Tamagotchi, scented markers, "Goosebumps" books. If you were born anywhere from 1990 to 1999, odds are you probably remember these things. Articles from our childhood pull us back into a time of Cartoon Network hits like "Courage The Cowardly Dog," hearing about cheat codes on the original Pokémon games for the Game Boy and the phrase "you won't always have a calculator on you." (Teachers could show you how to multiply, but could not predict a smartphone." However, why does the generation of millennials, specifically the land before Y2K babies remember these childhood events with such fondness? The answer is much deeper than you might realize. '90s kids are so nostalgic because of how vast and different the world has expanded in the past 26 years. (Yes, 26 years.)

We've had Pluto become a dwarf planet, we live in the first generation that has access to the world wide web. If you're from America, you've had the first African American president, gay marriage has been legalized and we have had a national tragedy unify the country under patriotism back in 2001. Since the dawn of the 21st century, the world has changed so much. It's easier to reminisce on childhood ideas of "Crazy Glue" and "The Magic School Bus" when so much has changed in our young lives. The world has been at it's highest and it's lowest in the span of a lifetime. We've learned more about HIV and AIDS, realizing it was a blood-borne illness, and we've had rovers drive on Mars, lost the visionary that was Steve Jobs, all while still trying to figure out when the light in our refrigerators turns off by slowly closing it, and playing with the spring on the door stopper to create an awesome album. We went from bulky computers to having access to all the information ever published in the palms of our hands. Polaroid films have turned into high-definition pictures that can be shared across oceans. Earth has expanded technologically, socially, and physically (robots on Mars!) The ideas of reminiscing about how simple our childhoods were compared to how children born 10 years ago are now reading about these same events we have lived through first hand is mind-blowing. In music, we have had the revival of the hardcore genre, the end of the grunge era, a new version of bubble-gum pop. Science has brought clean water to impoverished nations, and now Tobacco usage is shrinking. These are huge accomplishments in such a little time, and to digest them all at once seems to be a bit too much.

What does this all mean? How does this connect to my childhood of Disney Channel and Frisbee's? In short, it doesn't. With all the changes that have come in our generation, all the turmoil that plagues the modern era, looking back on and romanticizing a simpler time is simply easier to do than to think about how far we came. Neil Armstrong when he landed on the moon said "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." I feel this quote hits home with our generation. Everything is changing or has changed, and nothing is no longer sacred. Even the media realizes this, with reboots of movies like "Ghostbusters" and "Tarzan." Nostalgia is defined as a "wistful affection for the past." Something we woe for in times of great peril. The simple thought of feeding your Tamagotchi 3 times a day pales in comparison to issues of today like the presidential elections or the threat to pregnant women of the Zika virus. To put it bluntly; it's easier to think about your childhood, to be nostalgic over the past where everything was simpler than to swallow the pill of 2016. Nostalgia is not a bad thing, everyone needs to remember a point where life is easier, but do not let it fool you. Easy does not always mean better.