So… I changed the name.
No midlife crisis. Just a course correction.
If you’ve been around here for a bit, you may have noticed right away…
Things look a little different.
After a lot of thinking (and definitely too much coffee), I decided to shift this publication from Nostalgia Nation to That 80s Dude, which was my “@” anyway.
Not because nostalgia is going anywhere… but because the way I want to build the scaffolding around it has changed.
So, What changed?
Short version:
There are thousands of nostalgia accounts now doing:
“Remember this?”
“Top 10 things you forgot…”
“Only 80s kids will understand…”
… and so on.
And look… I get it. That stuff works. Posting a classic tv show theme brings back memories. I’ll do that from time to time… it’s sort of baked in to nostalgia. 😏
But I don’t really want to spend the next few years reposting the same memories with slightly different captions. In June, I’m going into year six of doing this social media thing, and I have learned a lot.
One of the most important things I’ve learned about me is that I don’t want to be another nostalgia clearinghouse. Sure, I’ve got one of the OG accounts that started sharing tv themes, movie trailers, pictures of icons from our shared past, and I’ve tried balancing being present in my content, but it’s a lot more difficult to insert yourself in when most of the content is nostalgia-based. The content becomes something we’ve all seen before. It just does.
And, quite frankly, “the algorithm” hates that you’re trying to be creative with your account.
I took a couple of weeks off of Instagram (where That 80s Dude started) because I was just tired of seeing all the AI crap so many nostalgia accounts post now (and the fact that it gets hundreds of thousands of likes and hundreds of comments is frustrating to see). I thought, wait, I’m actually posting real images of the past and they don’t do as well as this AI generated content, so what am I doing here?
It made me reflect on the early days of when I started on social media (right when Instagram started, actually). I was one of the first mobile photographers out there (I was in iPhone Life Magazine… remember that publication?)
I took a break from all that and started a CrossFit gym, and then I returned to social media in 2020 when my fourth son was born.
The entire idea was to use my skills as a photographer to showcase my vintage/retro collection of nostalgic things. But that wasn’t what necessarily worked on Instagram. Not if you wanted to grow your audience. So I started posting nostalgic images and videos I found online, and people loved it. But this was before everyone was doing it.
Now, funny memes and AI rule the nostalgia space. I come across accounts that are being run by Gen Z that never went to school in the 80s but are posting about it like they were there.
The truth is, the last couple of years, having had an intense work schedule, and trying to spend quality time with my family, I’ve leaned into the “reposting” side far too much.
Find something fun and familiar on YouTube. Repost it. Get a bunch of likes. Repeat.
And for what? The entire reason I moved to Substack was to transition my most invested followers away from the shit-show social media has become to something far more meaningful.
What this is now
I think content should value your time and the creator’s time.
I wrote the book about nostalgia. I’m proud of it.
I published an e-Zine in January, February, and March. I’m proud of those issues.
I could tell early on that this was the year I was going to really lean into my roots and tell stories like the ones I tell in my book and in the e-Zine.
I just needed a jumping off point, and now was the time. It’s time to take all that information about nostalgia bouncing around in my head and apply it to the tangible things that trigger it.
The games I still play.
The music I still listen to and the gear I play it on.
The stuff worth owning, collecting, or revisiting.
The joy of it all!
Some of it’s old. Some of it’s newer. All of it is something I’ve spent real time with. I want to experience it again and share it with you so you find your place in it as well.
Less “remember this?” … I mean, I’ll still share nostalgia, believe me.
But also more “here’s why this matters (or doesn’t).”
And sure, I could have done that under the publication name of Nostalgia Nation, but something else I’ve learned is that your newsletter name (This email is from) matters. Tremendously.
Why the name change?
Simple answer:
“Nostalgia Nation” described the topic.
“That 80s Dude” describes the voice.
Besides, everyone that I’m trying to bring over to this beautiful corner of the world (Substack) knows me as That 80s Dude. I went with Nostalgia Nation as the publication because that was the name of my book. So now, it’s going to be a section in my newsletter.
And if I’ve learned anything doing this for a while, it’s this:
👉 People don’t stick around only for the topics.
👉 They stick around for the perspective.
A couple things I learned (the hard way)
Since I know a lot of you are creators too, here’s the concise version:
1. If your brand is doing things like everyone else… you’ll keep creating like everyone else. Even if you don’t mean to.
2. If your name doesn’t match your voice, you’ll feel it. It becomes weirdly harder to post. You second-guess more. You drift. In my case, I felt that “Nostalgia…” in the title of my newsletter could constrain and mislead the reader. I don’t always post nostalgia. I also post about modern concepts and things. I can easily tie those things to our past. So I was always writing with uneasiness thinking that someone new stumbling on my newsletter would think this was only a nostalgia-based publication.
3. Broad gets attention. Specific builds loyalty. And I’d rather have the second one. I love physical media, I love how Gen X grew up, and I have a unique experience as a collector of nostalgic things and modern things that pay homage to the past, so I believe that should come from my voice and not have any constraints whatsoever, publication name or otherwise.
Btw. About a couple of hours after applying the update on my newsletter, I got another paid subscriber. Pretty stoked about that!
I didn’t ask for a sign. But that was certainly a nice one.
What you’ll see going forward
More hands-on, real-life use cases with things in my studio
More opinions (Gen X has so many)
More “How I Did This,” and “How-To” stuff with my set up that might inspire you to create your own retro studio
More behind the scenes stuff and Substack tips I’ve picked up
More reviews of cool things I come across, or that I’ve owned for a long time want to share with everyone
More… me.
And yeah… still plenty of 80s, 90s, and early 2K radness along the way.
Ps. I’ve been sending nostalgic emails strait to subscriber inboxes a couple of times a week. These don’t necessarily make it to the Main Site. It’s been a fun way to share things like “On This Day…” or “I Bet You Didn’t Know This About…” with everyone, and that allows me to connect with you a bit more regularly.
Paid subscribers get a special (straight-to-inbox) email with exclusive content.
If you’ve been here since the Nostalgia Nation days, I appreciate you sticking around.
If you’re new… welcome, and thank you for being here.
See you in the next post.
~ John (That 80s Dude)
Thank you for supporting NOSTALGIA NATION ❤️
I love this, way to go.
You’re still going to be releasing the monthly zine though, right? I love the experience of reading that because it really takes me back to reading physical magazines from that time. Your design sense is great and I really enjoy seeing it used in that format.