In the News
Work shift: Amazon’s RTO reveals power and peril of ‘executive nostalgia’
This article was originally published in Bloomberg. Welcome to this week’s Work Shift newsletter. I’m Matt Boyle, your work bestie. If you’re coming to us by way of a friend, please consider signing up on your own. In this episode, we explore how...
Sweet relief or mid-life crisis? Adults indulge in childhood candy comfort
This article was originally published in the Seattle Times. As stress and uncertainty rise, more adults are finding solace in the familiar flavors of their youth. This nostalgic trend, fueled by social media and savvy marketing, is reshaping the candy industry. The...
How Gen Z’s mental health concerns are turning the workplace inside out
This article was originally published in Deseret News. Sigmund Freud observed that the goal of psychoanalysis is the transformation of misery into normal unhappiness. Recent findings from the American Psychological Association on American workers suggest that this...
Looking back, moving forward
This article was originally published in Wellbeing. “When we engage in nostalgia, we are not moving toward the past. We are bringing the past to the present to help us plan for the future. Nostalgia pushes us forward, not back,” writes nostalgia researcher and...
America’s crisis of meaningless work
This article was originally published in Business Insider. American workers are not all right. While news about "quiet quitters" spread like wildfire in 2022, things have actually gotten worse in America's workplaces since that viral trend lost steam. Engagement...
Sick of reboots? How “nostalgia bait” profits off Millennial and Gen Z’s childhood memories
This article was originally published in The Conversation. If you’re a Millennial or a member of Gen Z and immersed in our cultures’ current obsession with reboots, re-enactments, sequels and prequels, then you may be feeling a bit of nostalgia fatigue and asking...
Looking to the past for early meanings of nostalgia
This article was originally published in the New York Times. Before it reminded us of the glory days, nostalgia was a medical condition involving severe homesickness. In Word Through The Times, we trace how one word or phrase has changed throughout the history of the...
It’s hard to resist the pull of the ‘good old days,’ nostalgia researcher says—here’s why
This article was originally published in CNBC. Hearing a sound in passing or getting a whiff of a smell can transport you to a familiar time and place in your life, and more likely than not you’ll get excited and want to think about the memory some more — that’s...
Think life just keeps getting worse? Try being nostalgic — for the present
This article was originally published in the Los Angeles Times. Nostalgia seems harmless enough, and then someone starts earnestly — absurdly — glamorizing the Stone Age. “Damn can you imagine being a human during the paleolithic age,” tweeted a...
What the suburb haters don’t understand
This article was originally published in The Atlantic. The homogeneity of the suburbs has an upside: If strip malls and subdivisions remind you of home, you can feel nostalgic almost anywhere. If you listen to the experts, much of the place I’m from is not a place at...
Survey reveals Americans’ hope dwindles for national future but remains strong personally
This article was originally published in BNN. Recent studies show Americans are optimistic about their personal future yet pessimistic about national prospects. Mental health plays a pivotal role. Recent studies have highlighted a growing concern among Americans...
The sweet, sweet life of America’s DINKs
This article was originally published in Business Insider. Couples with two incomes and no kids are living it up like never before Elizabeth Johnson and her husband hit the vacation circuit hard over the past couple of years. They went boating in Florida, hiking in...
This year’s Super Bowl ads will be a nostalgia fest. Here’s why all that nostalgia is actually good for us, according to science
This article was originally published in Inc. One big theme of last year's Super Bowl ads was nostalgia. Whether it was Serena Williams starring in a Caddyshack-inspired ad or John Travolta pitching T-Mobile to a decades-old tune, the...
The art of leveraging nostalgia (and why radio keeps screwing it up)
This article was originally published in Jacob's Media. Did you watch The Grammys the other night? (If you did, you were part of a dwindling group of diehards who still enjoy network award shows.) One of the less obvious aspects of the show was that most of its...
82% of US adults are hopeful about their own future and their community’s future
This article was originally published in Good News Network. The United States has a reputation for being a hopeful nation, and a new survey indicates this optimistic outlook is still as American as apple pie. The results revealed a whopping 82% of Americans are...
How nostalgia can carry us through tough times
This article was originally published in 1A Wamu. “Ah, those were the good old days.” Who hasn’t thought something like this before? These feelings of warmth and longing can be about a time in our personal lives or about an era in history. The feeling...
Power of the past and the (continued) renaissance of nostalgia in marketing
This was originally published in Campaign. Pause. Stop. Rewind. The careful product re-introduction of nostalgia comes in cycles. And now, Golin's APAC president observes that the post-pandemic, economically battered world is again warming up to the comforts of the...
