Latest / D-constructing Topics / Ep.50 :Addicted to Nostalgia: Embracing the Past(Audio)

Transcript

Ep.50 :Addicted to Nostalgia: Embracing the Past(Audio) · D-constructing Topics

0:01
Let's get it. What's going on, everybody? And welcome to the Deconstructing Topic Podcast.
0:07
My name is David, and I'm your host of this legendary podcast that we got going on.
0:13
We're making it happen. We got another good episode. We're doing our thing.
0:18
For those people out there on the YouTube, we're going to be watching because
0:21
I got a little presentation. For those who are listening, I got you to worry about it.
0:26
We got one of the more interesting topics that I want to talk about because
0:29
it's going to resonate with a lot, a lot, a lot of people.
0:33
And, yeah, it's the addiction to nostalgia. That's correct. Nostalgia is a thing.
0:40
It may be a disease. Some people say, hey, we need a cure for nostalgia.
0:44
But you let it be the judge. How do you feel about nostalgia?
0:48
And basically, I got a little presentation going on there.
0:51
You know, and I want people to, once again, hit the like button,
0:55
hit the comment, share, all that good stuff.
0:59
And let me know what is that one thing that you go back in time and you're just
1:04
addicted to, whether it's a toy, whether it's a TV show, whatever the case might
1:10
be. And I'll give you a little background.
1:12
I myself, I don't give much of my age, but hey, that's all right.
1:17
So as a young kid, as a kid growing up, I'm mostly what they would call an 80s baby.
1:24
I mean, as I was growing up to young adulthood, teenager, I'm a 90s.
1:31
I gravitate. I got best of both decades and two or one of the better decades.
1:37
You know, and the good thing about those two decades, anybody that could have
1:41
enjoyed the 80s, 90s, I'm sorry for the millennials. I'm sorry.
1:45
You know, these last two decades, I don't know, I can't tell you,
1:50
sorry, but the 80s, 90s, you know, hey, I'm a little bit biased.
1:55
There's a lot of good stuff going on, you know what I mean? And some people
1:58
argue that the 2000s was probably like the best last decade and somewhere after
2:03
2010, whatever, something happened, you know what I mean?
2:07
So 80s, 90s, and there's a lot of gravitate, a lot of things that I gravitate
2:11
when I say a lot of things. We're talking about toys. We're talking about toys.
2:16
You know, TV shows, cartoons, obviously, or things of that nature.
2:20
So let's get on with this show, shall we? And, you know, just to give you an
2:24
idea of what is and what is nostalgia.
2:28
And then we'll take it from there.
2:30
Woo, let's make it happen. And this is a little clip from Tech Talk.
2:34
You know, once in a while I do listen to Tech Talk. It has some good stuff, some good people there.
2:40
It's always something to learn there.
2:42
But it's always something to learn here and for you to make it legendary status. That's right.
2:48
Welcome once again to Deconstructed Toppings. Let's get it.
2:52
17th century, a medical student named Johannes Hofer noticed a strange illness
2:58
affecting Swiss mercenaries serving abroad.
3:01
Its symptoms, including fatigue, insomnia, irregular heartbeat,
3:06
indigestion, and fever were so strong the soldiers often had to be discharged.
3:12
As Hofer discovered, the cause was not some physical disturbance,
3:16
but an intense yearning for their mountain homeland.
3:20
He dubbed the... All right, so far so good. I like it.
3:24
I'm intrigued and I'm just curious here. For those people who find themselves
3:30
addicted to nostalgia, you know,
3:33
there's certain things, I'll be honest, there's certain things about nostalgia
3:38
and certain things that does hit me.
3:41
I wasn't born in this country, so I was born in the beautiful Puerto Rico.
3:47
Is there things that I feel like those symptoms when it comes to Puerto Rico
3:52
because I miss my homeland or my mainland?
3:55
Yeah, there are certain symptoms where I could say,
3:59
and maybe sometimes, maybe sometimes, you're,
4:03
for those people who were not born in this country or not born in New York City
4:09
or not born here, who might say, you know, my immune system,
4:13
maybe it's the weather, maybe it's this.
4:16
Just put yourself out there. Would you have gotten sick? And I know some people
4:21
that get sick like five times a year.
