"Even though nostalgia hits every generation, it seems awfully early for 28-year-olds to be looking back. One possible explanation, say authors who focus on generational identity, is the impact of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The political and economic climate of the late ’90s had been as soothing as a Backstreet Boys ballad: no wars, unemployment as low as 4 percent, a $120 billion federal surplus."

"Mr. Taylor, who was a sophomore in high school on that day, sees the appeal of the Blink-182 reunion tour (“part of Blink’s allure was their carefree nature”), and he is personally nostalgic for portable CD players. “Buying my first Discman was huge,” he said, “like getting an iPod for kids now.”

Other older members of Gen Y expressed similar longing for late ’90s popular culture like AOL buddy lists and compact discs — the once-dominant music medium now in its declining years.

WHILE boomers or Gen Xers might have no idea what the phrase “classic Nickelodeon” implies, to anyone in his or her 20s, it means fondly remembered cable tween shows like “All That” and “Clarissa Explains It All” (whose star, Melissa Joan Hart, recently showed off her weight loss on the cover of People magazine)."

please read and cry at the death of your youth!