Ah, The Good Old Days(™)! A time when everything was (allegedly) better: the music, the food, and even the fabric of society. Though… which era are we talking about, specifically? For some, it might be the ‘70s and ‘80s. For others, it’s the ‘90s and early 2000s. While others yearn to live a century or two ago, periods they never experienced firsthand.

Nostalgia is great in small doses, but too much of it can make you miss the beauty of the present. The r/lewronggeneration subreddit is a witty online community that is “dedicated to satirically mocking” folks who are completely and utterly “blinded by their own nostalgia.” We’ve collected some of their most cringeworthy posts to show you how many people wear rose-colored glasses to an unhealthy extent.

#1 J’accuse!

Image credits: ProductiveNobody

#2 Like Three People Will Get This

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#3 Inverse Reversal

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The r/lewronggeneration community has been going strong for nearly a decade now. Founded in mid-August of 2013, the sub has grown to house over 300k members since that time.

According to the moderator team running the whole show, the subreddit itself was created out of annoyance over the ‘born in the wrong generation’ that fans of ‘60s and ‘70s rock often express. So there’s a special emphasis on music on r/lewronggeneration, but other forms of nostalgia are welcome, too, from other forms of media to societal trends.

#4 Not Sure If This Has Been Thrown Around Before But I Think It Belongs Here

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#5 That’s Probably Not The Flex You Think It Is…

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#6 Those Were Ye Good Ol’ Days

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The mods ask the members to post images and videos that fit the spirit of the subreddit. In short, the content should be focused on “quasi-nostalgic attitudes, often with a sense of superiority.” However, posts can’t have anyone’s identifying information displayed in them, whether that’s actual names or internet usernames. The point is to gently mock over-the-top nostalgia, not the individuals themselves.

#7 Men Today No Longer Want To Break Free

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#8 Quite Literally

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#9 ?

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Moreover, members of r/lewronggeneration ought to avoid posting content that they created themselves. Meanwhile, if anyone’s in the mood for some satire, they’re welcome to go for it, but they have to add the ‘Satire’ flair to make it clear to everyone else. 

In the meantime, everyone’s asked to be civil, and polite, and to “keep the elitism at the door.” While disagreements are perfectly fine (and, if we’re honest, completely unavoidable on the internet), calling other users names and insulting them is way over the line. What’s more, the mods frown upon low-effort posts, redditors who spam memes, and repost irresponsibly.

#10 I Got No Words

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#11 Modern Cartoons Suck Now

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#12 Kids Today Are So Stupid

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Valentina Stoycheva Ph.D. explains in a post on Psychology Today that nostalgia can lead to unhelpful behaviors and have negative consequences when taken to an extreme.

“The difference between helpful and harmful nostalgia is the difference between incorporating the positive emotions of reminiscing into the present versus renouncing the present for the sake of reinstating and perpetually reliving some moment in the past,” she writes.

#13 Man, Boomers Who Post [things] Like This Completely Forgot The Message Of The Breakfast Club

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#14 Never Realised You Had To Listen To Modern Music, And That Statements Just Blatantly Untrue

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#15 Is This Welcome Here?

Image credits: Fight-Me-In-Unreal

In Stoycheva’s opinion, overindulging in nostalgia is similar to overusing salt or pepper in your dishes, leading to the present being “colored by the negative emotions, in favor of glorifying some moment in the past.” There’s a need for balance here so that nostalgia doesn’t consume someone’s life.

#16 Of Course All The Comments Were Saying “Sad But True”

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#17 We Are Not The Same

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#18 Fyi – The Thing On The Right Is A Pencil Sharpener And The Thing On The Left Is A Pencil

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Some individual examples where people go overboard with nostalgia include getting excessive plastic surgery in order to create the illusion of youth, hoarding things, and using social media to track down their ex-partners. On a societal level, overindulging in nostalgia can lead to people glorifying their historical past without acknowledging the collective traumas of the past.

