The Seeing Sideways Podcast
We're a podcast about regular (ish) people going through the regular highs and lows about life right alongside with you. We '' share tools, resources and relatable stories to help you navigate this maze or mess called... life.
The Seeing Sideways Podcast
Reminiscing on NOSTALGIA (w/ guest, Trent)
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Kyle, Jessica and Trent are back in this episode to make every millennial and gen X'er feel old as they take a trip down memory lane about all things nostalgia. While also diving into the phenomenon itself on nostalgia and why we seem to be so attached to the things of yesteryear. And doesn't it feel like we're in a nostalgia BOOM right now? Come join us for this old people talk as we reflect on nostalgia! (are ya sick of the word "nostalgia" yet??)
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Seeing Sideways Podcast. We are the podcast that shares tools, resources, and relatable stories to help you navigate this maze or mess we call life. My name is Kyle, and I'm here with my co-host Jessica. Hello. And returning special guest, Trent. Trent, what's going on, man?
SPEAKER_05Not much, not much. Just happy, happy for it almost to be the weekend.
SPEAKER_00Same here, man. Oh boy. It's uh I don't know. I don't know if it's uh an after a fact of getting older, but the weekends just become more and more and more precious each time that they come, right?
SPEAKER_01They never last long enough.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's the thing, man. Like okay, what at what point, what do we gotta do to get Congress or whoever it is that's in charge of this stuff to give us like four-day work weeks? You know, like two days is just not enough, man. It's just not agree with that.
SPEAKER_05I love four-day work weeks. I'm I would love that. Thank you. I will I will I will elect people who would want to do that for us.
SPEAKER_01Me too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, man. Oh my god, yeah, yes, let's make it happen, people. Let's make it happen. But you know what? Even if we got the three-day work, uh, even if we got the three-day weekend, we just complain and want four days, right? We're never we're never happy, right? All we do, it's not we've been talking about the past few episodes of how we millennials and Gen Xers, all we do is complain about how shit ain't right, you know. I'm kidding. I'm kidding, of course. I mean, we do complain a lot, but we complain with we complain within reason, I'd like to think. You know, we're talking about we complain about real shit. So 100% you know, so uh but uh anyway, there's no easy way to trend I I don't have any segue into today's topic, but I want to talk about nostalgia, guys. Um so um I feel all right, so let me back up. So I feel like nostalgia is so prevalent today, like it's everywhere. And this concept of like that everything is everything old is new again, and we're just bringing back all the old stuff. I feel like for example, I feel like these days 80s nostalgia has become a big thing. Um I hear it in the music that's you know that's really popular. You know, like uh I don't know if you guys listen to The Weekend. Do you uh Jess are you a weekend fan? Nice, yeah. Trent, weekend fan at all?
SPEAKER_05Not there.
SPEAKER_00Okay, he's good.
SPEAKER_05I mean, I'm familiar with weekends.
SPEAKER_01You probably probably know some of his songs and you just don't know that you know them.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I'll check it out now.
SPEAKER_05Now I wouldn't doubt it. I don't listen to a lot of modern music, which is gonna kind of build out this conversation regardless.
SPEAKER_00No, no, we'll we'll we'll dive into it, man. But like um, but he's like the first example I could pop on my head is that like he's hugely popular, but you listen to his music, and his music sounds very um 80s pop, 80s synthetic inspired, like very retro, very, very, very retro. Even even Michael Jackson inspired, and and I think he'll be the first person to tell you that that's probably uh deliberate on his part. Uh, but it sounds very retro, and that's just one small example of I just I just feel it in the air. It seems like we're all trying to bring back the old stuff, and I think this kind of builds off of prior conversations we had about looking back on our childhoods and kind of cherry picking the good things out of them and then bringing them back, right? So I think that's all of a that's all it's it's it's it all branches off of that kind of idea, and we're taking old stuff, remixing it, and making it new. So just right off the top, you know, just trent, you guys have you guys been noticing this trend too of just this mythologic boom uh that's been permeating our our our culture, our pop culture, and just society in general, or am I just talking nonsense? Go for it, Trent.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah. I mean, uh, you know, I I I see a lot of things that are coming back that uh that I that I thought were no longer, you know, a part of you know my existence here on this planet because uh from the 70s and 80s. Uh so I'm like, wow, that's cool, that's really cool. And like what you just mentioned, though they're integrating the music. Uh and I'm like, yeah, that that makes sense to me because you know, at some point, you know, on a s on a level where you know music is one in my opinion, like one of those one of the things that always takes you back to where you, you know, a good fond memory if you hear a good song or something like that, or or vice versa, take your pick. But um, but but when I have well when I hear like, if you will, the backbeat to a song, and I'm that that maybe my son is listening to, like today, uh as an example, and then and I'm like, I know I know the backbeat of that song, you know. I'm like, that that's a song from the 1970s, you know, like you were just talking about that one gentleman. And I was like, so I was like, it takes me back as well, so I hear it. So I think, like you said, I think it's kind of on purpose because now he's actually whomever is putting this music out today is you know also hitting uh striking a chord with people who would probably not be their normal listening group, you know, like Gen Xers or Millennials. That's not who their target market is, but but I think that they do that on purpose as well. But maybe I'm maybe I'm just there on that end of it.
