Technolandy

Day 90 (of 2025/26) #tEChursdAI thought on nostalgia

Nostalgia has opopped up on me a couple times recently. 

One shoutout came out that we can’t principal in the ways we did to kick off the 21st century…

Another was when the Prime Minister called out and said that “nostalgia is not a strategy” – not for politics… not for education…

Made me think.. “Nostalgia… it ain’t what it used to be (thank goodness)”

With some physical observations… 

Sigh – why can’t kids read an analog clock anymore – we have to admit that it has always been a struggle to teach kids to read the clock face that really dominates schools and wrists… more so since the practice in the ‘real world’ has shifted as digital time is everywhere else. 

Love Gary Stagers take: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/irasocol_nyc-phone-ban-reveals-some-students-cant-activity-7410750821392490496-EdrF?utm_medium=ios_app&rcm=ACoAABZNptIBuMettSFB5rSK4pFTltY83fhN9vo&utm_source=social_share_send&utm_campaign=copy_link

But also an article warning us about nostalgia (and why we prefer kids learn in environments that are more familiar to us and do assignments that better lets us compare them based on how well they write one format of writing…  https://thepowerofwhy.ca/2025/11/17/the-neuroscience-of-nostalgia-why-familiar-stories-feel-so-good/

And there are good parts of nostalgia – music and memory: https://dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories/nostalgic-music-aids-memory/

But bad parts – we crave what’s familiar, even if that’s not really good for us – generational issues become harder and harder to break – https://www.harpersbazaar.in/culture/story/why-do-we-keep-going-back-to-familiar-relationships-even-though-it-may-be-harmful-for-us-580648-2023-06-17

So of course, schools continue to be caught with repeating things that are familiar – most teachers enter the profession because we have positive memories of school and not always aware of the thins that alienate learners… while also trying new things that are doing things different and risking to devalue things that used to be important and essential to learn (eg using a card catalogue – trust me, the sources at the bottom of Wikipedia are much more relevant and reliable!)

But then again, we do tend to rely on standardized tests to evaluate personalized learning journeys for outside agencies to make judgements on learning… and perpetuating prose approaches like the essay even though it arguably reached its apex with Jonathan Swift some 350 years ago… it’s not a bad way to show what you know – but it’s not the best way for most learners… and feel free to ask me about multiple choice tests (hate them, but mainly because the majority are so poorly designed and then not analyzed in the right way.. every answer should be formative and help the teacher and student work backwards to figure out what was not learned/understood/memorized for re-teaching and re-performing ). 

Nostalgia… trust me – the good old days… weren’t. 1986 and 1926 were markers of much more segregation and exclusion than we are today; fewer fights than I saw as a student; more opportunities for students to show their learning in ways different from their peers; and more challenges because we better understand more things about neurology… and learning… and recognize that the work is both challenging and a bit of art rather than something to follow from a script (yep… I know what I typed – and why). 

Nostalgia is yearning for the good memories of going to Blockbuster video (or whatever off brand was in your town/neighbourhood) without remembering the disappointment of a wanted video not being available… or that not everyone was able to “be kind and rewind” the movies… and then try to ignore and avoid the impact of a disruption – Netflix is eerily similar to Personal Screens and AI… what you want (to learn), when you want to (readiness regardless of age). Ignoring the change just makes the learning environment even more artificial and distant than the real world. Can’t ignore the changes around us by remembering what once was – but just the good parts!

Nostalgia is great for niche activities – loving some old Atari systems and the return of some classic comics. Less good when trying to live the life of previous decades… progress is… inevitable! Enjoy the ride!

Or…‘