What Gen Z's Retro Revival Teaches Us About the Value of Historical Nostalgia

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In recent years, we've witnessed a resurgence of interest in retro products, experiences, and cultural elements from the pre-digital era. There's been an increase in sales of vinyl records, CDs, board games, and physical books. Thrift stores specializing in vintage clothing styles have gained popularity. Old school physical activities like roller skating have become cool again. All of this is linked to a heightened interest in pop culture from the decades just before the internet became ubiquitous.

While one might assume these trends are primarily driven by older generations looking to relive their glory days, young people, particularly those from Generation Z, appear to be a major force behind this retro resurgence. This generation, often described as digital natives because they grew up with the internet, online shopping, streaming services, smartphones, and social media, seems increasingly captivated by what life was like before the shift from tangible media and in-person pop culture to online and streaming-based entertainment.

Typically, when I discuss nostalgia, I'm referring to personal nostalgia—a sentimental longing for experiences from our own lives and the cherished memories associated with them. Studies have consistently shown that when it comes to popular culture, we tend to have nostalgic preferences for music, movies, TV, and other products from our youth. This is the period when we begin to truly develop our sense of self, discovering our personal preferences and interests, and identifying the genres and styles that best align with how we define ourselves. Of course, as we mature, our self-concept changes. New life experiences and psychological growth provide opportunities to develop new preferences and interests. Yet, in general, most of us retain a nostalgic attachment to the culture of our youth.

Gen Z's nostalgia for an era largely preceding their own lives presents intriguing possibilities. Does historical nostalgia serve a similar psychological purpose to personal nostalgia? And do we turn to it when our own personal nostalgia isn't sufficient to address the challenges we're trying to resolve or make progress on the goals we're pursuing?

As a researcher studying the psychology of nostalgia for over two decades, I've observed that people often turn to nostalgia when experiencing some form of psychological distress such as sadness, loneliness, low self-esteem, a lack of meaning, boredom, or anxiety about the future. However, another way to think about this is that psychological distress is often the result of people feeling like something is missing from their lives.

Consider loneliness as an example. Loneliness is emotional distress stemming from a perceived lack of meaningful social relationships. It often triggers nostalgia for past socially fulfilling experiences. This social nostalgia plays a crucial role in breaking the self-reinforcing negative cycle of loneliness. Lonely individuals tend to withdraw socially, acting defensively to avoid further emotional pain. This behavior often leads to greater isolation. However, when lonely people become nostalgic for past social experiences, they receive a much-needed emotional boost. They feel more socially connected in the present, reminded that their current struggles don't define their entire social history. Critically, this renewed social confidence motivates them to seek new relationships or strengthen existing ones.

Gen Z's nostalgia for pre-digital life suggests that sometimes what we feel is missing from our lives cannot be found in our own personal histories. Instead, we must look to previous eras.

This doesn't mean Gen Z is rejecting modern technology. In fact, research conducted by our team at the Human Flourishing Lab, in partnership with the Harris Poll, reveals that Gen Z is keenly interested in keeping up with new technology and appreciates how advances can improve their lives. However, we also found that Gen Z is concerned about potential downsides. While older generations are often perceived as more skeptical of technological change, we discovered that young people are also quite worried about technology's potential to contribute to personal issues like poor mental health and societal problems such as political polarization. For instance, we found that 80% of Gen Zers express concern about being too dependent on technology, nearly 75% worry about the effect social media has on young people's mental health, and nearly 60% believe new technologies are more likely to drive people apart than bring them together.

Gen Z's growing fascination with physical media and entertainment experiences unmediated by the internet may indicate that, despite embracing the digital world, they sense something important is missing from their lives. They seem to be seeking inspiration from history to find a more balanced path forward. Indeed, our survey found that 60% of Gen Z wished they could return to a time before everyone was "plugged in."

It's important to note that while Gen Z's embrace of historical nostalgia is a recent and notable example, they aren't the first generation to experience this phenomenon. In fact, though people are especially fond of music, TV shows, movies, fashion, and other cultural products from their own youth, it's also common for individuals to have nostalgic feelings towards popular culture from earlier generations. This likely occurs because parents and other family members, older friends, and mentors expose younger generations to the content they cherished, creating a form of intergenerational nostalgia.

This passing down of popular culture might serve a crucial function of helping people from different age groups connect. Brands and entertainment franchises often find success by creating cultural continuity, developing new products, movies, shows, and games for new generations while retaining key themes and aesthetics familiar to older generations. In this way, personal and historical nostalgia become intertwined.

Just as our individual life narratives exist within a larger cultural story, our personal nostalgic memories are embedded within a broader cultural nostalgia that extends back in history before our time. This creates a rich tapestry of shared experiences passed down through generations, evolving with the times but generating a sense of cultural continuity. This continuity makes it easier for us to share nostalgia across age groups, fostering intergenerational dialogue, where the past continually informs and enriches the present, creating a shared cultural language that spans decades.

As the digital world continues to expand, with more of our lives mediated by computers, I expect this kind of historical nostalgia to grow. After all, we are still physical beings, and research consistently shows that physical activity, human touch, and in-person social experiences are vital for our overall wellbeing and functioning.

It's not surprising that all of us, including younger generations, are looking to decades past for ideas to improve their own lives. This doesn't mean we are rejecting progress or technological advancement. In fact, I believe our retro interests indicate that we are striving to build a better future that harnesses the benefits of new technology while mitigating its potential harms and preserving the tangible, physical experiences that remain essential to human flourishing.

Have a great weekend!

Clay