My Android periodically goes into nostalgia mode (aka photo shuffle) to show a group of photos from my past. I enjoy it. I didn't know I could set the frequency, but I'll check it out.
wow, learned from this bit about nostalgia! My ex & his family drove me nuts! They were, literally, a dysfunctional family. The mom & daughter, agoraphobic, hoarders, daughter attempted but never seriously suicide numerous times, to name just a few issues, my ex a true narcissist... EVERY time we'd go over there I would have to listen to ONLY their stories of nostalgia. I used to say they never, ever lived in the future, not even by one day. Defending against unhappiness, hmmmmm
I remember this post from last year and I meant to set nostalgia mode up on my phone then and here we are a year later and I still have not done it! Thanks for the reminder!
I grew up with pictures on film. Just spent a good week going through old photo albums and stacks and stacks of loose pictures. Kept a few, sent the pictures of my kids to them and threw out 75% of the stack. I have tried to keep up with the digital onslaught of photos but with both Apple and Google devices and a digital camera that I prefer to use, it's mayhem.
I know that digital gives one more flexibility in what you take, but it can never match the thrill of getting negatives and prints back after a vacation and seeing what you actually got. I find I am not nearly as attached to digital images as I was to the printed variety.
Before I made my big overseas move, I took pictures that were in my photo albums so I wouldn’t have to ship all the huge albums I had created over the years before phone pics. It’s funny though. I hardly ever look at them. So far, my memory seems to be good enough to recall the highlights of weddings, graduations, family events of all varieties. The one picture I do pull up though is one of my mother and her mother(for whom I was named). It was taken on Mothers Day in 1976 and the memory of the day is still with me. I did have an enlarged copy made of my husband that was taken New Years Day of 2022 and six weeks before he died. He had just gotten out of rehab the day before and he was thrilled to be home. He as in the process of writing thank you notes to all his friends who had been so kind to him during his illness. Needless to say, my phone caught him at just the right moment. Cameras used to sort of freak people out but phones are so ubiquitous now, they can sneak up and capture your subject just perfectly.
So glad you republished this article. I remember reading it initially and immediately resetting to photo shuffle. It was a joy and a small burst of adrenaline when I would pick up the phone and see a new photo memory. Somewhere in the last year my phone defaulted back to a standard screen, perhaps the unintended consequence of an upgrade? And in the hustle and bustle of everyday stressors I didn't investigate the issue putting it on the back burner for when I had more time. But Today! I again immediately reset the wallpaper and was immediately rewarded with a loverly memory and hit of joy!
I can appreciate being nostalgic; it is something I do from time-to-time. Not sure I would want it to constantly pop up on its own. Nostalgia has a place but I prefer to live in the present, what Eckhart Tolle calls the “now.” Some people say it better than I:
“Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear.”
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.”
Living in the past I buy, but looking to the past SHOULD help us avoid its mistakes if we actually learn from it.
But hopefully pictures we took, and kept, have a bit more meaning to us. Never looking at them means you shouldn’t keep them as they have no value. But being reminded of past events worthy of a picture seems to be worth a moment and certainly isn’t living in the past.
Nostalgia is different from looking at the past to avoid repeating mistakes.
I didn’t say I never look at pictures of the past. What I said was: I can appreciate being nostalgic; it is something I do from time-to-time. Not sure I would want it to constantly pop up on its own
My Android periodically goes into nostalgia mode (aka photo shuffle) to show a group of photos from my past. I enjoy it. I didn't know I could set the frequency, but I'll check it out.
wow, learned from this bit about nostalgia! My ex & his family drove me nuts! They were, literally, a dysfunctional family. The mom & daughter, agoraphobic, hoarders, daughter attempted but never seriously suicide numerous times, to name just a few issues, my ex a true narcissist... EVERY time we'd go over there I would have to listen to ONLY their stories of nostalgia. I used to say they never, ever lived in the future, not even by one day. Defending against unhappiness, hmmmmm
I remember this post from last year and I meant to set nostalgia mode up on my phone then and here we are a year later and I still have not done it! Thanks for the reminder!
I grew up with pictures on film. Just spent a good week going through old photo albums and stacks and stacks of loose pictures. Kept a few, sent the pictures of my kids to them and threw out 75% of the stack. I have tried to keep up with the digital onslaught of photos but with both Apple and Google devices and a digital camera that I prefer to use, it's mayhem.
I know that digital gives one more flexibility in what you take, but it can never match the thrill of getting negatives and prints back after a vacation and seeing what you actually got. I find I am not nearly as attached to digital images as I was to the printed variety.
Before I made my big overseas move, I took pictures that were in my photo albums so I wouldn’t have to ship all the huge albums I had created over the years before phone pics. It’s funny though. I hardly ever look at them. So far, my memory seems to be good enough to recall the highlights of weddings, graduations, family events of all varieties. The one picture I do pull up though is one of my mother and her mother(for whom I was named). It was taken on Mothers Day in 1976 and the memory of the day is still with me. I did have an enlarged copy made of my husband that was taken New Years Day of 2022 and six weeks before he died. He had just gotten out of rehab the day before and he was thrilled to be home. He as in the process of writing thank you notes to all his friends who had been so kind to him during his illness. Needless to say, my phone caught him at just the right moment. Cameras used to sort of freak people out but phones are so ubiquitous now, they can sneak up and capture your subject just perfectly.
So glad you republished this article. I remember reading it initially and immediately resetting to photo shuffle. It was a joy and a small burst of adrenaline when I would pick up the phone and see a new photo memory. Somewhere in the last year my phone defaulted back to a standard screen, perhaps the unintended consequence of an upgrade? And in the hustle and bustle of everyday stressors I didn't investigate the issue putting it on the back burner for when I had more time. But Today! I again immediately reset the wallpaper and was immediately rewarded with a loverly memory and hit of joy!
I can appreciate being nostalgic; it is something I do from time-to-time. Not sure I would want it to constantly pop up on its own. Nostalgia has a place but I prefer to live in the present, what Eckhart Tolle calls the “now.” Some people say it better than I:
“Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear.”
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.”
- Henry David Thoreau
Living in the past I buy, but looking to the past SHOULD help us avoid its mistakes if we actually learn from it.
But hopefully pictures we took, and kept, have a bit more meaning to us. Never looking at them means you shouldn’t keep them as they have no value. But being reminded of past events worthy of a picture seems to be worth a moment and certainly isn’t living in the past.
Nostalgia is different from looking at the past to avoid repeating mistakes.
I didn’t say I never look at pictures of the past. What I said was: I can appreciate being nostalgic; it is something I do from time-to-time. Not sure I would want it to constantly pop up on its own