by Stephanie Toews, Executive Editor | Associate Publisher

nos·tal·gia   

a sad pleasure experienced in recalling what no longer exists: a wistful or sentimental yearning for a return to or the return of some real or romanticized past period or some irrecoverable past condition or setting 

I’m loving the recent social trend What were you like in the 90s? There’s something nostalgic about it, especially for those of us who lived it. It brings back a time of landlines and pay phones, when cell phones were rare and far from smart, and most shopping happened in actual stores.  

We waited for the daily newspaper to catch up on the news or browse the weekly ads, or tuned in at 5:00 or 10:00 to watch it unfold. Information wasn’t instant or endless. We used encyclopedias for research, snapped photos on film, and waited to see how they turned out.  Sharing them meant sitting down with friends and flipping through an album together. Moments were lived and kept, not posted or measured by likes.  

What I love and miss most is how simple it all felt. Making plans took intention. You called a house phone, talked to a parent or sibling, and hoped your friend was available. Dial-up internet required patience. We memorized phone numbers. We documented moments through saved movie and concert tickets. We just lived it.  

Millennials are the last generation to remember life before the internet and home computers. My kids don’t know that kind of world the way I did, yet I love seeing pieces of it come full circle. My daughter asked for a digital camera with a date stamp for Christmas, and she listens to CDs in her older car with a built-in player. My son is drawn to records and ’90s music. Even their style mirrors so much of what we once wore. Something is comforting in watching it all come back around, familiar in a way that feels both nostalgic and new at the same time. 

Now, with the rapid rise of AI, it’s clear our world is shifting again, and in ways we can’t fully anticipate. At times, that feels a little unsettling. We run the risk of living in a society that has more but feels less. But I also believe it will bring clarity to what truly matters. The more advanced things become, the more we will value what is real, tangible, human, created by hand with intention and heart. Technology can do many things, but it cannot replace empathy, kindness, or genuine connection. Those are the pieces we were made for, and the ones worth holding on to as everything else evolves.  

Whatever generation holds nostalgia for you, let it be a reminder to stay present with the generations coming up behind you. Walk alongside them and help create meaningful connections in a world that doesn’t always make it easy.  

Love,

Originally printed in the May 2026 issue of Simply Local Magazine

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