4:24
And then you ask them when you're from, oh yeah, Puerto Rico,
4:26
Dominican Republic, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Mexico, whatever.
4:31
Would you have gotten sick that much if you was in your homeland?
4:35
I would tend to think that the answer would be no.
4:38
I think there is something kind of attached to where you're from,
4:42
whether you are from another state, another city. Now, obviously,
4:46
living in New York City is a whole different monster.
4:49
It's a lot of tension, pressure, whatever.
4:51
So I could get that that that could be in that extra little layer that we might
4:56
be saying, OK, ignore, because at the end, living in New York City,
5:00
it's a little different. It's a big city. You know what I mean?
5:03
But I'm just saying, perhaps there's something to that effect, you know.
5:07
All right, let's get on with the show. Condition, nostalgia,
5:11
from the Greek nostos for homecoming and algos for pain or longing.
5:17
At first, nostalgia was considered a particularly Swiss affliction.
5:22
Some doctors proposed that the constant sound of cowbells in the Alps caused
5:27
trauma to the eardrums and brain.
5:30
Commanders even forbade their soldiers from singing traditional Swiss songs
5:34
for fear that they'd lead to desertion or suicide.
5:38
But as migration increased worldwide, nostalgia was observed in various groups.
5:44
It turned out that anyone separated from their native place for a long time
5:49
was a vulnerable. That's one of the points that I've made.
5:52
I do come across a lot of people who are not from this country or not from this
5:57
city will yearn for something.
6:01
And sometimes, depending on
6:03
the person, when they have that conversation like that, they tend that...
6:09
So the conversation is not as one of the, yo, man, I miss my own...
6:13
Oh, man, oh, you know, it's not of that energy level. You know what I mean?
6:17
It's more like, man, miss, you know, my home. And, you know,
6:21
when I used to wake up, you know, so see, that's one of the points I was trying to make with this.
6:27
In regards to, again, I've come across New York City, it's like a melting pot
6:32
of a melting pot of a whatever pot.
6:34
So that means it has a lot of different people from different backgrounds, different countries.
6:38
And if there's one thing that I do notice is that people from different countries,
6:44
different parts of this country, they do tend to feel a certain way. So that's interesting.
6:51
Vulnerable to nostalgia. And by the early 20th century, professionals no longer
6:56
viewed it as a neurological disease, but as a mental condition similar to depression.
7:02
Psychologists of the time speculated that it represented difficulties letting
7:06
go of childhood, or even a longing to return to one's fetal state.
7:11
But over the next few decades, the understanding of nostalgia changed in two important ways.
7:17
Its meaning expanded from indicating homesickness to a general longing for the past.
7:23
And rather than an awful disease, it began to be seen as a poignant and pleasant experience.
7:29
Perhaps the most famous example of this was captured by French author Marcel Proust.
7:35
He described how tasting a madeleine cake he had not eaten since childhood triggered
7:40
a cascade of warm and powerful sensory associations.
7:45
So, yeah, those are the little cakes. There's something, like,
7:48
in my experience, Especially, so once again, I'm going to emphasize that I'm in New York City.
7:55
Now, in New York City, we got a lot of Latinos, Mexican, you know,
7:59
Cuban, Dominican, Puerto Ricans, obviously.
8:02
Now, at one point, now, this is interesting.
8:07
Is there a certain nostalgia that is manufactured or came about because of something not naturally?
8:15
And I say this because, let's say, when it comes to Puerto Rican and Dominican
8:20
food, there are certain things that are similar.
8:23
And if I go to a Dominican household, we have the party. You know, Dominicans, you.
8:31
Know, they got that merengue, all that good stuff. They got the rice,
8:34
they got the pernil, you know, the arroz con gandule, all that good stuff.
8:39
And I've been there a lot of times. I take that little scoop of that little
8:43
pernil, that little, you know, arroz con gandule, immediately I'm going to be
8:49
like, huh, it just tastes like, you know, back home.
8:54
Now, understanding, historically we have, let's say, Dominican Republic,
8:59
Puerto Rico, Cuba, So in countries, you know, they've been under the rule of
9:03
the Spanish, the Spanish empire.