SPEAKER_00No, I completely agree. But uh, and you know, it's funny because so I remember growing up, uh my father uh was still is, you know, very big into the music of his youth, which was the 60s and the 70s. So he would play like a lot of uh soul music, Motown, um you know, like Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, uh Michael Jackson, classic Michael the Jackson 5. Um all of that. Just like all that classic soul jazz of that era of the you know sixties and the seventies. And um he would play that a lot um growing up. So that music kind of like seeped into my subconscious. Now, as a kid, I I didn't like it, you know, because it's you know, you're a kid, you're when you're a kid, you're like, oh, that that that old corny music, right? You know, you don't really uh jive with it, you don't relate to it. So you to when you're a kid, you're just listening to this and it's it's it's old to you, it's corny, it's out of touch, it's out of step. It's uh it's it's fogey or whatever. Now what's interesting though is I but I listened to all this music where I heard all this music as my father would play it in our house growing up, and it seeped into my subconscious, and then as I got older and I became a teenager and started getting into music myself and developing my own music taste. I remember, you know, getting into hip hop, right? And uh I got very entrenched into hip-hop as a teenager, but one of the most revelatory things was hearing a lot of hip-hop songs that incorporated those old songs my father used to listen to, samples, right? Sampling is a huge part of hip-hop, and I'd be like, Oh, you know, shit. Like, I I recognize that song, you know, like the uh that like that big Fuji song, you know, that the Lauren Hill song, uh you know, strum in my pain. Well, okay, I'm not gonna say it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but you know, you're killing me softly, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Killing me softly, yeah. You know, that that was a huge song in the 90s when the Fujiis came out, right? Huge, huge, huge. How many people know that that was a Roberta Flack song from the 70s, right? I did know that you did or did not.
SPEAKER_01I did, I did know that.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you did. I did too, but that's because you know I'm looking older, so yeah, exactly. And did you just talk about that? But that's just what we understand. That's what you just described is what your father listened to a lot. That's what my mother listened to a lot as well. So no kidding. I totally understand what you're talking about. Oh, yeah, 100%.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's it's it's but it's I I love that, and it but it's amazing how uh music, you know, you know, hip-hop, yeah. It it it it takes it took something old, it remixed it, right? It remixed it, it made it new again. And I guarantee you a lot of people don't know the original Roberta Flack song, but they know the Lauren Hill song, right? Um and it but it's but I think it's beautiful. I think maybe some people will call it stealing, you know, and I'm sure I know that's been a debate. Like, is hip hop just taking old stuff and making it new?
SPEAKER_05Well, uh well, perhaps. I mean, if you get into the legal side just to interrupt, but you know, there I will I am fond of saying that you know, you know, imitation is the highest form of flattery, you know. So a hundred you can look at it like that, or you can look at it like that song was so righteous. How can I get this thing into my music? You know, kind of thing. It's an omage, if you will, they're paying an homage to this artist, you know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's exactly right.
SPEAKER_05But I have no musical talent whatsoever, so I have a great appreciation for music as a result.
SPEAKER_00So I do as well. No, I I I do as well, and I bring that up just to illustrate the larger point of uh I think nostalgia has always been around in a sense, um, for decades and decades. I think we've always had this tendency to go back, or generations would go back to the prior generation and bring old things back. But I'm just I don't know, maybe it's no more or less than it used to be, but it just feels like we are bringing older trends back. Jess, are you noticing that at all? Or what are your what are your thoughts on this?
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, most definitely. Um, and you know, to Trent's point, like you hear a song, and you're like, Oh, I remember like every time I hear the song, um, oh my gosh, what's that Michael Bolton song? They played it at the skating rink all the time. Maybe it's not Michael Bolton. Everything I do, I do it for you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's yeah, it's a remake, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Every time I hear that song, I just remember being in like elementary school at the skating rink, and that song would start playing, and all the people would like couple up and hold hands and go around, you know. Um so, but yes, there's a huge nostalgia uh when it comes to like music, and like we had just a week or two ago, we had a death of the family. I feel like I say that on everyday podcast episode we record, but it's true. Um and so my oldest daughter was hanging out with family, and they were listening to music, you know, everybody's together hanging out. It was really like the younger 20s crowd, whatever. And she came home and she was telling me that they were like listening to like older songs, and um Dance with My Father came on.
SPEAKER_04Oh great song.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and from Luther Banjos, and that was my mother-in-law, like my that to much to your point, Kyle. My husband, when he was younger, he would or we complain, used to complain when he was younger. Um, and he tells me the story all the time because that was that his mom and her elevator music on Saturday mornings when she was making him clean the house. Um, and she was blasting her Luther Vandros. So then as he got older and we got older, we would like go out sometimes with my mother-in-law, and they would two step to dance with my father or whatever Luther song came on. Um, and so my daughter and her cousin were outside hanging out with family, and that song came on, and they two stepped together, like just nostalgic for them because they grew up watching all of this occur.
SPEAKER_00Um yeah, that's that's nice, that's a nice little story. Yeah, you know, but but that's but I I think that's the kind of core of it, right? It's um we're trying to harness that thing that made us uh happy in an earlier part early from a formative part of our childhoods, or oh yeah, I agree with that.
SPEAKER_05You know, like when you like, I mean the whole subject is about nostalgia at this level, right? So I mean that's that's a great way of defining it, you know. You kind of like you have you have, if you will, these selective memories about things that were a positive or something that is endearing to you. And so when you hear these things now, you know, it it ties that cord back to that memory for you and it kind of brings it forward and you know, puts you, in my opinion. Well, for me, you know, nostalgia puts you in a good mood, you know. But but but let's just be honest, I think a lot of a lot of times I have to say that you know, maybe your uh your brain might be gaslighting you a little.
SPEAKER_01Is it really that sweet and precious?
