People Raised In The 70s & 80s Usually Get Sentimental About 9 Things Younger Generations Usually Take For Granted
I.K.Media | Shutterstock Gen Xers today are the most stressed generation, but they're also the most sentimental.
People who grew up in the 70s and 80s are often nostalgic, thinking back fondly on childhood experiences and memories, while younger generations take those same things for granted. Convenience and comfort are great, but sometimes, they also take away the spark and joy of surprises and hard work.
People who grew up in the 70s and 80s get sentimental about these things that young generations take for granted
1. An early parent-child dynamic
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Gen Xers are coined the "sandwich generation" because of their responsibilities to care for both aging parents and adult children. They no longer look to their parents for care and support, but also caring for their parents' well-being. Some may not even have relationships or access to their parents physically anymore, hence the extreme nostalgia.
Young people may take the dynamic with their parents for granted today, because they don't understand what it's like to be in a Gen Xer's shoes. However, Gen Xers remember how it felt to be young. That's the difference.
2. Renting and watching movies
Watching old, nostalgic movies is a powerful way to deepen emotional regulation skills and self-worth. They're a treat, especially for people who grew up making watching films a ritual by leaving the house to choose and rent one.
While Gen Zers today take streaming services and movies for granted, for people raised in the 70s and 80s, they were really a special thing. Movie nights and trips to the theatre are still sentimental today, even if they're just regular parts of life for young people today.
3. Hearing their favorite song on the radio
There's nothing like the happy coincidence of hearing your favorite song playing on the radio. Even calling in to hear it was a habit that kids today will likely never experience. They have their phones and computers to play whatever song they want, whenever they want to hear it.
For Gen Xers, it takes away the joy and excitement about this sentimental habit. They might not always listen to the radio in the car anymore, but they're still nostalgic about the soundtrack to their car rides from a young age.
4. Talking on the phone
For Gen Xers, talking on the phone was somewhat of a ritual. Compared to young people today who can pick up the phone or send a text instantly, people raised in the 70s and 80s had to schedule time and balance family needs to use a landline.
Conversations felt more intentional because it wasn't convenient. Now, we lose some of that spark, even though communicating and reaching out to someone is so much easier today.
5. Taking the perfect picture
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Gen Z can edit and filter any photo they want right from their phones. To them, getting the perfect picture isn't a special coincidence, but a standard they hold all their photos to, especially before sharing or posting on social media. They take for granted the excitement of getting a great picture, because there's always something they can alter.
For 70s and 80s babies who often took photos and waited for them to develop, there was excitement. The anticipation was part of the nostalgia, compared to the convenience young people have today.
6. Saturday cartoons and commercials
When you have any kind of media or entertainment at your fingertips all the time, it makes everything less special. You don't have to wait for your shows to come on and don't have to sit through commercials. That's the reality of many Gen Zers' lives.
But people raised in the 70s and 80s cherished TV time because it became a ritual. Saturday morning cartoons and nostalgic commercials they used to complain about all hold a weird sentimental value that young people today just don't get.
7. Meeting people who understand them
In-person community is slowly deteriorating through the loss of third spaces for young people today. But they also have access to all kinds of connections through the internet. If they have a specific identity or desire, there's a place on the internet for them.
There was nothing quite like the spark of meeting someone who truly understood you in the 70s and 80s. Yes, in-person communities were curated to people's identities, but not having the internet like Gen Z does today made meeting your people that much more exciting and sentimental.
8. Having job flexibility
When you're early in your career or in school, you have so much more flexibility with your time. Before settling down or having kids, there are so many fewer obligations to force you into a certain lifestyle or place.
The Gen X adults today with full, busy lives look back on this time fondly. However, for Gen Zers, it's their current lifestyle.
It's easy to take advantage of it because the flexibility and their challenger attitude against traditional milestones are second nature. It's not something they have to give up, compared to older generations who left it behind in search of different goals.
9. Memorizing phone numbers and addresses
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In the era of offline communication and landlines, Gen X kids were forced to memorize phone numbers. Even today, older generations have numbers memorized despite having cell phones to store those numbers or addresses in.
Back then, even going to their friends' house was reliant on them remembering the address to bring home to a parent. There was something special about it. You only put in the effort of remembering the numbers of the people you cared about most.
While convenience is better today, there's a lack of appreciation and intentionality. Manually typing someone's phone number is a thing of the past.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a senior editorial strategist with a bachelor's degree in social relations & policy and gender studies who focuses on psychology, relationships, self-help, and human interest stories.