9:05
So there are similar, how can I say, ingredients out there.
9:10
So sometimes I start to think that there are certain nostalgia that could be
9:14
manifest or just came from chaos. So just, you know, thinking about it here, you know.
9:20
So what caused such a major reversal in our view of nostalgia?
9:24
Part of it has to do with science.
9:27
Psychology shifted away from pure theory and towards more careful and systematic
9:32
empirical observation. Okay.
9:34
So professionals realized that many of the negative symptoms may have been simply
9:39
correlated with nostalgia rather than caused by it.
9:43
And in fact, despite being a complex emotional state that can include feelings
9:48
of loss and sadness, Nostalgia doesn't generally put people in a negative mood.
9:54
Instead, by allowing individuals to remember personally Okay,
9:58
so that's interesting So I did mention the negative part aspect But I think,
10:03
that part does play to whatever it is that you're kind of missing Because,
10:10
you know, sometimes I guess I'm not going to say I guess, but missing Sometimes
10:14
I have like a negative thing because I'm missing something I'm missing this,
10:17
I'm missing that Oh, I'm missing this.
10:19
You know what I mean? Oh, I miss, you know, let's say my parents passed away.
10:23
Just use an example. I'm missing this. I'm missing $200 that I lost somewhere.
10:27
I don't know what happened.
10:29
You know, there's always that thing. So I kind of understand that.
10:31
Yes, it is true. Not necessarily nostalgia is something that's attached to a
10:36
negative feeling. So, okay.
10:38
You know, at least we're in the same page here, you know.
10:41
Meaningful, and rewarding experiences they shared with others,
10:45
nostalgia can boost psychological well-being.
10:49
Studies have shown that inducing nostalgia in people can help increase their
10:53
feelings of self-esteem and social belonging, encourage psychological growth,
10:58
and even make them act more charitably.
11:02
So rather than being a cause of mental distress, nostalgia can be a restorative way of coping with it.
11:09
For instance, when people experience negative emotional states,
11:13
they tend to naturally use nostalgia to reduce distress and restore well-being.
11:19
Today, it seems that nostalgia is everywhere, partially because advertisers
11:24
have discovered how powerful it is as a market.
11:28
It's tempting to think of this as a sign of... I mean, it gets co-opted.
11:32
So everything out there in this world, and let's say in this beautiful country.
11:37
It gets co-opted by these corporations, sadly, and there's monies to be had.
11:42
And I think that we can make, you know, maybe you know, I don't know if there's a show out there.
11:50
I know that there's been shows of like, it's called American Restoration,
11:53
so there's shows there that these people go out there and they buy these vintage stuff,
11:59
things of that nature, but I wonder if there's been shows where there's people
12:04
and I'm pretty sure they have been.
12:05
I'm just trying to think of where I've seen it, where people are addicted to nostalgia so much.
12:12
That they just like spend all their money, you know, on just the fact that they
12:17
want that feeling of feeling like, oh, you know, nostalgia, whatever.
12:21
So that's interesting because imagine just one show and, you know,
12:27
when just to give people an idea of people who have been addicted to nostalgia
12:33
and they spend all their life savings.
12:35
And again, hey, listen, at the end, you know, it's what you do with your money.
12:39
But what to do with your money, if it's affecting you, let's say if you got
12:42
a family and now your family can't eat because you're buying all these Care
12:47
Bear because you grew up, you know, with Care Bear house. I don't know.
12:51
But it's just interesting. I definitely would be curious to see if that was the case.
12:56
There's some show where people are just losing it. You know what I mean?
12:59
Thus being stuck in the past.
13:01
But that's not really how nostalgia works. Instead, nostalgia helps us remember
13:07
that our lives can have meaning and value, helping us find the confidence and
13:12
motivation to face the challenges of the future.
13:20
Okay, so that was interesting. Now, one of my things that I've said in regards
13:26
to nostalgia, and that was definitely a cool little thing going on there.
13:31
The other day when I was doing my research, I came across a couple of things
13:34
and one of my favorite shows, and.
13:37
Just by the way, the reason why I'm doing, one of the reasons why I'm doing
13:41
this episode of Nostalgia is because I would like to kind of sprung this into
13:46
other episodes, specifically tied to, let's say, toys,
13:51
specifically tied to movies, TV shows, things of that nature.
