Nostalgia: Just plain cool
Joe Jia
Over the years, there has been a significant growth of newer generations joining specific communities because of an unfelt.. Nostalgia. I’ve seen it everywhere, classic cars, classic rock, retro-gaming, board games… and much more. Hell, i’ve even experienced a good handful of those myself. I may have not been born in the 90’s or have been a teen in the 2000’s, but I sure have a N64 and Goldeneye 007 plus an intense love for 90’s-00’s indie rock. Did I ever experience all of them in their prime? Nah. But why is this? And what draws people, including me, towards these types of experiences and objects? Plus, why do people default to the “unknown nostalgia” part of the equation so much?
To answer those questions I must first draw examples from myself. Unlike most people my age (its painfully obvious), I quite enjoy indie rock and classical rock much more than… whatever they listen to. But here I am, rocking Windows 11, a RTX3060 and some ungodly CPU. While listening to ‘No Surprises” by Radiohead. Why? Well the answer is quite simple: I like it. Specifically, I have some sort of emotional attachment to these pieces of music. Yet I was very much not alive in 1997. Some may point to the inherent quirkiness of my personality, they say “Hey isn’t your desktop theme complete Beige? And isn’t your 3D printer beige as well? Weirdo.” But this has something different than just liking the color beige (I just saw a random picture of a beige 3D printer and thought it looked nice), classical rock and indie rock of that time period just… hits different. It’s as if I feel sentimental for it. So why is that?
Looks like we gotta dive even deeper into this rabbit hole… I started getting into the stuff back in around 2020, when I started my playlist. I started watching some history explainer videos on bands like Queen or The Animals. And before I know it I had already been adding classical rock songs to the playlist. I had never been truly exposed directly to what other kids of my age listen to, so I never really gave any thought to it. I had never really touched Rap or pop, maybe a few separate instances but never jammed to pieces in those categories. So I guess I just started my love of Classical Rock and Indie Rock from a fresh musical start. Youtube recommended, thats what drove me into this rabbit hole. Serious.
But what about the retro gaming part? That really only started a few months ago, when again Youtube recommended me some seriously amazing retrospective videos on games like Zelda: Majoras Mask and Ocarina of time. It really drove me towards thinking about getting one of the older Nintendo systems. I then dug further and found more and more forums, videos, documentation…. Then eventually I pulled the trigger and decided to get one myself. Which is why I now have a N64. But just like classical rock, I have such a deep emotional value on the N64 and consoles like the Gamecube. Not because i’ve ever played one before I went and got one. However, I put the connection onto having seen pictures and videos of it as a child, engraining the design and familiarity into my brain. I have nostalgia for it, not from using it, not from being in its prime and not even from touching one, but from Youtube videos.
So how come i’ve explored and connected with these two examples, yet I still have another connection similarly deep with more… modern things. As many of you readers may recall, I wrote four separate semiconductor manufacturing articles and a few unuploaded pieces on 3D printing, which is my long running hobby of nearly 8 years. I also built my own PC a while back (Not the 3060, thats my laptop), sourcing parts and figuring out as I went. I have a 3D printer I built in my suitcase, which has travelled across the world twice. So then why am I so attached to both sides? Why do I enjoy these already regarded as antique items or classic pieces of music? And the most crazy part? I still enjoy these modern hobbies and technological advancements the same, if not more.
But theres one undeniable fact from this: It’s all the Youtube recommendation algorithm baby!
Some call me a weirdo for it, some think its quirky, some even view it as a lure for people to like me! Hell no. This is me, and i’m forever happy for that.
Again, thanks for reading this piece! Happy whatever day it may be (Or night).
