Feeling Nostalgic? There’s a Reason Why

I miss being a kid. Scratch that, I miss certain aspects about being a kid. Watching the Backyardigans, drinking Capri-Suns, solving puzzles splayed out on the carpet at my old house, and sitting out on the front porch watching fireflies dancing in the air as the sun began to set. 

But I’ve been reminded of my fondness for my childhood at an increasing rate. Everywhere I turn there’s a new #nostalgiacore video trending. When I brought up the pattern to my friends, they said they felt the same thing. Once I noticed it, I couldn’t stop, and I quickly began connecting the desire to return to our nostalgic memories to our current political climate. 

Soon, I began to scrutinize every short-form video, advertisement, or mention of “returning to simpler times”. Everything from the 2026 to 2016 trend to memorial posts for Justice (the tween clothing brand. Think glitter, animal prints, and lots of neon).

Nostalgia isn’t bad

Admittedly, I enjoy reminiscing or engaging in nostalgia. When I visit my grandparents some weekends, we look at old family albums and laugh about the memories we made or how different life was.

In some sense, I think everyone does this. Whenever we scroll through our photos on our phones, say that a childhood treat or food just doesn’t taste the same, or when we say all the trending songs are AI.

What I tend to miss most is the bright-eyed naivete that I had. There’s a certain appeal to being a child, carelessly having dreams and wishing that you could be there for a moment. It would excuse us from facing a difficult present, but I also think it’s more than that.

Because nostalgia, at its core, reflects a societal fear of change.

Your Childhood is Being Weaponized

It’s not uncommon to remember our past with a rose-colored lens. Yeah, I miss walking to the park with my mom, playing Just Dance 4 with my friends, and watching rom-coms with my dolphin pillow pet. 

But I don’t miss only getting to see my dad on some weekends, having to walk everywhere because my mom didn’t have a car, or feeling isolated at school because I was one of five students of color. Times were good, but they were also tough. Historically, this has been true for generations of people.

What’s dangerous about nostalgia is when people weaponize it to push harmful agendas. One of the most recent examples is the Trump Administration. President Trump and his supporters promised big on border control and mass deportations. This led to mass recruitment in ICE, DHS, and other immigration enforcement branches. 

Along with this recruitment are countless advertisements that capitalize on a past that never existed. A majority of the messages call on Americans to “protect the homeland” and “take their country back”.

Each picture emphasizes American pride, showing Lady Liberty, white families, and American pioneers. Others, however, capitalize on nostalgia and mythologize what it is to be an American.

Political movements tap into what is enjoyable or admired by the public and create a narrative that says “the only reason you have to rely on nostalgia is because someone stole this from you”.

We Have to Be Critical About How We Remember

The Trump Administration is far from the first to weaponize nostalgia. Events such as the Repatriation Act, the Red Scare, and The Tea Party were empowered by American frustrations that a better present had been stolen from them. Their evidence? False pasts that were conjured to further drive this anger. 

“Nostalgia narratives delegitimize the present by measuring it against a romanticized past that has been wrongly lost…” – Alina Bârgăoanu & Maya Sobchuk

Alina Bârgăoanu and Maya Sobchuk conducted a research study that examined how nostalgia was used in political campaigns in both Romania and Japan. Their findings shared that in both cases, nostalgia was used to exploit emotional and cultural sentiments, all to achieve long-term goals.

But let’s think bigger. How does this fit in for us? In the context of #nostalgiacore, this means we have to be careful about who is framed as “the taker” or undesirable. 

Yeah, I miss ugly tween clothes and older versions of YouTube, but that doesn’t discredit that the world was imperfect then, just like it’s imperfect now. The only difference is that I was younger and didn’t have as many responsibilities. 

This isn’t to discredit how people are being marginalized today or challenged in new ways. What I’m saying is that there is a connection as to why popular social media platforms want you to feel nostalgic at the same time our government wants us to use our nostalgia to rally behind them. 

Especially when specific platforms are eager to please certain political figures in power.

• #crtical
• #justice
• #nostalgia
• #tiktok
• #young
• american politics
• childhood