Why Are Teenagers So Obsessed With The Past?

Vintage, Stranger Things, and “Vibes.”

Remember the 80's? I’m sure some of you were alive then, but alas I was not. However, in today’s culture, the obsession with “vintage” and anything 80’s makes me feel like I was.

Fashion: An Inescapable Cycle

Fashion trends are weird.

It’s a strange cycle of styles from the 70’s on. Opinions change like the wind, depending on what the instagram influencers decide is cool now.

Emma Chamberlain’s word, for example, is gospel. And I’m a disciple, because she’s just so cool. Once she wore low rise jeans, the previously detested item was flung back into style.

But the trends of the 1980’s and 90’s return again and again, many times never leaving.

Scrunchies, mom jeans, and windbreakers are always in circulation. Baby tees and 90’s hairstyles have been a staple for 30 years.

But why do teens of today feel so attracted to these styles? Why don’t we popularize something new, or even extremely old? (think 1880's.)

Hint: It’s not because they’re timeless.

Television and the “Good Old Days”

I love Stranger Things, Beverly Hills 90210, and Saved By The Bell. Yes, I genuinely enjoy watching Zack Morris psychologically torture the rest of Bayside High.

Watching teens from 30 years ago run around in bright colors and big haircuts is such a stark contrast to what our lives are like now.

The kids in those shows aren’t dealing with school shootings, or the ever present threat of nuclear warfare. It was there, but never addressed.

Even Stranger Things, a modern show set in the 80’s, seems like a form of escapism from modern times. Do you think Steve Harrington could exist in 2022? I don’t.

We also idolize celebrities from the 70’s to 90’s, and they’re like gods to “cool” teenagers these days.

Listening to Fleetwood Mac and Tears for Fears is a better “vibe” than listening to rap now.

Escapism seeps into all aspects of our lives, and for a minute, lets you seep into a different time.

The obsession runs deep, even in my own life. My school’s homecoming theme is time related, and my class fought tooth and nail for the 80’s.

When I end these articles, I usually try to leave some solution to the problem addressed. I can’t come up with one this time.

Summed up: the world sucks so bad teens wish they could time travel.