SPEAKER_05Well, you know, I mean when they talk about like the good old days, you know, you you know, everyone every generation has an older generation that talks about the good old days, you know. And you're like, well, yeah, but you know, like for example, like we we also had lawn darts that people were dying from called jarts, you know. So I mean, or if you will, like like the easy bake oven back in the day that would like absolutely burn you if you like give you like a third or second degree burn if you touch that GD bulb.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah. Like I both of my kids got one of those whenever they were kids just because I was like, I used to love my easy bake oven.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Yeah. So it's like I I think they, you know, from the nostalgic part of it and and how that it is presenting itself in today's world, you know, uh in my opinion, I it I think it's wonderful because it it like I said earlier, it kind of includes other generations. And also, you know, um it is they're they're they're they're they're picking out some of the best things, if you will, about about that time and uh and space that we existed in during you know the in the past. But they're not really talking about, if you will, some of the negative things that happen where you're like, oh my god, right? Like, I mean, yeah, I don't know about you, but like downloading a uh downloading a song took hours, you know, today you could just you know yell out a certain person's name and and suddenly she'll just pipe that to you right in your house. You know, that's wonderful. Yep. But the back of the day you you didn't you didn't have that, you know. So it's like we we we have these wonderful, wonderful, fond memories.
SPEAKER_01Did you guys used to like record the radio, like whatever was playing on the radio? And then you have to like like play it and write down the words and then like rewind it and then write down the next, like so that you knew what the words to the song were. Because I used to do that. Absolutely, you just google the lyrics to such and such a song and it magically appears in front of you, or where you're like patient.
SPEAKER_05I don't know about you guys, but mixtapes, you know, but one is was my generation kind of event, you know, like the 80s, and uh and you would like sit, wait patiently uh by the radio with your finger on the record button, waiting for the song you wanted them to record. And it always seemed like the one time you got up to go get something to drink or go to the bathroom, you come back and it's halfway through that song, and you're like, son of a gun. You know, like in you know, normally you would grab those off like that top 40 countdown, and you're like, they're not gonna play this for another week. Yeah, you gotta wait another week to be able to capture the song, and like, oh my god, I'm never gonna get this mixtape done. Yeah, or I get or I guess maybe I was a little too invested in it.
SPEAKER_01No, because or I okay, the hot eight at eight, well, we had the hot eight at eight, they'll play it again then because it's one of the hot eight.
SPEAKER_00But that's the thing, right? Like you if we're talking about like radio, right? Like, that's the thing. Like it when you heard your song, it was special, right? When you heard that song, yeah, it it was uh there was something special about it when it came on, you're like, Yeah, they're playing my jam, you know, and then you try to you're like, let me turn the radio up. Turn the radio up and try to record it, like you said, try to you you really try to capture it. And having music on demand now, it's I mean it's beautiful, don't get me wrong. It's it's it's amazing that you're able to that we are able to do this. Uh, I think there's even um there's even that app, the Google app, where you can if you don't know the lyrics, you can hum the tune of the song. You're like, Oh, I don't know the lyrics, you just you just hum and be like, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. And then Google has a way of uh finding the the song for you, you know. It's it's it's so which is I didn't know that that's interesting. Oh, you didn't know that, yeah, yeah. It's a it's uh it's I think it's on your phones. It's it's it's the Google app. There's a function on there where you can press it, and then yeah, you hum the tune, and then it will try to find it will try to find it. If you if you're totally off key, then it's not gonna find it. So you have to be somewhat you have to be somewhat on key of what it is that you're trying to find. But I think it's uh beautiful the how technology has evolved at that point. But kind of dialing back a little bit too, um and saying on the music front, vinyls, right guys, vinyls has become like like there's a huge vinyl boom that's happening these days. And I think for a while it was that thing that only hipsters did, you know, like those um counterculture cool kids did. But now I think I read somewhere that vinyl sales are just like going up and up and up and up and up, like vinyls are legitimately um on the rise again, like it's you know, like it's like it's 1971, you know. And I have a vinyl collection, and I'm not even gonna lie, I've and I still uh buy vinyls. I love I love vinyl shopping. I love the art of going to the store, uh like a vinyl shop and just kind of sifting through the different uh discs and trying to find a gem or something and listen to, or or maybe an old CD that or maybe an old album that you I don't know. There's something I can't really describe it, but there's something really cool about that. And I think it's something you don't get from just pressing play on Spotify and then your song is right there, you know. So um, uh Trent, are you a vinyl guy? I I'm curious.
SPEAKER_05Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, I mean, 100% that guy, you know, it it you curate, you know, and that might be why it's actually kind of cool because it's actually a physical event too for people these days, which you know, we live in a digital world, so this is kind of where they actually have a tangible thing that they can use and and make a deliberate action to play what they want to hear when they want to hear it, you know. Uh but you know, you we have that at our fingertips. I mean, but it's it's kind of more of that physical interaction. But yeah, to answer your question, I yeah, I I I have vinyl, I have a record player, I've had a record player. I mean, Jesus, I I can still recall here we go, nostalgia. I can still recall my first play school record player, you know, I was like five, you know.
SPEAKER_01So I had one of those, yeah.
SPEAKER_05I mean, my my mom was kind enough to buy me or my brother, I have a twin brother, so just so you understand. So, you know, whatever we did with it was together. But so I remembered, so I'll use the word, you know, we or they, but the uh not in a weird way, but the uh or in a different way, let's put it that way. Let me recant that. So um, but the uh but yeah, the first album was the Grease soundtrack. And and sadly, uh, or if you will, depending on your point of view, in a good way, I know every song on that dance. And my brother, my brother and I just soundtrack. We we used to do the whole dance on Grease Lightning while standing on our beds, you know, like it was a car. And we knew we knew all this, we knew all the dance moves as well. So yeah, yeah. Again, that's nostalgic, you know. It's like so now I hear a grease song, I'm like, oh yeah, right, I'm Grease Lightning. You know, like and I can still do the dang dance.
SPEAKER_00Well, oh god, I gotta see that, please. Like off camera, you gotta see that.
SPEAKER_05Not a problem, please. Not a problem, 100%.
SPEAKER_00Were you a fan of the Grease? Were you a fan of the movie as well? Like, so like like so you're a big fan of Grease.
SPEAKER_05Oh, I mean, it's five. It's five. What did what did I know? But but then did I did I, you know, it's my first, you know, I mean, here you go. I mean, with as far as intelligence, I saw that movie at a drive-thru drive-in theater. Okay.
unknownWow.
