Are Millennials the Most Nostalgic Generation?

Spoiler: No, millennials are not the most nostalgic generation — we’re just in a deeply nostalgic moment in our lives, reckoning (sometimes gracefully, other times less so) with no longer being the Main Character in the generational story. But this moment does give us opportunity to talk about the shape and purpose of nostalgia, how YouTube both amplifies and short-circuits it, and so much more — featuring one of my favorite nostalgia thinkers, Gabe Bullard. We talk about gum commercials, inflated Limewire persecution threats, Bagel Bites, and interrogate the idea of “core memories,” and I cannot wait for your thoughts. Show Notes: Subscribe to Gabe’s fantastic Substacks, Number One With a Bullard and Together, Alone (a magazine about watching TV) Melody also highly recommends his episode of 99% Invisible on the Elvis stamp Who wants to burn off their taste buds with some Big Red Here’s Svetlana Boym’s obituary which nicely sums up her work on nostalgia (gift link) Gabe also mentions writer and music critic Mark Fisher’s usage of “hauntology”— Fisher’s whole book Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology, and Lost Futures is available as a PDF here You can read Fred Davis’s 1977 paper about “the current nostalgia wave” here The ragtime song that made it to #3 on the charts because of The Sting One listener’s question referenced the Richard Scarry books— here’s a round-up of some of the modernization that’s been done on them We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about: Trad wives, featuring a co-host who used to be one For our continuing series on romance novels: QUEER ROMANCE and ROMANCE BOOKSTORES Artificial Intelligence (we’re gonna see if we can figure out an actually interesting theme here, so send us your weirdest or most mind-boggling questions) The economy, a.k.a. why is everything so damn expensive right now (my dream here is like an Odd Lots guest who doesn’t have private equity brain, please let us know if you have suggestions!) What’s up with food blogs in 2024 Contemporary ideas of self-care Buy Nothing groups and/or the current state of the secondhand market Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here (and here’s the subscriber-only priority form) For today’s discussion: We can all talk about our favorite old commercials… or we can talk about the purpose nostalgia serves in your life. Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. Got a question to submit, a prompt for Ask Anne Anything, or an idea for a future episode? Tell us here. Catch up on everything else happening in the Culture Study universe here. Transcripts will be available here within 24 hours of publishing.