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Something I've been thinking about lately given the 2016 season of South Park is kinda exploring this very topic. In the case of South Park one way they're doing it is with a fictional fruit called "Member Berries," which are talking berries that constantly reminisce about "nostalgic" things. For the most part the berries seem to come off as a good thing, making anyone who ingests them feel good as they remember the "good ol' days" which usually involves pop culture like the original Star Wars trilogy, or just past decades in general.

However it's also shown the berries have a "dark side" to them as sometimes the "nostalgic" things the berries might suddenly start talking about is stuff like "member when marriage was just between a man and woman?" or "member when this country wasn't so full of immigrants?" This basically shows nostalgia isn't really an inherently good thing, as for some people their idea of "the good ol' days" are things like "I miss when I could call a nigger a nigger and they couldn't use the same bathrooms as me" or "I miss when it was socially acceptable to bully people for being gay or trannies."

I've got a couple personal pros and cons of my own that differ from the way South Park is exploring the topic.

Pros:
-It can help give some temporary comfort when you're feeling down, as you're remembering things that filled you with joy
-It can help you re-discover things from years ago and you can either re-experience the same joy you felt back then, or maybe enjoy it more than used to

Cons:
-If you're too "stuck in the past" you might not be able to truly move on with your life
-Sometimes the opposite of my second "pro" might happen, where you re-explore something from years past and you suddenly find you don't like it anymore, making you question why you enjoyed it in the first place

People tend to remember the good times more than the bad if their current life circumstances are pretty grim.

During my mid 20s, and my late 20s, when I was at a bleak point in my own life, I kept looking back to the last year of my college, which was full of a lot of stress, turmoil, and many MANY long nights at the student computer labs, and all I can remember was how utterly fulfilled and happy I was. Despite the fact that I just had a horrendous breakup, and my portfolio was 6 months behind, and I was very lonely – investing a lot of time playing WoW or Wolfenstein Enemy Territory, I was struggling with a lot of personal problems.

Nostalgia does that, but it also makes you view your current situation as increasingly grim, and hopeless. It's good to remind yourself that with the good came also the bad.

On a grander scheme of things,

I think it expands on the millennial generation (especially the older segment), which graduated college into an abysmal job market, worthless degrees, an economy that forced far more experienced people to now compete for t he same entry-level jobs. It made us collectively dream of better days, the late 80s, and 90s, where things were so much care-free and easier. And our entire media of the time was centered towards the teenager/kid so much more as we became a prime marketing demographic.

The 2008' economic downturn severely affected our generation, and it gave a lot of leverage for political hacks to take advantage of it.

Nostalgia: a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.

Here are my opinions on the pros and cons based on this definition (including personal examples):

PROS

Nostalgic thoughts can improve the overall mood of an individual. It should be no secret that everyday life can sometimes get the better of us, and help us forget the things we cared about in our existence. When those "wistful affections for the past" are triggered into memory, they partially eliminate the dull routine of life, and can make the individual happy. Another pro of nostalgia is its ability to raise self-esteem. These longings have the potential to provide us with existential meaning. And, as Ms. Fortune states: "It can help you re-discover things from years ago and you can either re-experience the same joy you felt back then, or maybe enjoy it more than used to."

EXAMPLE

Video games have played a huge part in my existence. I remember playing Sonic 2 on the Genesis when I was 10 years old. Since that game heavily inspired me to delve deep into video game collecting, I come back to it to remember all the good times I had playing and beating it. The nostalgic thoughts of playing the 16-bit Genesis provide me with happiness. As Chewybunny states: "…it also makes you view your current situation as increasingly grim, and hopeless. It’s good to remind yourself that with the good came also the bad."

CONS

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as perfection in life. Nostalgia can easily blind the individual into rejecting, or downright refusing our current reality. Since the concept of endlessly progressing time constantly promotes change and new ideas into society, nostalgic thought can damage the individual from accepting the new. Therefore, nostalgia can be both an enhancing…and degrading thought process.

EXAMPLE

Once again, video games fueled my negative nostalgic thought process. When I play the older games from the past, I compare them to the new games we receive from developers today. Nostalgia gets in the way, and makes me refuse the changes and ideas newer games provide for us. Sure, there are many games out there are absolutely awful, but if I gave some of the other games a chance, then perhaps they will impress me even more than what the negative nostalgia tells me.

And those are my thoughts on the pros and cons of nostalgia.