SPEAKER_05If you want to, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Wow, drive-in theater.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah. So, and those, you know, you watch the movies and you see that kind of events going on where you're smuggling friends in or food or anything like that. That happened, that happened a lot, you know. Uh so, but so you know, you're watching it, and then you, you know, for if you've seen the movie Greece, then you know there's a scene that takes place in the drive-in theater, and you're like, wow, that's awesome. You know it's kind of interesting to say the least, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But circle back, big, big fan of vinyl, absolutely, one hundred percent. It's it's a gem. Right on.
SPEAKER_00I mean, uh so right on, man. I think it's only a matter of time just to go back to Greece. I think it's only a matter of time. Before um they remake that movie or bring it back in some way, shape, or form because that's another thing that I've noticed in uh TV and film. They're bringing back a lot of old uh properties, you know, just old movies or uh making what they call, I guess, in the movie World Legacy sequels. Like, I don't know, did you guys see the new Top Gun that came out a few years ago? Top Gun Maverick, uh, with Tom Cruise. Did you guys watch that?
SPEAKER_05Uh I haven't watched it yet, but I it's always I but but I did I am aware of the movie, yeah. I haven't seen it though.
SPEAKER_00Okay, yeah. Well, I think it's fascinating because uh the original Top Gun came out in 1986, I believe, and they didn't make a sequel up until a few years ago, I think it was 2022 or something like that. And I and it was a huge, huge, huge, huge hit. And I that's fascinating to me. I think it's and I think that's a prime example of nostalgia. But it's fascinating to me that it did so well because there's generations of kids uh and people who grew up who who didn't who didn't even know what the original Top Gun was because we're talking a what like a 40 40-year gap or you know, near 40-year gap of time or something like that before before the first movie. So that's fascinating to me that Hollywood seems to be mining these old properties from the 80s and the 90s. And uh in a lot of cases, they're bringing back like the old actors who reprise their role originally and they're doing them again because I guess the actors aren't doing much anymore, and they're like, Okay, why not? I need a paycheck. I mean, I you know well Tom uh Tom Cruise's case, I don't think he needed a paycheck, I think he just did it because he wanted to, but like but I think that's but I think that's fascinating though. I I may personally I'm a I'm a movie buff. I I love film, I'm fascinated with the film industry in general, but I'll I'll try not to talk you guys' ears off. But just all that to say is that Hollywood has been a prime example of that. I've seen a lot of that in Hollywood of uh what we call nostalgia baiting, nostalgia baiting the audience, and as a way to bring them back. Okay, we're gonna do a sequel from a 30-year-old movie, and we're gonna bring back the original actors that you love too. Um I think The Last Jurassic Park, or one of the last Jurassic Parks, had like the original either Jeff Goldblum and original cast in there. So, you know, I think it's interesting how we a lot of popular culture is clinging on to these older things from you know that maybe millennials and Gen Xers and so on and so forth used to love and bringing it back. And are they trying to aim for the Gen X crowd in the millennial crowd? Or are they are they aiming for a new crowd? I think it's fascinating. I don't know how we're able to do that. So um, and I'm not mad at it. I mean, sometimes yeah, go ahead, try.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_05Oh no, no, well, go well, okay. So yeah, I mean, I'm gonna put it a nice way. We have a generation that's you know younger than this, you know, us, you know. You know, they have what is it, what is it, Gen Z is the next generation below the millennial, is that right, or am I wrong?
SPEAKER_01That's correct.
SPEAKER_05Okay, fair enough. So so when you you know, they're these people didn't experience these kind of events, and you know, the the the major uh media content creators out there these days are are our in our age group, you know. So um it from the Hollywood point of view, you can take it as you know, that's a wonderful thing. They're expanding, you know, the market, you know, in that regard because I you know, like for example, like I don't know if you're familiar with the Netflix, I think it's on Netflix, which is called Stranger Things.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, man, prime example of nostalgia. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_05I mean, I mean that well that takes place in the 1980s, you know, when they're and they're playing like Dungeons and Dragons and they have to run around, and then of course there's all this other stuff that goes on in the background, but you know, these the people that didn't experience that, and of course I watch it, and of course I'm experiencing that nostalgia from watching it. But the people Jen's ears didn't experience that, you know, they haven't experienced that, so they've only heard about it through you know, tells from their parents, you know, or if at this level sometimes grandparents, but um, but now they get to actually see it. So they're you know they're generating this fake nostalgia, which I don't I don't know, and fake might be somewhat of a negative connotation, but what I mean is they didn't experience it, but they're they have they're but they're experiencing this nostalgic event the Gen Zers are in my opinion, and that's I mean, why else would it be so popular, you know? I mean I don't know, but you know that's fascinating, Trent.
SPEAKER_00So let me ask you this. So let me hone in on that for a second because so I'm a millennial, I was born in 86, and I love Stranger Things, right? And that's fascinating because I watch Stranger Things and I feel nostalgic, but being born in '86, I didn't really experience the 80s. You know, the 90s is really my grow-up era, right? So I didn't really get to feel the 80s, and yet I feel nostalgia for an era I wasn't alive in, you know, when I watched that. And I'm just like, wow, the eight, like, I don't know. How do you how do you explain that?