#19 “Cars Now Don’t Have Any Character”

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#20 Damn :((

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#21 Today’s Generation Is Lazy

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Nostalgia, according to Stoycheva, is focused on simplicity rather than complexity, so it can backfire as an emotional regulatory strategy because the world itself is so complex. According to her, this can be countered by coming face to face with our own biases and beliefs and tackling uncomfortable feelings of shame and longing. 

#22 Ah The 80s, You Know The Time When You Could Make Real Friends And Walk Around Not Being Scared

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#23 For Reelz

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#24 So We’ve Come To This Now

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Stoycheva suggests that everyone who’s feeling nostalgic for an activity, a period of time, and people to ask themselves these questions: “What emotion am I after? In engaging in nostalgia, what former self-state am I seeking to recreate? How will this help me and also how can I stay rooted in the present while I also feel the positive emotions of reminiscing? Am I avoiding complex emotions? If so, what are they, and why are they so hard for me? Where else can I seek help in managing my emotions?”

#25 Quirky

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#26 Vintage Le Wrong Generation

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#27 Bruh

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In the meantime, Bored Panda has previously written about how people tend to be the most nostalgic for those periods of time when they were happiest. For many, that’s their childhood because they had fewer responsibilities. However, if someone had an awful childhood, you most likely won’t find them reminiscing about that period of time.

Though nostalgia can be a good coping strategy when you’re feeling blue, it can interfere with our daily lives. For instance, if we constantly compare the present to the past and feel like nothing ever measures up in terms of values and quality, then we’ll feel disappointed.

#28 Does This Count As Lewronggeneration?

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#29 I Too Am Absolutely Horrified By Men On Scooters

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#30 Ahhh Yes. That Recent Development Of Cheating

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It’s vital to remember that our memories aren’t perfect: they’re not as accurate as we might think and we might be reliving only the moments we want to remember. Meanwhile, the present has many opportunities to be seized, even if the world has changed and will continue to change. 

For some more posts about nostalgia and r/lewronggeneration, check out Bored Panda’s earlier feature over here.

#31 Yeah….no

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#32 The Wwe Wasn’t Like This Picture Until The Late 1990’s

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#33 This Has 4.2k Upvotes And Counting

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#34 ??‍♂️

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#35 I Think He’d Still Be Considered A Psychopath Today

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#36 Johnny Is Looking At You Snl …craig Ferguson

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#37 “Why Aren’t Soldiers Like My Hollywood Heroes”

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#38 Got That Right ….!!!

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#39 Being Against Racial Slurs ≠ Soft Generation

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#40 Is It Considered Lewwronggeneration?

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#41 Aww Yes, Simple Plan Was The Height Of Early 2000s Music

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#42 More Of This From R/Cartoons

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#43 Dang Kids And Their Healthy Lungs!

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#44 They’re All On Cocaine

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#45 No Title

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#46 Feel Free To Repost

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#47 So Many Ways To Debunk This

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#48 There Are No Bricklayers Under The Age Of 50 Apparently

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#49 Normal… Happier

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#50 Doesn’t Matter What Year It Is , Always Happens

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#51 Gentlemen …. This Is Not Xbox Rock Band

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#52 Comment On A Morrissey Video…

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#53 “The Patrick Star Show” Became A Top Rated Show. Their Reaction? This

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#54 Things People Complained About In The 2000s-Early 2010s But Now Love

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#55 R/Memes Be Like

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#56 And This Meme Is Trying To Make The She-Ra Then Look Like A Positive

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#57 These People Are Common In The Gaming Community. At Least Someone Called Her Out

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#58 Not Even Giving It A Chance Bruh

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#59 Born In The Wrong Generation

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#60 Apparently Writing Notes Is No Longer A Thing

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#61 Ticktock App Bad, Brain Trauma Good

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#62 This Person Is Being Edgy For The Sake Of Being Edgy

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#63 Todays “Music”

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#64 Does This Fit?

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Source: boredpanda.com