Metanostalgia
Nostalgia for nostalgia itself, or longing for the way an experience once made you feel.
Context
This is the informal sense I use in my original Backrooms introduction. The longing points toward an earlier feeling of remembering, such as missing the wonder an old photograph used to evoke.
The longing points toward how remembering once felt. Revisiting a familiar place can bring back memories of an earlier return to that place.
Examples
- You revisit a favorite game and find yourself missing the nostalgic feeling it gave you the last time you returned to it.