SPEAKER_05You know, so well, I mean, they're they're showing they're showing some things. I mean, they're getting well, first of all, they do a really good representation in the movie, the show itself. I I've watched a couple of the seasons and I really would like to get back to it, but life is that way. But the uh um, but I'm like, wow, this is really incredible. Because I mean they're showing that technology that we had, and and and and you know, that was like the dark ages as far as like the technology compared to just like walkie-talkies with your friends and stuff, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Using that, yeah, everyone's on a bike, you know. I mean, that was like there was a like a bicycling culture back then. I mean, that was like a sub-kid culture kind of event, but you know, to bring it back with the when why do I think that that's happening? Is you know, like there's like I say, they're showing really good kind of like you know, the things that we would wax nostalgic about, my people with Gen Xers would wax nostalgic about, and and and and and you see that in but they're experiencing it for the first time and kind of getting them a little bit of a if you will, paradigm shift. In other words, of they're they're viewing things through a little bit of a different lens. And then the so the when I say like the word fake nostalgia, it's kind of like what they don't understand is like there were a lot of other things that weren't just really as rosy, you know, rose-colored lenses that they're viewing this through. You know, it's like, and not to say it was anything negative, but you know, like the Gen Zers never had to uh learn the Dewey Decimal system and and and know how to research a paper to go by actually going into the stacks, you know. Those are some words I haven't heard in a long time.
SPEAKER_00The Dewey Decimal system. Oh my goodness. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Or you had to go look it up on your encyclopedias. So just so you just so you can get your homework done, you know. Uh I mean, that those kind of things. It's like, yeah, I mean, but but I I have no problem with it, you know, at some level, because again, it's the same kind of principle that we're just talking about. It's what ties us, it ties us back, but also ties the next generation back. And my only concern is what like you know, if you go back like 40 years, you know, when we talk about that, what is what are people gonna be talking about in hopefully you know, in a podcast in 2066 about the 2026 years or the 2020s, you know what I'm saying? Like, I wonder, I'm curious about that. I'm curious how that what they'll what they'll wax nostalgic about.
SPEAKER_00Oh my god, like I can't even think, I can't even begin to fathom what the technology will be like in that era where uh the yeah, like like people of that time of 2060, right, will be like, oh man, I wish I I pine for the simpler days where I only had uh Spotify to to stream my music, and I had or back in the day when they had chat GPT, wasn't that cute? I know, right? Back in the days when the robots hadn't taken hadn't taken over uh humanity yet, right? And enslaved all the humans, right? Back when the robots were just chat GPT, right?
SPEAKER_05It was just on my computer safe and it wasn't threatening to kill me, uh, you know, and and yeah, yeah, I mean it could end up being being a very dystopian view kind of thing, 40 years, who knows? You're like, oh Lord, this could have been bad, you know. This could have been prevented if we only wouldn't have done this 40 years ago, you know. God, I hope that's not the case. Lord have mercy, but uh oh my god, that'd be funny.
SPEAKER_00But you're right though. But you're but but we joke, but that's the truth, though. The the the truth is, even though we can't fathom it right now, the truth is 30 years from now that they will be nostalgic for whatever this era have is known for, or the the the gems from this era, you know. So I I I can't again I can't fathom what that would be because I you know I can't look ahead like that, but like there will be nostalgia for oh man, I pine for the times where um I pine for the 2020s. I pine for the times where you know what COVID wasn't so bad, you know. People are too people to be saying shit like that, right? But maybe they'll be saying we got now.
SPEAKER_05You remember maybe they'll be saying, Do you remember back in the time maybe they've cured all ills in this planet, and they'd be like, Do you remember back in the time where they shut down the entire planet because of the simple little virus? You know, and they're like, We got that stuff solved. Like, let's hope that happens, you know what I'm saying? That'd be great.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_05Can you imagine just being having to stay in your home for a year and a half?
SPEAKER_00You know what? But you know what? I actually I think believe it or not, even though we joke about it, I actually can picture people legitimately becoming nostalgic for those COVID years. And I think in the very near future, too. I don't even think in 2060, I think maybe in the next few years, I think people will start looking back. Maybe as we start closing the 2020s, um, I think people there will be people that look back and was like, you know what? Looking back on 2020, kind of nice being you know, locked in. I got to slow down, I got to reflect, I got to take up new hobbies, I got to paint, I got to look within myself, I got to spend more time with my family, uh, I got to I can see people, in fact, I'm sure people maybe people already are in that state of self-reflection and and see and are nostalgic for that time, you know, the turn of 2020, and when all this happened, maybe they maybe they they they missed that because you know we can do a whole podcast episode on 2020, honestly, in the pandemic. But like but I do think if there was a silver lining that can be argued was that it did, I think it did force everybody to slow down a little bit, and I think it did cause a lot of people to take a step back and just okay, let me let me chill out. My life was spinning out of control, and now I'm being forced to take a step back and reset a little bit. So I think COVID did allow for certain people to do that. So I definitely can picture people being nostalgic for that and looking back on a 2020 being like, Yeah, you know, it wasn't so bad. What what were we complaining about, you know, besides all the thousands of deaths and the death toll every day, right? Why you remember remember that guys? Is anyone nostalgic for watching that little death toll?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, every every day. Yeah, you're like, well, let's see how bad it's gone.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the daily news press conference that took over the TV from the governor, at least to my state. The governor giving an update on the numbers. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that was that was that was something.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it was like I got into a self shit. Yeah, let's hope it doesn't come. And that's the case. That's the case, that's actually the point, too. Let me just walk it back a little bit. You were talking about how people could take something positive from that, right? Um and but but there was the negative things too that we just touched on, too. We're not gonna remember those. The nostalgia part, that we're gonna have that selective memory. We're gonna get rid of all the negative, we're gonna be like, you know, that was pretty cool. I learned how to paint during that year, you know, or and now you're you know, you do it for you know, I don't know, you do that, you know, your painting gets better as through the years, and you know, now you're looking back and you're like, you know, I remember when I started this, you know, that kind of event. But also you're not gonna remember the fact that you were subjected to having to watch death tolls on your TV. Right. That's somewhat that's somewhat surreal, and and even talking about it now is somewhat surreal to me. It's like I'd forgotten about it until you mentioned it just now.
