--- title: Why We Always Think the Past Was Better | daily.dev description: A UX design student reflects on how studying user experience shifted their focus from products to people. The central insight is that nostalgia isn't about... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/why-we-always-think-the-past-was-better-d9gupl8b3 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Why We Always Think the Past Was Better | daily.dev og:description: A UX design student reflects on how studying user experience shifted their focus from products to people. The central insight is that nostalgia isn't about... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/why-we-always-think-the-past-was-better-d9gupl8b3 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/D9GUpL8b3.png og:image:alt: Why We Always Think the Past Was Better og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Why We Always Think the Past Was Better **[Medium](https://daily.dev/sources/medium_js)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A UX design student reflects on how studying user experience shifted their focus from products to people. The central insight is that nostalgia isn't about missing the past itself, but the emotions attached to it — memory preserves feeling, not reality. This perspective extends to understanding human behavior more broadly: every reaction, habit, and opinion has a history behind it. The post argues that great design, and great empathy, begins with curiosity about why people think and feel the way they do. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [How can nostalgia improve UX engagement?](https://daily.dev/posts/how-can-nostalgia-improve-ux-engagement--xukcrdp3a) · LogRocket · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [What the UX Community Taught Me: Design Starts With People, Not Pixels](https://daily.dev/posts/what-the-ux-community-taught-me-design-starts-with-people-not-pixels-8kgcmzuyw) · Medium · 5 upvotes · 0 comments - [Why the Best Experiences Never Feel Like Change](https://daily.dev/posts/why-the-best-experiences-never-feel-like-change-kkotqhho5) · Medium · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#startup](https://daily.dev/tags/startup), [#ux](https://daily.dev/tags/ux) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/why-we-always-think-the-past-was-better-d9gupl8b3) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Why We Always Think the Past Was Better","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-we-always-think-the-past-was-better-d9gupl8b3","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-we-always-think-the-past-was-better-d9gupl8b3"},"datePublished":"2026-07-18T07:30:25.621Z","dateModified":"2026-09-13T19:27:34.002Z","description":"A UX design student reflects on how studying user experience shifted their focus from products to people. 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