Do you find yourself going back to your childhood favorite shows and movies like Wizards of Waverly Place, Mulan, or Max and Ruby? Maybe you find yourself playing your old games like Webkinz, The Sims, and Pokemon. It’s actually quite common if sometimes all you want to do after a long day of work is consume the nostalgic content you grew up with. But what we wanted to know is, what is it about nostalgia that soothes us? Why do we find comfort in the things from our past? Can nostalgia be intentionally implemented as a tool to help us cope with our stressors in life? Join us as we explore these questions and discuss our childhood favorites to hopefully give you your own dose of nostalgia for the day.

Notes from the podcast hosts: This isn’t a topic we’ve focused on at Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research but it is a topic that we were curious about. So we did a little bit of our own research and found these sources. We thought we’d share them, although they don’t come from our research.

Sources:

"Once upon a game: Exploring video game nostalgia and its impact on well-being" https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328087196_Once_Upon_a_Game_Exploring_Video_Game_Nostalgia_and_Its_Impact_on_Well-Being

"Nostalgia confers psychological wellbeing by increasing authenticity" https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103122000981

"Flow and Pokémon GO: The Contribution of Game Level, Playing Alone, and Nostalgia to the Flow State" https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322581896_Flow_and_Pokemon_GO_The_Contribution_of_Game_Level_Playing_Alone_and_Nostalgia_to_the_Flow_State