When memories are triggered, the whoosh of nostalgia hits hard.
Have you ever had a sight, sound, or smell trigger a strong memory? With the right prompts, waves of nostalgia can knock us off our feet, tapping into parts of our brain that take us right back to a specific time and place. Not only do we remember it, but for a fleeting moment, we can actually experience the feelings of being there.
A Reddit user posed a simple question that dredged up countless memories and experiences that many had long forgotten, asking, “What’s something you can bring up right now to unlock some childhood nostalgia for the rest of us?” The question evoked specific sensory experiences as well as memories of past pop culture staples that are now long gone, and it was a serious trip down nostalgia lane.
Here are 19 of the most popular responses:
1. Scented erasers
"An eraser that looks and smells like a very fake strawberry." — zazzlekdazzle
2. TV static
"Remember the warm, fuzzy static left on your tv screen after it was on for a while. A lot of you crazy kids WEAPONIZED the static to shock your siblings!" — JK_NC
3. Saturday morning cartoons
"Waking up super early on Saturday morning before the rest of the family to watch cartoons." — helltothenoyo
4. Freezy Pops
"Eating one of those plastic-wrapped ice pop things after a long day of playing outside in your backyard with your friends." — onyourleft___
How many of us have visceral memories of VHS tapes?Photo credit: Canva
5. VHS tapes
"When you'd watch a vhs and it would say 'and now your feature presentation.'" — Mickthemmouse
6. Everyone's favorite day at school
"Scholastic book fairs." — zazzlekdazzle
"The distinctive newspaper-y feel of those catalogues, the smell of them. Heaven. I would agonize over what books to get, lying on my living room floor, circling my options in different colored gel pens, narrowing it down to 2-4 from a dozen in an intense battle royale between slightly blurry one-line summaries. I know my mom's secret now. She would've bought me the whole damn catalogue. But she made me make my choices so that I really valued the books. I'd read them all immediately, reading all night if I had to, hiding in a tent under my covers with a flashlight I stole from the kitchen. I thought I was getting away with something. As an adult, I notice, now, that the flashlight never ran out of batteries." — IAlbatross
7. Everyone's favorite weekday TV show
"Watching 'The Price Is Right' when you were sick at home." — mayhemy11
Summer vacation was the best. Photo credit: Canva
8. Summer vacation
"That feeling of limitless freedom on the first day of summer vacation. That feeling of dreaded anticipation on the last day of summer vacation." —_my_poor_brain_
9. The old video store
"Blockbuster." — justabll71
10. The worst best noise in the world
"The noise when picking up the phone when someone was surfing the web." — OhAce
11. The TV Guide channel
"The TV Guide channel. You had to sit through and watch as the channels slowly went by so we could see what was on. It blew getting distracted by the infomercial in the corner and then realizing you barely just missed what you were waiting for so had to wait for it to start all over." — GroundbreakingOil
Who didn't love a Lite Brite? Laurence "GreenReaper" Parry/Wikimedia Commons
12. The one and only Lite Brite!
"Light Bright [sic]. I barely remember it myself but you’d take a charcoal-black board and poke different colored pegs through it. You plug it in to the electrical outlet and all the pegs light up creating whatever shape you made in lights." — 90sTrapperKeeper
13. Parachute day in gym class
"You knew it was gonna be a good day when you walk into PE class and see that huge colorful parachute." — brunettemountainlion
14. A very specific part of school recess
"Ripping handfuls of grass at recess and putting them on your friend." — boo_boo_technician
15. Anything involving Mr. T
"In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum-security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem if no one else can help, and if you can find them....maybe you can hire The A-Team." — Azuras_Star8
Feeling Good About Who We Are | Mister Rogers' Neighborhood Full Episode www.youtube.com
16. Watching the best human being who's ever lived
"Watching 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.' There was something so special about the intro where he would sing Won't You Be My Neighbor while he changed his jacket and shoes. I loved every second of it, and would watch in utter content and fascination each time as if I'd never before seen him zip his cardigan up and back down to the right spot and change his shoes with the little toss of a shoe from one hand to the other." — Avendashar
17. The surefire way to fix any video game
"Somewhere between blowing on some cartridges and pressing the cartridge down and up in the NES to get it to play." — autovices
18. Reckless behavior on the swingset
"That feeling when you are going as high as you can go on the swings. Power? Freedom? Hard to describe." — zazzlekadazzle
19. When toy guns were a thing
"Cap guns. But smashing the entire roll of caps at once with a hammer." — SoulKahn90
The 80s and 90s were really a special time, right on the cusp of major technological breakthroughs, but before the internet and smartphones took over everyday life. Things were modern but simple. Of course, every generation can't help but crave "the way things used to be." Kids today will one day look back at the quaintness of TikTok, or they'll fondly remember a world before everything was AI-generated.
There's nothing wrong with taking a brief look back every once in a while and soaking in the nostalgia. Just remember to keep looking forward as well.
This article originally appeared four years ago. It has been updated.