nostalgia jukebox

The Nostalgia Jukebox Effect

Nostalgia for pre-Ground Zero pop culture is a subject that comes up a lot on this blog. Pining for the awesome 80s and rad 90s is such a defining feature of Generation Y that this cohort is almost solely responsible for the glut of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles retro action…
January 18, 202416 Comments
Millennial in Hall of Mirrors

Millennial Hall of Mirrors

Talk to Millennials long enough, and they'll turn the topic of conversation to their preferred pop culture brands. Discussing these corporate IPs with them for any length of time will give you the definite impression that this generation doesn't just consume these entertainment products, they project themselves into them. To…
January 15, 20249 Comments
Pandora Hope

The Responsibility of Hope

This week's posts on the challenges faced by the Millennial generation and ideas for how to help them meet those challenges sparked a lively discussion that ranged across multiple posts. Being an editor, I have spliced a selection of comments on related themes into the following dialogue. Author JD Cowan…
January 11, 202417 Comments
Japan Childlessness Crisis

Japan’s Childlessness Crisis

The Land of the Rising Sun may have no tomorrow if a solution to the economically advanced but spiritually demoralized nation's fertility woes isn't found. Japan's childlessness crisis has gained international notoriety over the past several years. But the crisis goes beyond the much-discussed "herbivore" phenomenon of young men withdrawing…
January 10, 202427 Comments
help millennials

How We Can Help Millennials

We talk about generations as if they're clearly defined categories, but in reality the gaps between generational cohorts are pretty ambiguous. Being Gen Y, my perspective on current intergenerational conflicts is as close to objective as anyone but a member of the dwindling Greatest Generation. If you've been paying even…
January 9, 202412 Comments
Depressed Millennial

Millennials: Depressed and Disordered

Men, what does it mean to be happy? According to Mammon and Moloch, it means making as much money and sleeping with as many high-value women as possible. But in the Christian tradition, happiness comes from living in harmony with God, neighbor, nature, and yourself. By that standard, Millennials might…
January 8, 20248 Comments
Pizza Hut Classic 1

Generation Y’s Real Café 80s

Most people reading this will be familiar with the 50s retro diner, in concept if not by firsthand experience. This style of restaurant gained popularity in the 1980s as Baby Boomers neared middle age. Savvy restaurateurs figured out that appealing to that generation's nostalgia for the 1950s culture they dismantled…
December 29, 20236 Comments
Break Down

The Break Down

Reader Rudolph Harrier comments on a previous post: What makes things worse is that Zoomers have only learned how to deal with existing services. Music sites everywhere are littered with comments of “I heard a song I liked but it’s not on Spotify so how can I listen to it…
December 12, 202313 Comments
Scott Pilgrim Subculture

Subcultural Experiences

Commenter Hermetic Seal writes: As someone who started college in the mid-2000s, a big part of my experience was how all of my communal activities, and the entertainment I was into, moved from shared cultural experiences, to subcultural ones. I think a lot of that emerged naturally, or subconsciously, in…
July 20, 20233 Comments
Tower Records

Gen Y Tales: Welcome to Adulthood

A reader writes in to share a Gen Y tale of his own: It was 2005 and I had just turned 18. I was at a Tower Records with a bunch of high school friends. It was a neat, two story place and that particular night it was lively and…
July 19, 202316 Comments