I’ll be honest. Sometimes I get genuinely nostalgic for times that I never even lived in. I’m pretty sure there’s an actual term for that, but that’s not really the point. Plus, I’m a little too lazy at the moment to go and look it up. I’m also sitting on the fourth floor of Sims Library writing this the day before it’s due, and computer isn’t connected to the Internet and I don’t feel like using my phone. Anyway, I feel like I missed out on times, like the end of World War II. The Beatles released their first album or when Marilyn Monroe was still alive and well, gracing the cinemas with her smile. Very often we look back on these times we never experienced with rose-colored glasses and forget the obvious issues that came with those times.

For example, I wish I could take a girl out for a milkshake on a late summer evening in 1955, listen to the music on the jukebox and spend time with all my friends in that world, but then again there was racism and sexism. There was no air conditioning, or at least it wasn’t that common. I wish I could experience the cheers of the thousands of people in Times Square after Japan surrendered officially ending World War II, but there had to have been a World War II. 

This all brings me to my point, which is actually a question. Has time changed society that much? I know this might seem like a bit of a stretch from what I was just talking about, but hear me out. We look back on past times whether it’s the 90s, 70s, 30s, or 1830s as times that were different. Maybe we view it as it was simpler or the people were nicer. So, we become nostalgic for lives we’ll never be able to live. But are we living in a world so different than that planet Earth of 30, 50, 100 years ago? Has humanity changed so much that we no longer want to live here anymore? Well, my answer is yes and no. Human nature itself is not what’s changed. Overall, our ambitions, wants and needs have stayed the same for centuries. What’s changed is the world we’ve created for ourselves. We’ve created a world of constant communication and constant entertainment. We no longer remember what it’s like to actually connect with people anymore. Almost everything we do is over the Internet or with technology. This is an issue. We’ve created a society for ourselves where we become nostalgic for times that people actually connected and had real intimate relationships and knew how to talk to each other. Not only that, but we wanted to talk to each other.

I’ll end on this note. Humanity has changed especially within the boom of the digital age since the 90’s humanity has changed. We’ve got the same needs, but our wants overshadow those too often and that’s all we focus on. Because humanity has changed, we’ve changed the society we live in. Of course we’ll long for a time with less technology and more connection. I’ll gladly keep my 2017 air conditioning, no polio and the anticipation for Lorde’s new album over 1955 America any day, but give me those people back. Give me that connection that was such common place all those years ago. I may not have experienced it in my life, but I miss it because it’s what I was made for.