☀️ The comfort of rewing
You open Netflix. Scroll past the new releases everyone's talking about. Keep scrolling. And then you stop on The Office. Again.
Or maybe it's Friends. Or Gilmore Girls. You've seen every episode, you know every joke, and you probably could also recite entire scenes from memory.
So why are you watching it again?
Nostalgia gets dismissed as a soft emotion, something indulgent or even a little embarrassing. We're supposed to move forward, try new things, and stay curious about what's next. But your brain doesn't care about that advice. It wants the past. It craves the familiar. And science suggests there's a reason for that.
Nostalgia isn't just sentimentality or resistance to change. It's a psychological tool your brain uses to restore resources you're missing right now: social connection, self-esteem, a sense of meaning. When the present feels uncertain or overwhelming, the past feels like home.
This edition explores why nostalgia is so powerful, what it does for your brain, and why every generation convinces itself that the past was better than it actually was.
📖 3 Articles to Spark Your Curiosity
Feeling nostalgic? Your brain is hardwired to crave it
Researchers have found that nostalgic memories activate brain areas associated with self-reflection, emotional regulation, and reward processing. Nostalgia reduces pain perception, boosts creativity, increases optimism, and acts as a buffer against psychological and physical threats.
→ Read on National Geographic
What we think is a decline in literacy is a design problem
Every generation panics about new media destroying young minds. Socrates feared writing, Victorians condemned novels, and comics corrupted children. The disaster never arrives, yet the pattern repeats. The problem = platforms are engineered to fragment attention for profit.
→ Read on Aeon
Why we're all secretly obsessed with coming-of-age films
Coming-of-age films help us gain mastery over emotions that once consumed us. Watching characters navigate familiar challenges lets you process those feelings from a mature perspective, reminding us that growth isn't linear and we're allowed to still be figuring it out.
→ Read on Substack
🗞️ 3 Headlines Worth Exploring
Hannah Montana 20th anniversary special announced
Miley Cyrus returns to Disney for a special celebrating the show's lasting impact, complete with reconstructed sets including the Stewart family living room and Hannah Montana's closet. Talk about nostalgia; I’m sooooooo excited for this one!
→ Read on BBC
Nineties films that defined the decade
While blockbusters exploded with CGI, cult films flourished in their shadow. From Daughters of the Dust to Run Lola Run, these films found their audiences outside commercial cinema, and many still feel remarkably fresh today.
→ Read on The Guardian
Nostalgia in retro gaming: why the past still plays so well
Retro console sales jumped 30% in 2025. Nostalgia in gaming restores social connections, self-esteem, and existential resources when players feel unfulfilled or experience social uncertainty.
→ Read on Newcastle University
☀️ 3 Actions to Step Out of Your Comfort Zone
Revisit a childhood favorite, but take notes
Pick one thing you loved as a kid (a movie, a book, a video game) and experience it again. But this time, write down what's different. What holds up? What doesn't? What did you miss the first time? Notice the gap between the version you remembered and what's there.
Watch something old, then something new from the same genre
Rewatch one episode of your comfort show, then watch the pilot of a new series in the same genre. What is that particular thing that you're craving from the comfort show? Is it the story, or is it the feeling of already knowing how it ends?
Identify what resource you're trying to restore
The next time you reach for something nostalgic, pause and ask: What am I missing right now? Social connection? A sense of control? Self-esteem? Nostalgia works because it temporarily restores what you're lacking in the present. Name it.
⚡ 6 Quick Resources
📺 To check: The psychology behind rewatching comfort shows
Rewatching reduces cognitive load, regulates your nervous system, and creates control when life feels chaotic.
→ Read on Substack
🎬 To plan a movie night: Why adults are obsessed with teen movies
Teen films help us master emotions that once felt overwhelming while romanticizing the mundane.
→ Read on Refinery29
🍿 To update your list: 100 Greatest Films of the 90s
An IMDB list spanning the greatest films from the 90s, the ones that might really hit differently when you're missing the past.
→ Explore on IMDB
📖 To read: Anemoia: Gen Z's 80s dream
Anemoia is nostalgia for a time you never lived. Gen Z's obsession with the 80s reveals you can long for eras you only know through cultural memory.
→ Read on The Varsity
💭 To think about: The art of nostalgia
An essay exploring nostalgia's role in art and culture. When does looking back become productive, and when does it trap us?
→ Read on The Point
🎥 To watch: Why do we feel nostalgia?
How has our understanding of nostalgia evolved? And what makes it such a powerful psychological experience?
→ Watch on TED-Ed
🎲 This week’s wonderfully random corner of the internet
🎥 Movie Grid
Test your film knowledge! You're given a 3x3 grid with different criteria (actor, genre, decade, director) and need to find movies that match each intersection. It’s just like Wordle met cinema history.
→ Play at moviegrid.io
📝 Word of the Week
Mono no aware (Japanese) - The bittersweet awareness of the impermanence of things, and the gentle sadness at their passing. A sensitivity to ephemera, recognizing that beauty is made more poignant because it doesn't last.
It's the feeling you get when you realize you can never truly go back, even as you watch that old show or play that childhood game. The past is beautiful precisely because it's gone.
🧘♀️ Question of the Week for Introspection
What are you truly seeking when you reach for something nostalgic? Is it the thing itself, or the person you were when you first experienced it?
See you next Sunday! Until then, keep your eyes open, your questions big, and your sense of wonder alive.
Your curious internet friend,
Ruxandra
