Nostalgia

Memories are never what they seem.  Nostalgia paints over the cracks in time until we have idealised versions of what our lives used to be like.  I recently tried re-watching some old TV shows I used to watch as a kid and I got very bored very quickly.  You could say I was more easily amused when I was younger, but I would object to that because I've always been easily bored by things.  I need an element of challenge in games or I get bored, I need an element of the unknown in a Movie or a TV show to be stay the course and watch it all the way through - curiosity captivates me.  There are a few things despite the lack of curiosity that I can return to and experience again and still enjoy it.  There are games that fit this requirement, Movies and TV shows too.

It's the things that we return to and find dislike for, they interest me the most.  I don't believe people ever really change, I believe you only ever become yourself.  By that I mean with age we tend to stop fighting the things we want and give in, and we tend to stop pretending we like the things we actually don't.  The pretence falls.  You become more consciously aware with age, of the amount of energy you devote to people and things.  An air of conservatism takes hold and you seek to regain as much of your wasted energy as you can, so that you can devote it to the things you actually enjoy. 

Looking back on some of the things I used to love and no longer do, I find myself asking, did I ever really love them at all or was it just that there was nothing better to do, or no other option?  Did I like the shows I used to watch because I actually liked them or did I like them because there were only 5 or 6 channels and they were the best on offer at the time?  Has the expansion of choice and the plethora of alternatives that we now almost drowned ourselves in, made us critical of the things we used to like?

I know with old games, some old TV shows, and old technology, that it's not fair to judge it by today's standards.  I know that it's not fair to judge the quality of old VHS movies by the standard of Blu-Ray and streaming services, but in a way it's hard not to judge.  I know that I liked those games and those shows at the time, and I know that I still do in my memory, but when I actually sit down to play them or watch them they don't live up to the memory.

My question of the day is simply, is it better just to consign some things to memory and not try to relive the past?