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I'd say I'm a fairly nostalgic person. Though not in an unchecked way. I think it's important to view it with a critical eye. Unfiltered nostalgia is actually quite dangerous. See certain people that tend to glorify the "olden days" without thinking about social and political circumstances they entailed and the people for whom they may have not been so wonderful. Or condemning everything that is new right out of the gate, because it doesn't conform with their very particular expectations.
That preamble out of the way: Yeah. I mean, it's 2021 and most of the things I used to do and enjoy in the public have come to a screeching halt. Nostalgia is kicking in hard right now. But even before that, I think my sense of aesthetics was informed pretty early on in my life. Images, movies, etc... film was still pretty ubiquitous when I was in my teens. Something to the saturation and grain of film that is somewhat lost in digital media. I frequently shoot film these days and even when I edit pictures I have shot on my DSLR, I catch myself editing them in a way (mostly saturation-related) that is distinctly "film-like". Hell, before Covid I used to host a 90s-themed Alternative Rock event series. It was mostly born out of bands like the Youf, Helium, MBV etc. having had a huge impact on the evolution of my listening habits. Also because I was fed up that "90s party" is almost exclusively equated with Eurodance, Bad-Taste events and the likes here in Austria. I wanted to counter that with something more Shoegaze/Trip-Hop/Grunge-oriented that didn't always go for the most obvious song choices. And plenty of MTV's "Downtown" and "Daria" clips, because that's really just kind of part of the aesthetic. A friend of mine even did create some psychedelic visuals to go with it - he's big into the 60s and 70s, which fit perfectly, because the 90s were big into the 60s and 70s. And my more Goth-oriented main event-series is super heavy on the late 70s and 80s, with mostly 8mm and 16mm + vintage kooky and spooky visuals from all across the 20th Century.
So, to conclude - I think I'm heavily nostalgic on an aesthetic level. Whenever it comes to reminiscing about "back then", I remain vigilant though. I guess it's like you said - looking back at a time when the world was approached with less cynicism, or, less weariness. I wouldn't wanna trade all the realizations I've made over the years though. There may be less levity now and way more fuzziness/greyness, but that's just life. Nostalgia in the end is what it is - looking back at a specific and deeply personal time that can and should not be replicated the same way. But it has lain a foundation for the person you've become. And there ain't nothing wrong with looking back at that.
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