anemoia in gen z

anemoia is a term of the dictionary of obscure sorrows that describes a feeling of nostalgia for a time youve never experienced. this strange feeling seems to be omnipresent in generation z. i wonder why that is. when it started. maybe it was when covid brought us to ourselves, alone at home, bored, daydreaming. escaping. chronically online. 

and then the 90s came back.

why is it that we summon old trends regularly? why is it that we romanitisise the past so much?

e.g: the 70s groupie aesthetic, the old hollywood glamour, the vintage obsessed alt girls, these dudes on tiktok known soley for their 80s clothes or 1920s suits, the tradwives that romanticise the 50s era, the bimbo dolls in barbie pink bikinis, the tumblr lana 2010s girls, the basement 90s stoner guys in baggy clothes and nirvana shirts.

 we are using phones to escape to a time where there were none.

what are we really looking for? why do we say things like "i was born in the wrong generation", " i wish i was a hippie in the summer of 69"?

is it a sort of remembering of a past life? is it justified nostalgia? we watch a movie and we feel like we were there. we go online to explain that feeling and find an enormous network of like minded people.  the internet niches and aesthetics are endless, connected through music, fashion, politics, philosophy, makeup, lifestyle, movies, idols, niche references.

its like we live in our own time capsulses that are carefully curated in our minds, paylists and pinterestboards. 

what is it that we are looking for? times are strange, technology is rapidly evolving, we just went through covid, on the verge of ww3, and in the middle of a giant economical crisis.the recession affects all of us, there are strange potential futures presented, from apocalyptic prophecies to life on mars. 

the future feels dangerous and unfamiliar, the presence is messy and strange, so we draw back to the past, where we know the outcome, where we can read important events in chronological order, where there are no big surprises or unknown dangers.

 but the word is so big, that time alone cannot save us, we curate these smaller spaces online, that are now a safe place. i think when we zoom out, it is more than the surface shows.

at least when it turns to a sort of obsession, when we watch makeup tutorials and search for fit ideas, we listen to the music that fits that era, it becomes a present thing that impacts our everyday desicions. thats what i mean. this anemoia in gen z is inherently philosophical and perhaps also political. a psychlogical phenomena that i want to continue analysing thouroughly.