The Nostalgia Trap: Why We Romanticize the Good Old Days (But Shouldn’t)

There’s a reason we feel good when we see a rotary phone, hear a cassette click, or smell a whiff of Aqua Net (gross and very sticky) - the past feels safer — simpler — healthier in hindsight. But as much as I loved riding my bike in my worn out pair of checkered Vans, let’s be real: the “good old days” weren’t always that good. They were just loud, lead-filled, and lightly toxic — literally and figuratively.

💾 Why Nostalgia Feels So Good (It’s Science!)

Our brains are little emotional editors. When we recall memories, we don’t replay the whole tape — we cut together a highlight reel. That means we remember the cricket sounds of summer nights and eating pickles at the roller rinks and forget the sunburns, childhood bullies, or your brother hogging the controller on your Atari.

The joys of being a kid with these pixelated video games....sigh.

Neurologically, nostalgia triggers dopamine and oxytocin — the feel-good chemicals tied to bonding and comfort. So when you think about your childhood bedroom covered in Duran Duran posters, yes, mine totally was, your brain gives you a chemical hug, not a realistic replay of your Mom getting really mad because you ordered Columbia House records again.

It’s emotional Photoshop. And like any good filter, it hides the blemishes.

🧪 The “Healthy” ’80s: A Science Horror Film

Let’s talk health fads. The 1980s were the golden era of diet lies in leg warmers.

We had:

• SnackWell cookies that promised “fat-free” but delivered full-sugar comas plus other hidden freebies.

• Tab and Crystal Light, loaded with aspartame — basically the “mystery powder” of sweeteners.

• Low-fat everything, because we thought fat made you fat (spoiler: it doesn’t work like that).

Meanwhile, our moms smoked Virginia Slims in aerobics class or on airplanes. Yes, I said it. And in the cars on road trips! Nobody wore sunscreen. SPF 4 was considered “responsible.” But let's table this one for now - there's some updates on this and there have been some sunscreens come out as cancer-causing. Sigh. No, double-big sigh. Maybe just managing small doses of sunlight is going to be best. Nevertheless, it's a miracle any of us have skin left.

Yep, that's me in the sunglasses. I got in trouble for drawing a butt with crayons that day. Fun times.

🏠 The Environment Was Out to Get Us

Our homes looked cute — pastel walls, brass fixtures, macramé — but behind the scenes, it was like living in a low-budget toxicology lab.

• Lead paint? Check.

• Asbestos? Probably in your ceiling.

• Secondhand smoke? A design element in every restaurant, car, etc. that I listed above.

• Microwaves? We were convinced standing too close would scramble our DNA. (It wouldn’t. But that Salisbury steak might’ve.). But I'll tell ya what we did do - put plastic bags in them and let that head right on up in your food. Microplastics, anyone? FML.

So when someone says, “Things were better back then,” I’m tempted to hand them a can of Aqua Net and a lighter. Let’s see how “better” it really feels. Plus that crunchy Aqua net hair? Mom jeans? Puh-leez.

Totally me in 1986. What is up with that hair? And how terrible was it to be tethered to a spot to talk on the phone.

💻 Tech Myths and Analog Lies

Sure, we weren’t glued to screens 24/7 — because our screens, once we arrived in the 90s, took five minutes to warm up and weighed 200 pounds.

We love to say, “We played outside!” True — because there was literally nothing else to do once your brother was on the phone and AOL hadn’t been invented yet.

We think we were more social, more connected, more creative — but that’s another illusion. We had boredom and imagination, which are fantastic tools, but we also had limited access and low awareness. Modern tech can be isolating, yes, but it’s also democratizing. If you wanted to start a band in 1985, you needed a garage and a miracle. Today, you need Wi-Fi and GarageBand.

Plus, I taught math to my dogs for hours on the side of the house. Was that doing me any good? No. Well, I did become a science professor, but I'll stop there.

1978 Playing with dead fish. Well, mine is a bit more than dead. I'll take video games for 200, Alex.

🧠 The Takeaway: Love the Past, Don’t Live There

Nostalgia is a beautiful visitor, but a terrible roommate.It’s great to remember the smell of popcorn at the video store — just don’t convince yourself it was paradise. Every era has its miracle diets, bad hair, and misinformation campaigns. (Ours just came with a synthesizer soundtrack and really good movies. Well, most of them.)

The truth is, the present isn’t worse — it’s just louder, faster, and less edited. The world hasn’t fallen apart; we’ve just stopped using Vaseline on the camera lens and we use Snapchat filters.

So enjoy the memories, celebrate the mixtapes, but keep your brain in the now. Because someday, someone will call today “the good old days.”And if that’s not motivation to live well — and wear sunscreen - maybe, not sure, maybe just go out 5-10 minutes at a time or something — I don’t know what is.

Dr. Bon Blossman

Scientist. Author. ’80s survivor. Still mildly radioactive from all that Aqua Net.