Podcast, Radio, Video, and Media Interviews
Clay Routledge has appeared on numerous television and radio programs and podcasts such as NBC Today, Science Friday, NPR Morning Edition, Hidden Brain, Cheddar News,The Strategic Financial Leadership Podcast, Economics For Entrepreneurs, The Human Progress Podcast, and The Art Of Manliness. He has appeared in a number of documentary programs including The Overview from NBC Peacock, The Benefits Of Being Nostalgic from BBC Reel, and Cursed Films from Shudder.
Clay’s work has also been featured by many media outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Financial Times, The Washington Times, CBS News, NBC News, ABC News, BBC News, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, National Geographic, Vox, Slate, HGTV, Men’s Health, Wired, Forbes, The Hill, and many others.
Future Dimensions: The Podcast from Mercedes-Benz
#10 What if memories shaped our future?
Available from November 16, 2023
Cheddar News
The Psychology of Nostalgia
Streamed March 22, 2022 • 11:50 am
Brett McKay and Clay Routledge
The Art of Manliness
Podcast #353: Nostalgia — Its Benefits and Downsides
Recorded November 2, 2017 • Last updated: September 29, 2021
The Overview | NBC Peacock
Remember When? Episode 2 - 15 mins
Gadi Schwartz examines how nostalgia plays a vital role in our personal lives.
Streamed January 7, 2021
BBC Reel
The Benefits of Being Nostalgic
Streamed April 2, 2021
Hidden Brain with Shankar Vedantam
The Time Machine: How Nostalgia Prepares Us For The Future
Aired May 29, 2020 • 8:46 PM ET
NDSU Student and Clay Routledge
NBC TODAY Show — Jenna Bush Hager Reports
People turn to nostalgia in times of stress, research shows.
Aired October 31, 2018
As Quoted
35 Nostalgic Posts From This Online Community That Perfectly Encapsulate Years Gone By
BY ROBIN SMITH & GABIJA PALŠYTĖ, BORED PANDA • OCT 25, 2024
Ever felt, smelt, seen or heard something and been instantly transported back to “the good old days”? I know I have. Memories of the past can make us feel sad, or warm and fuzzy inside. They might even make us wish we were still little... living in a carefree time, unbothered by the stress of adulting, and the chaos of social media.
"I've talked to artists, designers, filmmakers, entrepreneurs, and business leaders aspiring to create and innovate. All of them have nostalgic inspiration, meaningful memories that give them inspiration," revealed Routledge. "People who think nostalgia keeps us stuck in the past or serves as a barrier to new ideas don't understand that a healthy dose of nostalgia often plays a critical role in the creative process."
Work Shift: Amazon’s RTO Reveals Power and Peril of ‘Executive Nostalgia’
BY MATTHEW BOYLE, BLOOMBERG • OCT 8, 2024
Revisiting memories doesn’t just bring comfort, Routledge told me. It can improve decision making and even, in some cases, keep employees from quitting — particularly those experiencing burnout.
The problem, he says, is that when CEOs like Jassy wax nostalgic to justify returning to the office full-time, they’re leaning on their own individual nostalgia, rather than that of the entire organization. They’re not using the power of nostalgia constructively, he says.
“Their nostalgia is not a fabrication — there is something in there,” he says. “But be more intentional. Get other perspectives. There are places to find alignment.”
Instead of just returning to the past, Routledge advises, “it’s better to look to the past to find ideas about doing something new.”
Opinion: Think Life Just Keeps Getting Worse? Try Being Nostalgic — for the Present
BY AMANDA MONTELL, LOS ANGELES TIMES • APR 10, 2024
Across the spectrum of politics and circumstances, as we struggled to handle our unrest with modern life, we dreamed about times we never knew.
A Pew survey from 2023 found that the majority of Americans believe life was better 50 years ago. “If you ask that question abstractly, people respond that way,” research psychologist Clay Routledge told me. But if you start asking more specific questions such as, “Would you give up today’s medical advancements to go back 50 years? If you’re raising a daughter, would you trade all the progress in women’s rights and opportunities?” most respondents walk back their answers. It turns out, they realize, life is objectively better in the present.
What the Suburb Haters Don’t Understand
BY JULIE BECK, THE ATLANTIC • APR 2, 2024
The homogeneity of the suburbs has an upside: If strip malls and subdivisions remind you of home, you can feel nostalgic almost anywhere.
“People make a place, and that’s what nostalgia reveals,” Routledge said. Research on what makes people attached to a place shows that the social ties associated with it are a huge factor. In a survey that Routledge did last year, he found that almost three-quarters of Americans reported that their nostalgic memories were associated with close friends and family, as opposed to experiences they had with strangers or alone. Nostalgia for place, it seems, is really nostalgia for people.
This Year's Super Bowl Ads Will Be a Nostalgia Fest. Here's Why All That Nostalgia Is Actually Good for Us, According to Science
BY JESSICA STILLMAN, INC. • FEB 7, 2024
Science has looked into this question and found a comforting answer. It turns out that nostalgia is actually good for you.
Nostalgia, Routledge explains, is often about comforting ourselves in anxious or difficult times. When we feel worried about the future, retreating to the pleasures and certainty of an idealized past soothes us. But do we get stuck just looking back with rose-colored glassesand avoid looking ahead?
Routledge rounds up a ton of evidence that the answer to this question is a firm no. "Studies have found that nostalgic reflection increases feelings of inspiration, encourages an optimistic attitude about the future, improves self-esteem, boosts creativity, and fosters the motivation to pursue important life goals," he sums up.
No, I Don’t Want to Know How Many Burritos I Ate This Year
BY TRAVIS M. ANDREWS, WASHINGTON POST • DEC 29, 2023
You are no longer a human being. You are a series of data points, a compilation of consumer choices.
