Nostalgia Really “Is” Good For You

Browsing old photos brings its own set of benefits

THERE IS SOMETHING IMPORTANT about nostalgia. I feel it every time I look at an old photo and find myself transported to a different self and time. Sometimes it takes only a small detail for the rest of the memory and its sensations to rush in too. Not all photos have this effect, but the ones that do provide enough positive motivation to keep taking photos that allow me to continue giving future presents to myself and others.

What an interesting thing nostalgia is, so I did some research on the topic and found a compelling article in the NY Times about its science: What Is Nostalgia Good For? Quite a Bit, Research Shows. Apparently scientists have found that nostalgia really is good for you.

There are several experiments described in the article, but one of the scientists, Constantine Sedikides, sums it up best:

Nostalgia made me feel that my life had roots and continuity. It made me feel good about myself and my relationships. It provided a texture to my life and gave me strength to move forward.

With such an outlook on nostalgia wouldn’t it be good to actually create more opportunities, photo memories for example, that would be visual and emotional gifts to our future selves? Sedikides calls these “nostalgic-to-be memories” that we can draw upon when we need a boost or reminder about what is truly important in life.

Another interesting study by Ting Zhang addresses the topic of documenting our everyday life for the future, and found that there is an enormous unexpected value experienced by people in the process of rediscovery. He aptly calls the recording of daily life a Present to the Future. He says:

We generally do not think about today’s ordinary moments as experiences that are worthy of being rediscovered in the future. However…what is ordinary now actually becomes more extraordinary in the future — and more extraordinary than we might expect.

Given that there will be over 1.2T images taken in 2016, we are certainly capturing more photos than ever — across both the big and small moments of life. That is encouraging to see. The danger though is that our photos are only going in one direction into the great social networks of our time or into photo management apps. So how can we make sure that we have the delight of re-discovery at our fingertips in the future?

While building our photo apps at Yarn, we carefully studied the science of nostalgia and built rediscovery into our signature feature — the Yarn Feed, where your photos come to you, auto-collaged, on-demand, and from different times, places and topics of life. It is a really delightful way to re-visit the past.

As I look at the photo of my brother and myself in the opening image, I remember the day, the typewriter, the little story I wrote, and him reading it back to me. In re-discovering that photo, Yarn presented to me a rush of connected memories and emotions activating latent continuity from a past self to the present. I think that is the feeling that Sedikides refers to in his quote when he references how memories give texture to life.

Right now we take photos of just about everything — people, places, shopping, holidays, food, home, travel, entertainment, pets, work, sunsets, really anything that reminds us how we respond as well as fit into the world. But returning to those everyday moments is just as important as their capture, and may just be more extraordinary than we expect!

Note: Since publishing this post Yarn has been discontinued as a photo service. Read our story here.