SPEAKER_01Right, oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00But Jess, I'm gonna call you out real quick. I and please, if I'm misquoting you, correct me. But didn't you say that 2020 wasn't that bad for you, or was it?
SPEAKER_01No, it wasn't that bad for me because I was already working from home. My daughter, my my daughter was already being homeschooled. Um, my oldest daughter had already graduated. It would have been her year to graduate, but she homeschooled and graduated early. Um it was lovely because my house, I think I've said many times, it was Grand Central Station. It still is at some level, but not nearly as bad as it was before COVID. Um and so then that was like an excuse for me, a reason for me to be like, oh no, nobody can come to my house. Like COVID, COVID's a thing, don't come to my house. And so it was like just the moment of rest for me. Like super busy at work, of course, but you know, that's never not a thing, but it was just like whatever. And and not to mention that I'm saying this despite the fact that I'm pretty sure that I had COVID before we knew about COVID, and I thought I was gonna die. Like literally thought I was going to die. I was like, if this is what like fighting some like major illness feels like, just fucking stick a fork at me and call me done because this is awful.
SPEAKER_03Um I had it, I had it then.
SPEAKER_01I can't say it was COVID because that was in January and they didn't announce it until like March, but whatever it was, it was it was a deep respiratory thing. I lost my voice. It was awful. I couldn't move, every move hurt. It was awful. Um, and then I had it two more times that year, and I like permanently lost my I used to have a super sense of smell, and now there's certain things that I can't smell at all. Um, and I don't have a super sense of smell anymore.
SPEAKER_00It had a had a last impact.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and then my like taste, my my taste for things changed. Um, and I didn't have a sense of taste for a long time. Um, but now like things like I used to love sour cream on my tacos, and now if I put sour cream on my tacos, it ruins the whole taco for me. Um so there's there's things, but it still was a pretty pretty chill time for me.
SPEAKER_00Besides all that, besides losing my whole losing my joy for food, then you know it was all good, right? Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, I had long it I had long COVID. I didn't know that that's what it was, but I was exhausted for like months and months and months. I didn't have any energy. Um I just thought I was being lazy, but it turns out that I think I had long COVID.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, no, thank you. That doesn't sound like something I would enjoy.
SPEAKER_01I mean the first time I had it when it wasn't actually COVID, because that wasn't announced yet, was the worst. That was the worst time. That was the time that like my life flashed before my eyes just a little bit. That was before they shut everything down, though.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that was whole that was the whole thing was so surreal, man. I like it was like, wow, we are shutting down a country, like this is crazy. You know, this is the shit that you see in movies and stuff like that. Like I but those first few weeks, right? You know, um when we were shut down, it was fun, it was like a party, right? Like, yay, we don't have to go to work. Yeah, you know, like we're we're we get to work from home, and this is amazing, and we'll be back in a few weeks, no big deal. And then it turned out to prolong itself way longer than any of us anticipated, you know. But uh shit.
SPEAKER_05Well, the fallout too, just where you just the fallout of that is kind of you know, it it makes it it made an indelible mark on even like you know, the businesses had to pivot and and develop these technologies that allow this this this uh massive increase in my opinion of being able to work from home, you know? Yeah, so we wouldn't have we wouldn't be experiencing that today if we hadn't experienced COVID. So, you know, yeah, some level I for me I work from home and I absolutely adore it. You know, it's one of the best things ever. I mean I I was laughing because I I literally don't don't drive my car, uh except for I'm like I'm like it's seriously like just the grocery getter, you know. So like I very I very rarely leave my house or anything like that. But so um and I enjoy that. So and um I don't think that would be an option if we hadn't had COVID. So for that, you know, like if you want to take a good out of out of something that was just absolutely horrifying at some level, but uh to me I'm like, yeah, this works out pretty well, you know. Um but we wouldn't we we we wouldn't have pushed forward on those uh you know that technology, and again, technology is you know a good thing for tech nostalgia part of it. We wouldn't have pushed back on that until uh we had COVID, you know, they they wouldn't have developed that kind of thing. I mean, I remember actually going into my quote unquote first Zoom meeting, and I'm like, what is this? I have to download this app. Well, this sounds great. This is gonna be a game changer for my business, you know. I can actually still stay engaged with my with my clients, you know.
SPEAKER_01So anyway, so I remember Kyle. Kyle freaked out after a couple of weeks. He's like, Jess, I don't know how you do this just in the house all the time, all the time in the house. I miss the office. I miss the office. We used to do lunches.
SPEAKER_02Me, I said that.
SPEAKER_01Um, you did. Yeah, you've changed your story since then, but you did. You were like, I miss like that interaction. We used to go out and you know, have lunch or have like a dinner, everybody would go out for dinner and drinks after work, and none of that happens, and then you went back to work, and you're like, This is not the same, there's nobody here ever.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, talk about nostalgia. I'm very nostalgic about that. I'm very nostalgic of those days where uh yeah, I did exactly that. Where I would go to an office and after work, uh hang out with the coworkers, we get a drink, get dinner. I miss those days. Um, and the pandemic kind of took that away from me personally, uh, where I work from home fully. And I'm very, very, very thankful for it. So don't get me wrong. There are so many pluses to working from home. But I do miss that um that camaraderie of seeing your friend, uh seeing your co-workers and your friends, you know, that are also your co-workers, and seeing them on a daily basis and being able to interact with them daily. It's not the same when you're just talking to them on like you know, Microsoft Teams, you know, and it's really not the same. It's not it's just not the same thing, or a Zoom call, you know what I'm saying? So it's like I I I I do miss that um sense of daily interaction with the people that you are working with and forming those connections with, but but you know what, man, you know, it is what it is. Um well the world, you go ahead.
