- New NBC News Poll Reveals Nostalgia for the Past
- 47% of those surveyed want to go back to previous years
- Dissatisfaction with modern technology and applications is a major factor
Dissatisfaction with modern technology and its pitfalls (including artificial intelligence, subscriptions, data tracking, and algorithm-based apps) is having an impact, as nearly half of Gen Z adults in the US (ages 18-29) would rather live in the past than the present.
This comes from an NBC News survey of 3,009 Gen Zers, who were asked about topics ranging from climate change and gun policy to personal finances and religion. The data showed that 14% wanted to live 50 years ago or more, and 33% wanted to live less than 50 years ago, if they had the choice.
In contrast, 38% were happy living in the present, 5% wanted to live less than 50 years in the future, and 10% wanted to live 50 or more years in the future. While the survey itself didn’t cover technology in great depth, some of the respondents NBC News spoke to individually highlighted technology issues as reasons for wanting to time travel.
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These respondents cited the ubiquity of smartphones, the lack of “personal experience,” and social media as some of the downsides of modern technology, while one survey participant lamented “so, so much Internet” and all the “nonsense” that comes with it as a reason for wanting to turn back the years.
“Nostalgic for the past”
Discomfort with modern technology shapes Gen Z’s desire to live in the past from r/tech
NBC News also spoke with nostalgia researcher and existential psychologist Clay Routledge, who pointed to the feeling of being controlled by phones and technology as a driving force behind a feeling of being “more nostalgic for the past.”
Other reactions to the survey on Reddit included a number of additional complaints: constant subscriptions, products that are worse and don’t last as long, spying on users, “harmful algorithms”, technology addiction, advertising and artificial intelligence are all cited, along with nostalgia for a technology that was simpler to operate and easier to repair.
However, it’s notable that most people don’t want to go back too far – the 1990s and early 2000s seem to be the sweet spot, when advances in technology still seemed exciting and beneficial to the human race as a whole. For reference, the first iPod was released in 2001 and we got the first iPhone in 2007.
One of the technology topics included in the survey was AI, and opinion on the matter was fairly divided: around half of respondents were “anxious” or “worried” about AI, particularly in terms of what it might mean for their careers, and the rest of respondents were either “not worried” or “optimistic.”
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