No, I don’t want to know how many burritos I ate this year
This article was originally published in the Washington Post. Ah, December, when inboxes overflow with corporations defining your tastes and habits — your id, your ego, your very soul — from the past 12 months. Strava reminds you that you didn’t meet your jogging goal...
Feeling nostalgic this holiday season? It might help boost your mental health
This article was originally published in the American Psychological Association. For many, the holidays bring back memories of simpler times, along with the carefree feelings of being younger, with fewer of the worries and stress that accompany...
2023: The year of nostalgia
This article was originally published in USA Today. There’s a special magic in the air during the holiday season that, for lack of better words, hurts so good. When the pine tree sales spring up around town and holiday-themed commercials air on TV, a...
There’s a reason why some Christmas songs make you cry
This article was originally published in Business Insider. Christmas is strongly linked to nostalgia, which can lead to powerful emotions. Christmas songs may be written in a certain way to trigger feelings of sadness. Connecting with those negative emotions can have...
6 ways to tap into nostalgia—and why you should
This article was originally published in Time. When people walk into Keri Piehl’s retro toy store in Albuquerque, N.M., their eyes light up. Wooden spinning tops, Yo-Yos, Trolls, rainbow lava lamps, scratch-and-sniff stickers—it’s like time travel, unlocked....
Why nostalgia is good for you
This article was originally published in Next Avenue. As a hospice patient I'm entitled to music therapy. Since I'm more of an audiobooks fan and don't listen to music a whole lot, I couldn't understand how it would help. My nurse, Nicolle, explained that since the...
Strengthen ND partnership to fan flames of hope
This article was originally published in Minot Daily News. FARGO – Strengthen ND has announced a partnership with the Human Flourishing Lab to study and promote hope across North Dakota. “It is a tremendous opportunity to work alongside subject-matter experts and...
The truth is out there: More Americans believe in UFOs
This article was originally published in The Hill. Roughly two-fifths of Americans now believe in UFOs, polls suggest, signaling a resurgence of popular-cultural interest in extraterrestrials possibly buzzing around us. Last week, Congress held an extraordinary...
Why the 90s and Noughties are having such a moment
This article was originally published in BBC. Aqua's Barbie Girl is back on the radio, the Sugababes are packing out festival tents and low-rise jeans are here to stay. Whether it's on your radio, in the shops or at your cinema, you can't escape it. We're talking, of...
Breaking ground in psychology, outside of the academy
This article was originally published in Merion West. “Regulating your own emotions is something most people are capable of doing…It doesn’t require you constantly expressing [a problem], thinking about it, [and] sharing it with everyone…There’s something about not...
How to harness that seductive feeling of nostalgia for good
This article was originally published in Planet Woo. No, nostalgia doesn’t mean you’re stuck in the past. The morning smells like cut grass and sun cream. You can’t quite put your finger on it, but somehow you’re transported back to the last day of school, six weeks...
Why are so many young Americans OK with big brother monitoring their homes?
This article was originally published in Reason Magazine. Children raised in an atmosphere of fear become adults who prioritize security over liberty. The good news is that "only" a minority of younger American adults favor Big Brother-style surveillance of our home...
Is nostalgia actually good for you?
This article was originally published in MPLS St. Paul. Digging deep into the science behind the actually-productive and healthy human condition of being nostalgic. In the spring of 2020, households across the country listened to Elvis Presley and Cyndi Lauper, reread...
Feeling down? Psych experts share how to use nostalgia to feel better
This article was originally published in For Women First. While your grandkids help you make red, white, and blue cupcakes for your family’s Memorial Day barbecue, you’re instantly transported back to when you were a little girl at your grandmother’s side, and her...
People are sharing pics of life 100 years ago, and they might put things in a new perspective
This article was originally published in Bored Panda. Humans are nostalgic creatures. There's simply something magical about traveling back in time to witness the black-and-white (or bronze tinted) world before us. Is it the nostalgia for better, simpler times? Or...
Videos of high school life in decades past stir nostalgia and debate
This article was originally published in NBC News. A grainy video that recently circulated on social media captured a mundane portrait of school life at the turn of the new millennium. Students smile and wave toward the camera as they pass through a hallway of blue...
One feeling can help fix your relationship – but it might be too difficult to try
This article was originally published in Goalcast. When is nostalgia healthy, and when does it become counterproductive or damaging? Memories have a huge role in shaping our lives. They provide a point of reference, as mental snapshots contributing to the story of...
Why re-watching the same TV show is actually good for you
This article was originally published in Her magazine. Whenever life feels a bit much we crave escapism and often turn to our favourite fictional worlds for that comfort. Do you ever find yourself turning to the same show again and again? Netflix is full of gripping...
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