. They used to be the sh!t, and now they are just ... sh!t. They literally glue their blasters now, and use plastic springs instead of actual springs!
Aww, A Wholesome Answer
We just spent 5 months with family. Having dinners together, watching TV together, playing games, just being a family. Kids are going to grow up remembering the time they had with their parents and siblings. There will be good memories.
Adults forget how resilient kids are. I can guarantee most of the adults complaining about getting "back to normal" would love to go back and have just 1 month with there dad playing catch or watching TV.
- LTJoe86
Predictions
40 years ago was 1980. I was a teenager.
If that question had been asked then, some very similar answers would have been given:
- clean air, clean water, clean earth
- non-radioactive land (between Three Mile Island and the getting hot Cold War, we thought there was a pretty good chance of some kind of nuclear apocalypse)
- various species of animals (neither the California Condor nor the American Buffalo, among others, were looking too good)
- there was some general fear about computers and what they could/would do (see films like 1983's Wargames)
And yet, here we are. A little better in some aspects and a little worse than others. 2020 is quite a downer of a year, but human beings are endlessly optimistic and adaptable.
I predict in 40 years we'll look back on some of our fears today like 80's folks look back on things like Genesis' "Land of Confusion" video - a little nostalgic, a little embarrassed and a little humbled by both how much and how little has changed.
- pcnauta
Adventures On Internet
The Internet.
Hell, I'm nostalgic for it now. Not the final form that the internet has taken over the past decade or so, but those wild west days before youtube, facebook, social media, reddit. Finding weird sites, geocities pages, looking up cheat codes for GTA, hanging out on forums, seeing something go truly grassroots viral and not just because it's trending on instagram or something. Those days when no company knew what the hell the internet was or how to market on it, it was just left to the nerds and the kids who were making up the rules as they went along.
I miss when the internet felt like a little adventure rather than a timesink or utilitarian tool to get the day to day done.
Physical Media
Movie DVDs. With everything going digital, I think production houses will soon stop making DVDs and just start streaming the movies in either their respective streaming platforms or sell them to other platforms like Netflix.
I like physical Movies, CDs, Books, and Video games. I'm 16. Sure digital is more convenient. But some reason i like to HOLD my possessions. Plus being able to save movies/cds to my computer and "lending them" to my pals.
Sea Snacks
Sea Jesus GIF by Nate MakuchGiphySeafood. There won't be anything left in 40 years
I get that there will be some sort of sea life clinging on to eat. My point is nobody will be eating halibut and tuna on the regular because we killed 90% of them
- qpv
Factory farming fish's calling, they want you to quit your bs! Jokes aside, we'll always have fish. They're the easiest animal to farm that way, and they're ecological, too. You can even hook them up to hydroponics.
The future is, if not lab grown meat, fish and chips.
Flipping Aimlessly
Flipping through cable aimlessly not really sure what will be on any channel and just going til you hit something decent. The place I'm at now has free cable included and sometimes I'll waste hours just flipping through. It feels just like the early 2000s again and is a crazy throwback feeling to watching TV before everything was on apps and on demand. You kinda forget you used to watch TV by finding the channel, and how you felt like you just found five bucks if you happen to catch a good episode rerun of one of your favorite sitcoms late at night when most of the channels were doing late night infomercials.
Or how if you couldn't find anything good so you'd just sit there and watch an infomercial about bowflexes for half an hour. And watching the news air on TV instead of getting news through YouTube videos or posts on social media. If you wanted to know whether it was gonna rain that weekend you had to wait til the news cycled back to the weatherman every 20 minutes or so.
Having to plan bathroom sprints around commercial breaks so you didn't miss a big play during a big championship game. The experience of watching porn by cinemax late at night when everyone else in the house was asleep. Planning your whole afternoon around getting all your errands done by dinnertime so you could catch Jeopordy or Judge Judy. Watching cooking shows in your underwear and trying to write down a recipe and getting mad because you missed a step and its live so you cant rewind it like you can now with DVR or on demand.
Having A Social Life
Playing physical games with friends.
