Perhaps Grandma and Grandpa are right. “Things were so much better back in my day.” “Back in my day, we could get a movie ticket for 5 cents and fill up the car with 50.” As we begin to respond to them with something along the lines of, “Well, Grammy things have changed,” or “It’s not 1950 anymore.” We may want to rethink how we react, especially since our generation invented things like “Throwback Thursday” and “Flashback Friday.”
What is with those posts anyway? Why are they trending every week? Why does that one girl you know post on Instagram on both Thursday and Friday? Surely, she knows it’s the same idea and posting on both days is not necessary. I hope.
The point is we love sharing things from the past. Whether it’s a photo of us when we were kids or a picture of our favorite toy that so reminds us of growing up. Websites like Buzzfeed exist solely to make fun of the internet, share some international “news”, and provide us with millions of lists of items, songs, artists, etc that remind us of when we were younger. Bands make a comeback by creating a documentary about their lifestyles (“Backstreet Boys: Show ‘Em What You’re Made Of,” anyone?) in the industry. We cry and share all over our social media when an old show finds its place on Netflix- see “Fuller House.”
Despite all these things we discuss when it comes to our past lives, we still get upset when someone from Generation X tells us how life was better without social media and it’s all just dumb. Well we can’t really get upset anymore. Every 20 years or so an old style is recycled, old music makes a comeback and movies get remade. So it’s about time we realize this as young Gen Y’ers and Millenials.
Next time we go visit our grandparents, maybe tell them how you remember the movies being a mere $5 and that you filled up your first car with a solid $20. Then maybe show them how we cleverly came up with memes by using pictures from the original Charlie and The Chocolate Factory or Captain Picard from Star Trek. If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll realize we enjoy the past just as much as they do.
This post was written by Ginger Marks. Ginger is a Social Media Community Specialist with Media Connect Partners.