This, for the most part, began in 2016, when Spotify began sending out the annual Spotify Wrapped, a report showing what artists and songs you listened to the most that year — along with how many minutes you tuned in. It automatically created a playlist of those songs.
“They automated a music journal for you,” says Clay Routledge, the author of “Past Forward: How Nostalgia Can Help You Live a More Meaningful Life.” This year, Routledge spent an impressive amount of time playing “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,” according to his Nintendo year-end report.
“It’s probably all harmless fun,” Routledge says. “It’s fun to be like, this is the music I listen to. Or, I played 119 hours of ‘Tears of the Kingdom.’”
Feeling Nostalgic This Holiday Season? It Might Help Boost Your Mental Health
BY AMY NOVOTNEY, AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION • DEC 18, 2023
For many, the holidays bring back memories of simpler times, along with the carefree feelings of being younger, with fewer of the worries and stress that accompany responsibilities. The music, the food, the gatherings with family and friends can all trigger feelings of nostalgia, helping us think about our past and the special moments we’ve experienced.
“After studying this topic for more than 20 years, I’ve discovered that nostalgia actually helps people move forward,” said social psychologist Clay Routledge, PhD, vice president of research and director of the Human Flourishing Lab. “It makes people more optimistic about the future, it boosts well-being, it reduces anxiety, it increases positive mood and self-esteem and meaning in life. But more than that, it makes people thankful, and it energizes them.”
6 Ways to Tap Into Nostalgia—and Why You Should
BY ANGELA HAUPT, TIME MAGAZINE • SEPT 29, 2023
For centuries, scholars and medical professionals continued to assume nostalgia was detrimental. But that understanding has evolved, and more recent research, including studies led by Routledge, suggests that actually, yearning for the past has an upside…increasing our ability to offer emotional support.
For example, someone might say: “When I was a kid, I spent summers with my grandmother; she’s no longer with us, and that makes me sad. But I cherish that time in my life, and it inspires me to create memories with my own family.” “It’s looking backwards,” Routledge says, “but it's because you want ideas for how to move forward.”
‘Look, Muffy, a Book for Us.’ The 1980s Preppy Handbook Is Again a Must-Read.
BY JOHN CLARK, WALL STREET JOURNAL • AUG 27, 2023
Psychologist Clay Routledge says the book’s popularity fits perfectly with the science of nostalgia he has studied for two decades. In a recent survey he conducted about online culture, the majority of respondents wanted to go back to a time when everyone wasn’t so plugged in—“a time when Americans got along better.”
People Are Sharing Pics Of Life 100 Years Ago, And They Might Put Things In A New Perspective
BY IGNAS VIEVERSYS, EGLĖ BLIABAITlĖ & ILONA BALIŪNAITĖ, BORED PANDA • APR 21, 2023
But can nostalgia explain why many of us enjoy an occasional dip in century-old photo albums? According to Clay Routledge, a leading expert in the psychology of nostalgia, to whom Bored Panda spoke to better understand our collective fascination with this bittersweet emotion, it most likely can.
“Our personal stories are part of a broader social and cultural fabric that link people across generations. For instance, the movies from my childhood that are connected to my personal nostalgia have characters and themes that were inspired by the creative works of previous generations,” Routledge said, giving examples of the timeless classics, Star Wars and The Terminator.
Videos of High School Life in Decades Past Stir Nostalgia and Debate
“High school in 2002 looked so chill,” said a caption on a post of a video that has accrued more than 66 million views on Twitter.
BY UWA EDE-OSIFO, NBC NEWS • APR 13, 2023
Clay Routledge, a psychologist who has studied nostalgia, said that people are sentimental toward the past because retrospection provides a degree of comfort.
“The past has already unfolded. So there’s something stabilizing about looking backwards,” he added.
Clutter Can Be Good for Your Mental Health
BY LYNDA LIN GRIGSBY, SHONDALAND • JAN 13, 2023
In turbulent or uncertain times, nostalgia can be a stabilizing force as well as a compass for the future, according to Clay Routledge, a psychologist and director of the Human Flourishing Lab. Nostalgia can also serve as a reminder that difficult times are temporary. “It’s a way to use your past to help you move towards your future,” Routledge says. “It’s a boost of confidence.”
How TV T
ook us Back to Beloved Fantasy and Sci-fi Realms in 2022
BY SCOTTIE ANDREW, CNN • MON DEC 26, 2022
…franchise storytelling can be “psychologically useful,” especially during periods of stress and uncertainty, said Clay Routledge, a researcher and director of the Human Flourishing Lab at the Archbridge Institute, a policy think tank in Washington DC, where he studies nostalgia.
“When the world feels chaotic, or we are experiencing a lot of personal or societal distress, these shared stories help stabilize us,” Routledge said. “Our entertainment interests can help us take advantage of the psychological and motivational power of nostalgia,” which can make us feel “energized, optimistic and socially connected.”
Nostalgia and Thinking About the Future Can Be Good For You
BY BRITTANY EDELMANN, DISCOVER • DEC 3, 2022 at 8:00 AM
“When we're anxious about the future, the uncertainty of the future — or the certainty — we can turn to the past as a way of being like, ‘Well, I've had a good life, I've had meaningful experiences’ and you know, that's kind of reassuring,” Routledge says.
McDonald’s Adult Happy Meal Mayhem Shows America’s Selfish Need for Nostalgia Right Now
BY CHLOE BERGER, FORTUNE • NOV 13, 2022 at 7:00 AM CST
But the mayhem over all these Happy Meals are never really about the Happy Meal, says Clay Routledge, a psychologist who specializes in nostalgia. “The Happy Meal is an effort to get to something else,” he tells Fortune. “There is something you want in life, and a Happy Meal is a way to kind of grab onto it.”