PicoBlog

There’s something inherently nostalgic about summer: memories of summer vacation, childhood freedom, first jobs, first loves, family trips, late nights, and endless other experiences with people and places we learned from and loved.

As I write this, I have Jonathan Richman's 6-minute ode to summer nostalgia stuck in my head. In it, Richman reflects on childhood summer memories – uncomplicated friendships, cool water, the smell of grass – always concluding, “that summer feeling is gonna haunt you one day in your life.” Other songs pop into my head, too: Don Henley singing, “A little voice inside my head said don't look back, you can never look back…Those days are gone forever, I should just let them go BUT – ” or Bryan Adams, “Oh, when I look back now, that summer seemed to last forever…Those were the best days of my life.”

These are the songs I came up with in the 2.5 seconds I spent thinking about it. I’m sure there are a million others.* There’s a reason summer playlists are pretty easy to make.

As we say goodbye to August, it’s a good time to take a look at the bittersweet feelings that make up nostalgia and the role nostalgia plays in our sense of connectedness. How healthy is it to think about the past? When we’re feeling lonely, does it help or hurt to yearn for people and places that are gone? 

Nostalgia has an interesting history. The emotion that is now the subject of 90s memes and TikTok trends was first thought of in the 17th century as a neurological disease, with symptoms including crying, irregular heartbeat, and insomnia. When doctors eventually determined that nostalgia wasn’t a neurological disorder, they reframed it – this time, as a mental illness, likening it to depression, psychosis, and compulsion.

Over time, nostalgia became demedicalized, which is a term sociologists use to describe when something once thought of as a disease or disorder stops being treated as a medical issue (other historical examples of demedicalization include masturbation and homosexuality). But it wasn’t until the 20th century – nearly 300 years later – that nostalgia took on the softer, more positive definition we have of it today: as a longing for something in the past.

Like loneliness, nostalgia is a perception rather than an objective measure of how something is or was. As sociologist Fred Davis explains, nostalgia “acquires its emotional edge” from its contrast to current circumstances that don’t feel quite as good. Davis cautions, however: “Of course, none of this implies anything about the actuality of a beautiful past and a wretched present” (418-419).

And, like loneliness, this subjective feeling has real consequences for our wellbeing – but not in the way that 17th century doctors thought. In fact, not only is nostalgia no longer considered to be an illness, but modern research has found it to be protective of mental health. 

When we’re feeling lonely, for example, our brains may trigger feelings of nostalgia, which may actually enhance feelings of social support, connectedness, and belongingness. As a result, nostalgia can fight back against the loneliness that summoned it in the first place. Nostalgia may also help mitigate some consequences of loneliness, like decreased self confidence or social motivation; and it may help restore a sense of meaning for those who are lonely. 

It’s also been found to promote feelings of optimism. As Davis writes, nostalgia 

reassures us of past happiness and accomplishment; and, since these still remain on deposit, as it were, in the bank of our memory, it simultaneously bestows upon us a certain worth, irrespective of how present circumstances may seem to question or obscure this. And current worth, as our friendly bank loan officer assures us, is entitled to at least some claim on the future as well. (420)

In short: nostalgia has a real impact on how we feel, and studies suggest that it may be a powerful psychological resource when we’re feeling lonely, hopeless, or sad.

Well, not exactly. The takeaway here isn’t that your 9th grade yearbook will cure your sadness, or that our Barbie-fueled “summer of nostalgia” will solve the national loneliness crisis (even Greta Gerwig can’t do it all).

One issue is that there’s a fine line between nostalgia and more painful forms of remembering, such as grief – grief over relationships we’ve lost, people who are no longer with us, things that didn’t work out the way we wanted, or places that are no longer what they used to be. Remembering the past can be emotionally messy and unpredictable, and it isn’t as simple as choosing to feel nostalgic.

Yet, while nostalgia might not be an anti-loneliness pill, it’s also not “just” a type of memory. It’s a way our brains can use the past to help us through the trials of the present and the unknowns of the future. 

Plus, the universal nature of nostalgia makes it a source of connection on its own. If you tell me you’re nostalgic for your childhood camping trips to Michigan, I don’t need to have gone camping, been to Michigan, or know your family to understand how you’re feeling. 

In that way, nostalgia can bond us with the people we miss from our past and the people around us now. It can give us the sense of belonging we need today and the yearning we need to keep going. As Richman sums up at the end of his song – and as many of us might feel at our last cookouts and beach days over Labor Day weekend, as Halloween decorations flood the stores, and as the sun sets on the summer of ‘23 – “You're gonna want this feeling inside, one more time.”

*I asked for summer nostalgia songs over on Instagram. Here’s what came up. Feel free to comment or reach out if there are nostalgia songs you want to share, too :)

Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison

Holiday from Real - Jack’s Mannequin

4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) - Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band

Jenny and the Summer day - The Avett Brothers

Anna Sun - Walk The Moon

405 (acoustic) - Death Cab for Cutie

Saturday in the Park - Chicago

Do You Remember - Chance the Rapper

1979 - Smashing Pumpkins

Rollercoaster - Bleachers

ncG1vNJzZmirkaeuo8HBnqWio16owqO%2F05qapGaTpLpwvI6tn5qsXajCrrnEq2SfnZWhtq%2Bz