13:57
And one of the things I came across was Saved by the Bell. For those people,
14:01
y'all remember Saved by the Bell?
14:03
Saved by the Bell. It's all right because you've been Saved by the Bell.
14:07
So Saved by the Bell was a show, I believe came on in the late 80s,
14:12
but it kind of progressively changed a little bit. There was two,
14:16
Paul Gosling, Paul Mark Gosling is one of the main actors, the person that plays Screech, I think also.
14:22
So, Say By the Bell was this TV show about these teenagers in this high school.
14:27
I forgot what was the name of the high school. People could remember the name
14:31
of that high school. Was it Bayshore or Bayside High? I think it was Bayside High.
14:35
So, basically, you have A.C. Slater. You have these different characters going
14:40
through high school, and they used to give it on Saturday, I believe it was on NBC,
14:47
and I believe it was at 11 o'clock in the morning. So as a young kid, I'm like.
14:52
But 9, 10, 11, 12, 8, I'm not giving up my age. I'm just saying,
14:56
you know, but it don't matter.
14:58
You know, I would grow, you know, because back then, you know,
15:01
for those young listeners out there.
15:06
Saturdays, cartoons in a couple of networks like Fox, I believe the CW at that
15:12
time was WPIX, Channel 11 in New York City.
15:15
I believe CBS have, there were cartoons that would start at 7 o'clock in the morning, you know.
15:21
Abc so from 7 to basically 11 you had cartoons fox did the,
15:29
weird thing to do the 11 cartoons x-men you know more grown cartoons because
15:34
the earlier the cartoon is the more childish it became the later the cartoon
15:38
in the time terms of time slot became more adult themed that's why they had
15:43
like the x-men at 11 o'clock so,
15:46
saved by the bell came at 11 o'clock now saved by the bell was more of an adult
15:50
theme or young adult, you know, teenager show.
15:53
Basically, just me watching like three hours of cartoon, then watching this
15:58
show, which was, you know, live action regular TV show, real characters, humans,
16:03
you know, you gravitated because you kind of, as a young kid,
16:05
wonder how your life would be, let's say, once you're in high school.
16:08
Oh, yeah, is it going to be that cool?
16:10
Apparently, for me, you know, what's cool? My high school was cool.
16:15
But I'm just saying, you know, the other thing is true is this.
16:19
Boom. So, let me just put this up here.
16:24
For those people who remember, we grew up in Blockbuster, not Blockbuster Video.
16:29
Means a lot to many, many, many people and many, many, many families because
16:35
Blockbuster Video was that place where back then, before there was the Netflix, the Amazon Prime,
16:42
you know, the Hulu, the Disney Plus, if you wanted to watch,
16:46
let's say, a movie that went on video, then you would watch it.
16:52
You know, I want to do what is a video, you know, what is a video,
16:55
whatever the case might I mean, people, some of the young people,
16:58
I'm pretty sure people know what it is, VHS.
17:00
But Blockbuster Video is one of those places.
17:04
You know, I think there was one store left, I believe somewhere in Alaska.
17:08
But Blockbuster is where many Saturdays you would go with your family,
17:14
you would drive up, you know, for those who had a car.
17:17
Or sometimes you would just take the train, take the bus, run a couple of movies.
17:22
You know, for those who have video games, you run a video game and all that
17:25
good stuff. and basically you made it a family night on, you know, Saturday night.
17:32
If you had that money, you would rent like three movies on, whether it's DVD, VHS.
17:38
So maybe you'll do a two Saturday movie, then, you know, one little Sunday thing going on there.
17:45
This is why back then the networks like the CBS, the NBCs, the ABCs,
17:51
they used to have these exclusive Sunday movies, kind of exclusive.
17:56
You know, and when I say exclusive, they were kind of TV made.
18:00
I remember there was one, it
18:01
was an Incredible Hulk and Daredevil or something to that effect on NBC.
18:06
So, you know, just to give you an idea how TV and, you know,
18:12
renting and the whole renting game, they just balance each other out in a sense.
18:18
Because for one, let's say Rambo came out in 1985, I believe.
