Anemoia: Nostalgia for a time one did not personally experience

Anemoia is nostalgia for a period or imagined event someone did not experience firsthand. Also called vicarious, historical, or faux nostalgia, it often grows from romanticized portrayals of the past and a sense that life today is worse. The term was coined in 2012 by John Koenig for his Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. Although earlier entertainment - from films and television celebrating the 1950s to retro attractions - had already prompted younger audiences to feel nostalgia for bygone eras, the concept has gained particular attention among Millennials and Generation Z. Economic and educational disruption, declining living standards, and pandemic-era distress have encouraged some young people to seek comfort in idealized pasts.

The feeling appears in renewed interest in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, as well as in Japan’s Shōwa era. One prominent example is Gen Z’s embrace of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” after its use in Stranger Things, which gave the decade’s music and culture a vivid shared context. Researchers have described this as “pseudo-nostalgia,” while others argue that people can genuinely feel nostalgia for eras they know through stories and media. Anemoia also shapes fashion and lifestyle trends: Y2K and Frutiger Aero digital aesthetics, vintage clothes, vinyl and cassette players, analog cameras, retro games, and hobbies such as knitting and gardening. The concept has also inspired albums, songs, and films, often exploring idealized history, longing, and the contrast between past and present.