SPEAKER_05Oh, oh, I'm sorry. Well, I'm just kind of I'm like when you're talking about that, I'm like kind of extracting that to like say, like I said, like 30 or 40 years from now, or where the next generations of people are gonna be like, did if we just go along with just the fact that maybe remote work becomes somewhat of the norm versus you know, like other than certain things, they're like, did people did people in offices actually used to go out to eat? You guys all went to the same place, you know, and you're like, Yeah, it was wonderful. You got a chance to hang out with your coworkers in a social setting, you know, it was it was great. You know, we we we would grab lunches together, we would do things outside of work, you would create this little community, if you will, and then you know, so and then maybe that'll that'll be something that that you know media will be propagating as as somewhat of a point of nostalgia 20 or 30 30 years from now kind of thing. Where we'd just be blowing, you know, the jet the next generation, whatever they're gonna call them now, but would be just blowing their minds away. They're like, You guys actually did that? Because we know my I have adult children. And he my both my children are always like, You did what? You know, like, oh yeah, we did this back in the day. You know, you tell them the stories about it, but you're not telling them all the negative stuff about those generations. But I'm I'm just curious how I I just am curious how that's gonna play out for the for the next generations. Should be fun.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's it's wild to think about, but I think it's a beautiful thing. I mean, I first of all, I think it's kind of funny how we actually literally just spent the last 20 minutes uh reminiscing about COVID. But uh yeah exactly so I think we kind of just proved our own point here that when you take distance from something right you become uh you grow you grow a fondness and an appreciation from it. And uh even even the things that even things that can at first seem negative you walk away you you take a step back from it and you're like well okay it was it was bad but it wasn't all bad and look at the good that came out of it. And like you said Trenda you've been saying is that we extract and extrapolate the good out of it and then we create nostalgia. You know even though that was a you know trend you grew up in the 70s right and the 70s had its more than its fair share of sociopolitical issues and cultural issues and just you know just a lot of just there was a lot of turmoil going on during that during that era. I don't know about I know enough about the 70s to know that but regardless of that there was a lot of good that came out of that and that's what you take with you okay you know and uh Jess I'm sure that's how you was growing up in the 80s in the 90s for me. We we look at all that stuff and we take away the yeah we take away the good stuff and I'll tell you like and I want to end this episode with I I like to ask each one of you about something that you are nostalgic about personally that maybe you wish would come back. Um I think that'd be a fun little discussion and and I'll start so I can give you guys some time to think about your your choices but but uh you know what I kind of miss and people are gonna call me crazy I actually kind of am nostalgic for the early days of the internet where you could only be on the internet for a certain amount of time remember that and uh because it was it it it was back then it was uh it was tied to I think your your house phone your telephone your phone line exactly right and so and it was expensive back then so if you were on the internet for like two hours you racked up the phone bill like hugely so I remember like my parents would be very um you know they'd be on me about that like how make sure you're not on you know the internet for more than an hour right and I people listening to me say this be like what are you crazy because we're all constantly linked into the internet right we're we're not we're never disconnected but I do feel like there is a movement which I think ties into nostalgia a bit I do think there's a movement these days of people trying to disconnect from this because we are all tied to our cell phone we're all tied to our computers just all the time so I'm seeing and feeling this movement of I want to disconnect from this because I just it's overwhelming just being on this all the time.
SPEAKER_05So I feel like back in the days when I was a teenager I loved being on the internet for that hour hour and a half that I was allowed because it allowed me to get all my you know all my internet web surfing whatever I got it all in I look forward to it every day and this for this hour I'm gonna go on all my favorite sites and do my stuff and then I get back to the real world and I kind of miss that man and I and I almost wish in a way we would go back to that where the internet would be restricted so that it forces us to go outside, ride our bikes talk to our friends on walkie-talkies whatever you know like it forces us to uh yeah go back to that more um yeah that that that that that original state of human interaction and just being off of the computers be being off of these these blue screens you know because I also feel like that can't be good for us yeah just staring at a screen all day whether it's on your computer whether it's on your telephone whether it's on your iPad so I vote for let's say two hours two hours let's let's let's limit ourselves to two hours of internet people people are gonna be like are you fucking nuts please get this guy out of here but I can't two hour workday for me so I'm now I know all our jobs all our jobs let's hope that comes back right make that happen Kyle I'm I'm gonna go start a GoFundMe page right to sponsor him he needs to become a politician and make that happen let's make that happen please whoever needs to make that happen just make it happen for our own well being damn it yeah absolutely absolutely bring back the bring back having to physically attend a business meeting oh my god that'd be great uh yeah well you know how about you'll I'll jump in I actually have two which well one's very specific and the other one kind of leads into it so I'm gonna build off what you said like for me um I would say and I've actually done this on if you will a grassroots level but I would say that um being being just having a day without any kind of notifications you know um I'm I do it what I I I affectionately refer to as every once about once a month I do a 1984 weekend where I just turn my phone off and then I don't I only do things that I did in the 1980s. You know that's what I call the 1984 be well if you read George Orwell. But um you know for me it's like the concept of being just completely unreachable the moment I turn off my phone and make that to me that's that that brings me back into the nostalgia part of it. And but again no one's doing this and you know this isn't something that's instituted around here. But if I could bring back that I'd be like let's bring back a day where you just uh just live without notifications you know because there's in my opinion there's a little bit of a chaos or if you will beautiful freedom that goes with like leaving my house and knowing that I'm not taking my phone with me and nobody's gonna be able to text me and I'm just gonna be a you know I'm gonna go do what I would do back in the 1980s. You know but of course now you're hamstrung because back in the day you always want to make sure you have at least some change so you can make a phone call because you have the pay phone but you know but uh but I'm not checking emails or anything like that. So I would say if you want to do that that'd be great. You know back in the day when I was a kid if you know these like in this generation's you know you know they they organize their um social events through these phones and stuff like that. But back in the day if you want to know what was going on in my neighborhood all you did was get on your bike ride around and look go look to see where all the other bikes were piled up. Yeah and then you just go insinuate yourself into that social uh dynamic with your friends during back in the day we don't have that now you know you don't see that a lot in that regard. And the only other thing uh that I the the specific thing that I would bring back is um and couple that probably in my opinion with your a day without notification kind of thing I'd say uh please bring back Saturday morning cartoons okay oh my god oh I should have used that one oh you that's a good one that's a good one Trent uh yes yes I'm hugely nostalgic for that yes because you know what happened like I usually do it yeah you're like because what do you do like I say I make that thing and I'm like when I make that you know like my 1984 weekend I'm like God you know what would be great is just being able to sit here and eat a bowl of cereal and watch Saturday morning cartoons we don't have that anymore some of the best Saturdays of my life where yeah waking up early watching my lineup with you with a bowl of cereal and man that was yeah yeah good pick I that's right on I'm I'm right with you brother yeah oh my goodness what about you Jess I don't know that one was hard for me I've just been sitting here thinking and stewing and trying kind of stole mine because I'm nostalgic for the days when I wasn't like expected to be on call 247 if somebody calls me or texts me and I'm just not necessarily doing anything but I don't want to talk or engage but people get in their feelings about that. But since Trent stole that one I guess I would say you can have the same thing we can we can all we can have the same thing you know like let's start a revolution here.
