In recent years, “healing your inner child” has become an idea not just for therapy sessions but also in the media, and amid the stress of university life, some college students use children’s content for comfort and nostalgia.
Simpler Times
University of Miami senior and Track and Field High Jumper Kennedy Sauder said that since high school, he has found himself relying on the television shows and movies he watched growing up to cope with responsibilities, especially Disney and Pixar cartoons.
“Anything that feels simple, funny and low stress ends up being comfort media for me. I noticed myself going back to old shows without even thinking about it,” Sauder said.
This pull to childhood comforts raises the question: where does the desire to reconnect with your youth come from?
For some, it’s tied to escaping adult pressures, like the grind of a 9-5 job or the stress of midterms and finals at a university. For others, revisiting childhood memories through media helps them gain closure on past unfulfilled childhood needs or even trauma.
Sauder said children’s media helps him to feel calmer and more grounded during stressful times.
“Certain shows instantly bring me back to being at home after school, hanging out with friends or relaxing on weekends as a kid. It reminds me of moments when life felt simple and predictable. It reconnects you with a version of yourself that felt more carefree,” he said.
The Cost of Constant Content
While often associated with those on the Autism Spectrum or other mental health or developmental conditions, over-stimulation can happen to anyone. College students anxiously wait every week for the newest episode of “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Besette” or “Euphoria,” but the seriousness of “adult” shows can worsen stress rather than help with decompression.
The downsides of media overstimulation are nothing new, even among young children. A 2011 study by the NIH National Library of Medicine randomly assigned 60 four-year-olds to watch a fast-paced cartoon, watch an educational cartoon or draw a picture for nine minutes while completing tasks testing their basic executive function (EF), including attention span. The children watching the fast-paced cartoon performed significantly worse than the other two groups.
But the study noted that children aren’t the only ones whose EF decreases with certain media. It happens in adults too, just with smaller, short-term effects.
According to the study, “Adults report feeling less alert immediately after watching television. Most research on television has focused on attention, one of many EF processes. Entertainment television is particularly associated with long-term attention problems; thus, its viewing might be most likely to have negative short-term impacts.”
At the same time, mental health is talked about much more openly today than in the past, particularly compared to the 2000s and early 2010s.
“Our generation [Gen. Z] is more open about mental health and self-care. There is less pressure to grow up in a certain way, and more acceptance around enjoying whatever makes you feel good,” Sauder said.
Trending: #ChildhoodMemories
Finding joy and comfort in children’s media reaches social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, making the desire even stronger. With algorithms that change based on your interactions with the content, once you come across one nostalgic video, it’s only a matter of time before your feed is flooded with them.
The same applies to streaming platforms. While Disney+ is often the go-to for watching childhood content, once you watch just one kids’ movie on Netflix, the platform immediately starts suggesting your next watch.
Sauder, a public relations major, understands this system all too well.
“TikTok and Instagram constantly bring back old shows … Trends make people revisit childhood content, and the algorithm pushes nostalgic posts because people engage with them a lot. It creates a sense of shared memory,” Sauder said.
UM sophomore Lorena Sills, also a public relations major, sees this firsthand on her feeds, especially with the trending “Nostalgia Core” videos.
“‘Nostalgia Core’ or even edits of childhood movies bring back all these emotions. These are like little gateways to get people thinking about our childhood again, and most people respond positively in the comments to these types of videos,” Sills said.
Since it’s only her second year in college, Sills uses childhood media to bond with her friends and even make new ones.
“My friends also love to watch their childhood shows! … I recently just watched a few episodes of ‘Jessie’ on Disney+ with my roommate because we were just talking about how we miss watching these shows when they were popular,” she said
As we move through life’s chapters, from school to career and beyond, nostalgia often remains, often because we are so focussed on the next step that we forget to enjoy where we are now. Turning the page doesn’t mean letting go of the joy from previous chapters.
“A lot of people my age feel like they should be extremely mature, but I think they should stop and realize that you can’t get this time back, so enjoy it,” Sills said.
And with commencement approaching, Sauder is also continuing to put his comfort first.
“It’s okay to be immature,” Sauder said. “It’s also about taking care of yourself. If something makes you feel grounded, it’s valid.”
words_amanda mohamad. photo_wes fleischer&ariana glaser. design_jay moyer
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