18:23
If you did not have the money or whatever the case might be to go to the movie
18:27
theaters, you waited a couple of months, depending for this to come out on VHS,
18:34
videotape, and then later on on DVD.
18:37
So you waited, and then as a family, you rented. Now, when you rent something,
18:42
I remember back then, it could have been from $2.99.
18:44
You did the Saturdays because a lot of places, I believe Blockbuster started
18:49
adapting the, how can I say, the Saturday. You skip Sunday and you return it Monday.
18:56
There's a lot of mom and pop shop stores that did the same thing too.
19:00
So Saturday became a thing. And again, if you look at movies and if you're in
19:05
a household where you got money but not crazy enough to, you know,
19:10
let's say four people, four times, let's say $5 a movie ticket.
19:15
You know, even back then, watching a movie in the night, whatever,
19:19
$5 a pop, 1980s, mid-80s.
19:22
With the popcorn, you're talking about $30. That $30, look, it's still cheaper
19:25
than that. Now it's like $100.
19:28
So if you do that versus a movie that came out on VHS, $5, whatever the case
19:35
might be, and everybody's watching it, get some popcorn.
19:38
I remember Blockbuster, when you came in, they had a section of family package for $20.
19:45
You get to rent two movies or you get a soda. You get some popcorn.
19:50
You get some candy for $20. Something to that effect.
19:53
So that's one of the things that I remember with Saved by the Bell,
19:57
Blockbuster Video, mark that in my list of things that I feel nostalgic and I miss.
20:04
Do I wish there was another Blockbuster Video out there and going back to the old days? No.
20:11
So I like to just get on my laptop, whatever it is, stream. I'm good.
20:16
I'm good. Just keep in mind, traveling those calls morning.
20:20
So maybe money. I'm sorry. So, you know, I'm saving money there too.
20:25
So that's another thing with nostalgia. Another thing here, and I,
20:29
ooh, this one's pretty cool.
20:32
This one is pretty cool. So this one is like 1980s toys. Once again,
20:37
I want to do like I'm going to do a nostalgic episode just on toys in itself.
20:42
We got the glow worms here for those people out there. 1982,
20:46
come on, man. I don't even think I was born in 1982.
20:51
I'm sorry. Yeah, I don't think I was born in 1982. I'm just saying.
20:54
Glow warms. Yeah, they glow.
20:57
Game Boy. Okay. I remember that always. The Nintendo.
21:02
You know, for those people out there, gamers out there in the Nintendo, you know Nintendo.
21:07
Come on. When you're in the 80s, this is like the PC, Xbox, PlayStation thing
21:11
going on. Look, we only have one.
21:13
Well, Sega had the other. Triple period 2, for those...
21:17
Into this game. I love Troom Pursuit because I'm a geek under the one.
21:20
Gabbage Pads kid. My family, household. And we never gravitated to these things.
21:26
I remember these ugly things. The Montichi. You see, release date 1974.
21:30
That's way before my time. But they still managed to come in the 1980s. Right here.
21:36
Boom. And look at that. Ugly thing. You know, there's people in downtown where
21:41
I live at. In New York City.
21:43
With dogs that look like that. And they spent $200,000 on these dogs.
21:47
Might as well just buy them on Chi Chi. Come on, man. Pound puppies,
21:50
cute little things. Going back to dogs.
21:54
Yeah, Pound puppies, I remember they had a cartoon that came on.
21:58
Very, very popular in my time, you know, obviously.
22:02
My Little Pony.
22:06
Oh, okay. You know, I'll tell you this much. So you see the hair right here?
22:10
There's a lot of girls out there. For the most part, I've seen girls out there.
22:15
99% of girls that, you know, they're my little pony. Maybe you got a little boy.
22:21
If there's one thing I must say about my little pony, it's this hair.
22:26
A lot of people learn how to braid because this hair was kind of long. So I'm just saying.
22:32
See, that's a constructive damn toy that we had back then. My little pony.
22:37
People knew how to braid hair, comb hair and all that.
22:40
Three-man chess, I'm not a fan of chess, but I do remember something to that effect.