SPEAKER_01But the other like thing I guess which I they probably do have some vintage um version of this out there. But the days when video games were so much more simplistic like I missed the controller that was like up down left right A B start select end of story. Oh maybe there were some back buttons or something I don't know but it now you've got the this joystick and this button and then and you can change the settings because back in the day A did A and B did B and up down left right did what they did. Right. And now you got it to where people like I I've come I can utilize and and do well using the Xbox controller or an Xbox household. Okay. And I have my controller set up the way that it's set up and all the controllers in my house are pretty much set up that way. And then I like one time I went to my um brother-in-law's house and his son was like oh kill zombies with me and I'm like all right let's do it he's way better than me but I'm like let's do it and he hands me this controller and none of the buttons were doing what I expected him to do.
SPEAKER_05I was like yeah I'm done oh you can just change it back and I'm like no I just lost the thrill of playing this game now to me program my last right I don't even know how I was set up don't ask me we uh we we just lost all the Gen Z listeners of this podcast that's that's what I'm good at losing well no I mean yeah yeah absolutely I mean like for lack of a better way of saying it well we're trying to wrap this up but yeah absolutely I I would I would wholeheartedly be more than happy to bring bring back that the just the force and I'm I'm sure they like you said they probably do have those that kind of technology out there but um but yeah you should you should you should you should buy yourself an old gaming system for you know and and get back there that's what I would suggest I'm sure those kind of star in the lake I don't know we'll talk about it off this talk we'll talk about it with I'm sure we gotta wrap this up but the uh yeah we can talk about that because I actually um have a couple other gaming systems that are older and I totally understand why you you just you just struck a core with me I'm like yeah it's the reason why I own these that I have right yeah but she's serious the button manager so no just says this and then trust me she's gonna end up buying GTA 6 this fall and then just beyond that all the time right no I've watched GTA I've seen kids play that and I'm not a fan I'm I'm like the old school parent who was like what are you playing and what am I watching right now turn it off I'm done like uh lighten up Jess lighten up you're no fun I'm just I just I have I have no fun that I just can't get down with that one the cursing the cursing the runner from the police the the violence the hookers the strip clubs yeah man I'm like no no no we're not no not we're not doing that yeah just just just as like if it's not a if if it's if it's not a plumber in red overalls you know jumping on mushrooms I don't want to play it you know we're not playing that no I like to I like to kill zombies I like but I'm old school I don't like the new black the uh whatever I like the um black ops three specifically the giant map killing zombies oh wow I say see I that's that's where you lose me I I don't I don't play that stuff that's that's that's interesting that you're you're interested in Call of Duty I never played a Call of Duty before I never got into that see that's kind of where I draw my line but personally I've never played Call of Duty either because I'm I'm afraid I might end up having losing days of my life playing it so I'm like no I don't even want to touch that stuff that to me that's like you know it's kind of like an illicit drug don't don't bring that near me I don't want to play that game been there done that yeah yeah well now that we lost all our listeners because we're like okay one person one person wants two hours of internet a day another one wants what wants three button joysticks you know what another proof you know they're like what in the but I what you still can get you can still get saturday morning cartoons though let's just be honest even but even that even that our our our younger listeners would be like why the fuck would I wait till Saturday to watch what I want when I could just you know you can just dial it up I could just download yeah man I could just download uh bluey and uh Paw Patrol and whatever it is kids watch these days I don't know no man they just go to Netflix my three year old grandson knows how to get to Netflix and go to his shows that's wild wow on the TV it's just the TV the TV does everything he needs it to do that is so wild man that's insane that's insane in the meantime I have a 70 plus year old mom that can't figure out how you work her remote it's like oh my god you just push this button I'm a 39 I'm a 39 year old male black male that I could barely I I barely know how to use my remote so take a bet what you will okay like this this shit is just good lord I can't I can't I can't even but anyway with that we're gonna end this episode uh before we have zero listeners after all the after we just did all this whining about the old days and how things aren't as simple as they used to be but anyway uh no this was a great conversation I just wanted to wax poetic a little bit about um some of the things that we are fond of nostalgic about and uh I think it's a beautiful thing that we bring old things back and in a way those good things of our youth uh never die never truly die or never truly go away so I'm all for the perpetuation of nostalgia so um but it was nice going down memory lane with you guys it's always nice doing that so um just trent thank you for the conversation and Trent as always great having you on man thank you for your uh you know thank you for your insight man yeah appreciate it thank you thank you always a pleasure all right all right guys we will see you next week on the seeing sideways podcast until then have a great week everybody