Going to friends' houses to play basketball/soccer and a few video games, and then have a sleep over.
Socializing to the extend even the youngest here have experienced.
- semeon_
Why wouldn't they do that! Human contact will never go old. We are saying that kids today are always on their phones etc, but we are, too, and kids today are still playing on the streets and with sticks and riding bicycles and everything. We tend to be cynical about "kids today", like every generation.
- [reddit]
At The Mall
Honestly probably malls. I feel like a lot of them are going out of business and getting torn down. Well at least the old mall experience.
I loved going to Hot Topic and Claire's and Spencer's as a kid and going to the food court for an Orange Julius but today if I go to a mall I just see a bunch of overpriced stuff that I don't want to spend money on. It's a lot easier when you're 13 and spending your parents money lol.
You might have something like the World Showcase at Epcot. There could be a era-specific mall-themed recreation, a disco-themed recreation, a blockbuster video...
Stargazing
The night sky.
By that time, Musk, Bezos, and god knows who else, will have hundreds of thousands of satellites in orbit. Our cities will have doubled in size, and urban sprawl will cause further light pollution. Stargazing will be something future generations will only hear stories about...
- iron40
For me, the night sky has always been black with white dots. I was mesmerized by just how many dots there were when i was out on the lake i mentioned with my grandfather, on his boat. It was, what, 40km out, at the end of a bay? Something like that. But it was still just... black with white dots. Yet, i must've spent 20-30 minutes just looking up on that folding chair... i felt like a kid, stargazing again!
I've seen the pictures of how it's meant to look like, they're everywhere, the ones that look like you're just looking out in space, y'know? But I've never seen it in person. I wonder how far away from cities i'd have to go... clearly further out.
Strawberries and Vanilla
Strawberry & cream or vanilla bean Starbucks Frappuccino's. I made soooo many in college for hordes of teens. It will be the pop tarts and eggs waffles of 2010.
- mtbbebe
Simpler
I don't wanna live in the world where someone says "Don't you miss 2020, it was simpler time"
Or the reality in my state, which is people being laid off, going on 5 months now, and not receiving ANY unemployment benefits they are qualified for this whole time, Because Oregon.
Or the essential workers like me, some of whom might have had temporary wage bumps, but in my case, I made the same hourly wage while having my hours cut for about 4 months. Now my hours are closer to normal, but it's because we somehow have a staffing shortage, so I'm doing twice the work, again, for the same wage. And I'm just a bank janitor; I have it real easy compared to most.
I'm just glad I'm not in a customer-facing position, so I don't have to deal with all the ratlickers throwing public tantrums over masks, and I'm not in healthcare, so I don't have to watch a dozen people die every day.
No, I don't think grocery workers and nurses and teachers are going to look back at this time and miss it much.
The Movies
A small local theatre near me just shut down for good, and I can't express how disappointed I'd be if the movie theater industry just never pops back up after this pandemic. Some of my best childhood memories are from the the movie theaters.
The Golden Hour
Privacy and the ability to go somewhere without seeing 75 cameras all the time.
Went to the beach today and no one was in the water except for me and my friend. Everyone else was waiting for "golden hour" in their dry beachwear so they could get good selfies.
An Expensive Hobby
Combustion cars being mainstream. I'm a petrol head who isn't rich, so storing away an assortment of petrol motors isn't viable.
A Vampire's Perspective
The harpsichord ...hell I already am but I'm a vampire so I guess that makes sense... don't know what I do without my spooky Jams playlist.
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Redditor mysterywife901 wanted to hear people's thoughts on opening their relationship status, so they asked:
"What would you say if your spouse said they wanted to try swinger lifestyle?"
Reddit was ready to rock and work through this thought experiment.
Try It
Old People Senior Citizens GIFGiphy"I would laugh my senior citizen @ss off and tell him to go for it, but the viagra stays home."
Careful-Self-457
Pull On
"I'd know she was pulling my leg; she is even less of a people person than me."
primal_machine_22109
"You would be amazed at how many shy women are into the lifestyle."