22:44
That would be interesting Three man chess It should be like three people chess
22:49
Come on now, come on, get it with the program Domino Rally, I remember the commercials
22:53
Late 80s, you do the beep beep beep,
22:56
You do all these intricates Where, whatever the case might be,
23:00
If you want to build something And spend two hours just to knock it down For two seconds.
23:06
By all means Guess who, another interesting game,
23:09
works in the memory. You see, a lot of these games require physical,
23:13
mental, all this stuff going on here.
23:17
You know, I'm just saying, hey, listen, it was a different time back then.
23:22
Jenga, played it a couple of times. Jenga is that game that is that game that,
23:27
yeah, when you get Jenga and you messed up and all that knocks out,
23:30
oh, yeah, you'll be the talk of the time.
23:32
See, it's funny because Jenga is for a lot of adults who like to drink and like
23:37
to kind of mess around with their cognitive, you know, thing going on there.
23:41
You know, am I drunk? No, Jenga. That could be that thing.
23:46
Jenga, Jenga, what happened here? Yeah, I remember all those little balls. Cush. Cush.
23:51
Yeah, Cush, not Cush. Come on, those smokers out there.
23:54
Simon, another game. It's a memory game. I remember, you know,
23:58
Red, Blue, boom, boom, boom. It was a memory game.
24:02
I think that's the game where, you know, look, you're going to come across people, right?
24:07
And just because you have a memory doesn't make you smarter than me.
24:12
But by damage, sometimes I wish I didn't have that much good memory, but I do.
24:18
But I don't think I did good in Simon because it got hard after a while.
24:21
Ruby Q, come on. This is like the Ruby Q.
24:24
You know, this is the tool that some people use to see how smart you are.
24:31
That's crazy you people know you he man.
24:37
He man was great you already know care bears you see huh care bear,
24:43
wow care bears care bears teddy rugsman was that thing that dude that that kind
24:49
of taught you know i i scary,
24:54
scary power wheels yeah yeah for those people that have money i get it i get
24:57
it we have the big wheels come on now,
25:00
micro machines oh i remember the commercial with the guy that talked a lot,
25:04
he went on micro machine little cars little things going on micro machines is
25:10
one of those things where people you know they became collectible so hey
25:14
teenage mutant ninja turtles teenage mutant ninja turtle,
25:20
teenage mutant ninja turtles and a half show.
25:22
Obviously, one of my favorite cartoons, one of my favorite things,
25:26
that nostalgia is a thing, thing.
25:29
Bicycle wheels spoke beats. All right, whatever. What does that mean?
25:32
Beats. Hey, hey, hey, hey, relax.
25:35
So, folks, wow, that's a little bit nostalgia.
25:40
Once again, if you're on the YouTube, you were able to see in that little presentation.
25:45
But yeah, hop on YouTube, hop on a rumble, watch this stuff.
25:51
But if you're going to be listening to my audio, just close your eyes.
25:54
I'll be putting the links and just think about those things and think about
25:59
what is that thing or couple of things that you feel nostalgia,
26:03
that you're addicted to.
26:05
If you have an addiction, sadly, to something that is doing more negative to
26:10
you and you feel like you're spending more money, you're spending more time
26:14
on that, please seek help.
26:16
Seek help because there is content out there for nostalgia, believe it or not.
26:21
So that's something that, you know, people just got to keep in mind is that,
26:25
we have an addiction to nostalgia. We love nostalgia. They are,
26:28
for the most part, on my personal view, I tend to gravitate to something positive.
26:35
Once again, like the Ninja Turtles, Silver Hulks, I could go on and on and on.
26:40
I'll be doing a different show on cartoons and nostalgia. And yes,
26:45
there are people that unfortunately either they live in a time where,
26:50
well, you know, I think I was too old for the 80s.
26:52
I wasn't born in the 80s or in the 90s.
26:56
You know, I don't remember this show. Whatever the case might be,
26:59
it's okay. It's okay. Welcome. Welcome to our time.
27:04
You know, somebody got to talk about the 80s and 90s.
27:08
I'm just saying. Let's make it happen. All right, everybody.
27:11
Much love. You already know, this is a legendary podcast. Feel free to share.
27:16
Addiction to nostalgia is definitely a thing.
27:22
All right, peoples? I'm out of here. I'm out.
27:26
I'm out.