Island-Potential
"But what if it’s someone else’s leg… their third leg!"
SeveralEmployer
For the Marriage
"I would laugh and laugh, as they would never say anything like that to me seriously. 'Hey, you know what, I'd really like it if my intimacy issues gave me a lot more stress and anxiety, what's the absolute worst situation I could put myself in.'"
SaltyDangerHands
"I hope you're actively working on your issues and getting better. For your marriage."
PicanteDante
"I'm not sure what about that you're taking so deadly serious, but they're not my issues, they're my partner's, and the whole comment is tongue in cheek. The whole point is that the idea of cheating would stress them out immensely, that's... that's not a huge problem for a relationship in which neither party wants to cheat."
"I'm honestly not sure if you're insulting me or genuinely wishing me well, but in either event, I assure you it's not necessary."
SaltyDangerHands
“This One”
"I’d be interested in discussing it but cautious. I don’t believe anyone can fulfill someone else’s complete set of curiosities and desires and I am not a codependent type who sets all my expectations of happiness on someone else’s shoulders."
"We could identify what she wanted out of that lifestyle. How frequently. How we’d handle things if there was any change of heart or jealousies. Basically just communicate and explore."
"I’m into a relationship to help each other have the best life possible. Not to be 'the one' who has the expectation of being everything I dream them to be."
darinfjc
Good Luck
beyonce queen GIFGiphy"Help them pack their bags. I'd even help them load the bags in the car, and give them a hug, and tell them, Best of luck, because they're going to need it."
TripleAWingingIt
It certainly isn't for everyone. But communication and boundaries do seem to be key.
Contract Change
Sign Here Go Ahead GIF by Kat DurstGiphy"Tell her our relationship was not built that way. You can't switch up the terms after you are already in. If we had started this way then I am for it. After we have been living as if we both want to be monogamous? Nah. I can just go be with other people without her baggage."
vivazeta
What?
"I'd be very confused. My husband is open minded in the sense that whatever consenting adults want to do in their relationships is fine, but he has no doubt that he only wants a monogamous relationship. I'd wonder if maybe he'd been hit in the head."
Potential-One-3107
Let's Chat
"When she brought it up I said let’s talk about it. We talked through it for several months and decided to give it a try. It’s only been about 6 months and our relationship is better than ever. The communication we are experiencing as a couple is amazing, she is more my best friend than ever before. We have a complete open and honest relationship now."
tbed64
YASSS!
"Lessf**kinggoo! I mean 'sure honey, let’s try it out.' The wife and I communicate well. I’d be open to discussing it. We’ve had threesomes before. Communication and setting clear boundaries is key. The moment either one of us is uncomfortable or not cool with it, we both stop and Chuck it up as an experience we won’t be repeating. I’m not the jealous type and after 15 years of marriage have a solid foundation."
WindowlessCandyVan
Who are you?
What The Reaction GIF by MOODMANGiphy"I'd wonder who replaced my wife with a robot. She's got a very strict moral system and couldn't imagine doing something like that. Actually, neither could I."
Totalherenow
Now This?
"If they want to see other people they can just tell me they’d like to break up instead. No need to be so roundabout in telling me I'm no longer good enough."
"Why be in a relationship if you don’t want to be exclusive? That’s the whole point, unless you’re doing some kind of arranged / immigration marriage there was never any love in to begin with."
Yukisuna
If you're gonna do it, make sure you communicate and set some ground rules.
Well, dear reader, how would you respond in this situation? Let us know in the comments.
Redditor SilentPrints wanted to discuss what the future may hold, so they asked:
"What is something that is generally accepted today that in 30 years, future generations will find unacceptable?"
I'm hoping the two political party system sees some updates.
Breaks Required
Greys Anatomy Help GIFGiphy"Forcing doctors to work 24-hour shifts. Do you feel safe knowing that this happens all the time, folks?"
Dork_Magician_Girl
"I would definitely hate to think that the doctor doing my life-saving emergency procedure is on his 24th hour."
rowenaravenclaw0
Stay Home
"Going out/to work while sick. I thought we would already have seen this behavior driven out by the pandemic, but in our desperation for normalcy, we've largely chosen to revert to how we used to handle that, it seems. I think as time moves on and we develop better methods for handling this, such as social norms and testing, we will see future generations act more appropriately, given the general public is now more aware of how varied people's responses to a disease can be."
Techerous
Stay Private
"Posting kids on social media."
Anna_Rapunzel
"I find this one to be a truly interesting answer because of how the current younger generations (both young parents posting their children pretty much since birth and children/teenagers with phones) publicize most aspects of their lives on social media that it’s almost impossible for them to comprehend a time prior to them being on it - on the flipside internet privacy, safety, boundaries, and consent with children are becoming topics that are being explored a lot more than they may have even 10 years ago."
Wowufuh
Money Matters
"There will still be an overwhelming shortage of physicians with population growth and the continuation of profit driven healthcare. At least in America, if you don’t remove the profit model from medicine these things won’t change. A lawsuit is cheaper than the salaries, especially if you are at a teaching/ learning hospital that has caps on the amount that they can be sued. It shouldn’t be this way but unless you can come up with more money than the insurance companies, it won’t change."
FairReason
SCREAM!!
Episode 11 Mike GIF by Jersey Shore Family VacationGiphy"Hopefully collecting/selling data about people. Also telemarketers and spoofing numbers. Being on the Do Not Call List isn't enough."
idratherchangemyold1
"Just insult them or start to scream, they will never call again and you will have a good laugh. Got the last call 2 years ago and I kinda miss it tbh lol."
xBingChilling
This data collecting is scary. Not good.
Just a Hello
"$7 greeting cards."
boxcar-violet
"Holy sh*t right. I'll see the most basic cards for $7-8 from Hallmark and anything fancy is like $10-20. Hell I even saw miniature cards, the size of like 4 stamps for $5 there."
starfire92
Quality
"5 day/40 hour work weeks."
henshep
"The company I work for just changed over to 4 day work weeks. It’s amazing for quality of life."
"Hopefully it’s something that can get more traction, but I doubt it. Especially when so many people seem to be proud of working long hours to make others rich like it’s some badge of honor."
cha0ss0ldier
Save it All
"Being wasteful about resources, especially food, water, and energy. In 30 years, those things will be even more scarce."
Devi1_May_Cry
"Not necessarily disagreeing because idk, but the wording 'even more' doesn't make much sense here. Food water and energy are less scarce now than they've been in human history by a ridiculously large margin."
multiple4
"Exactly. And unless there's an absolute catastrophe, the continuing development of technology will make it even less scarce."
Zealousideal-Bell-68
It's my $$$!!
"ATM withdrawal fees."
steaknife2107
"Agreed I think there is going to be a shift with all the little extra fees, not just ATM. But all of those little extra service fees on things like delivery. I'm hoping for things to just be labeled as the exact cost across the board. like coffee is say $3 and everywhere you go coffee is going to be $3 enough with the math question everytime I try to exist please."
_rosie_365
Unlike...
Social Media Facebook GIFGiphy"The way in which people consume connection based social media on a pathological and sometimes addictive level. Some day we'll look back on how crazy it was how kids and grown people alike became infatuated getting likes on mundane posts. Craving social approval like a commodity."
Vupant
Labels
"Whatever inoffensive terms we have now for certain groups of people. They’ll be considered offensive labels thirty years from now. Just look back thirty years at terms we used then that we don’t use now."
tangcameo
Streamline Learning
"On a lighter note, those 4-5 useless projects given by schools for each subject that need craft supplies to be bought, need many hours of work, and are judged by the aesthetic/decoration rather than the content. After evaluating, they then get tossed out by the teacher in the next few months."
"Absolutely no respect for the time and effort spent on it. The same time could have been used for other actually useful tasks and enormous amount of wastes could have been prevented."
Competitive-Claim750
Well I don't know if this is all good or all bad for the future.
What predictions do you have? Let us know in the comments below.