The World You Grew Up in No Longer Exists
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About
The World You Grew Up in No Longer Exists, originally The World You Were Raised to Survive in No Longer Exists, is a catchphrase used in memes expressing nostalgia for one's childhood, as well as in tradwave memes in which it is used to signal dissatisfaction with the current sociopolitical situation. The meme originates from a 2019 artwork by artist Damie Leigh, which is a captioned photograph of a young girl standing against the Manhattan skyline with the World Trade Center visible in the background.
Origin
On December 15th, 2019, artist Damie Leigh shared a photograph of a young girl standing in the Liberty State Park with Lower Manhattan's skyline in the background.[1] The photograph, likely made in the late 1970s or early 1980s, was captioned "The world you were raised to survive in no longer exists." The identity of the girl is unknown, although it has been confirmed that the girl is not Damie Leigh herself.[2]
In her post, the artist commented, "How do you grieve an entire paradigm." The post (shown below) received over 450 reactions and 4,500 shares on Facebook in six years.
Spread
The image saw viral spread through reposts on various sites in the 2020s, including viral reposts on iFunny, Facebook and Reddit. Notably, on November 9th, 2020, iFunny[3] user Dickhoits made a repost that gained over 51,000 smiles in five years.
On June 27th, 2020, traditionalist Instagram[4] account @worht__fighting_for posted a version of the image with the altered caption "The world you were born in longer exists." The post (shown below) garnered over 2,400 likes and also spread online through reposts.
The catchphrase has been reused in nostalgia and tradwave memes starting as early as January 2021. On January 12th, 2021, X[5] user @Uaitniu posted the earliest found meme that reused the caption, a post that received over 130 reposts and 1,100 likes in four years (shown below).
The catchphrase attained higher popularity in memes in 2024, appearing in various image macros and being used as a caption for memes.
For example, on December 20th, 2024, X account @MorningBrew shared four photographs of defunct store chains that received over 1,600 reposts and 6,000 likes in five months.
Related Memes
Reject Modernity, Embrace Tradition
Reject Modernity, Embrace Tradition is a phrase originating from conservative and traditionalist image macros that has been used in memes to humorously point out the change to an object or place over time, positioning the earlier version as superior.
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1] Facebook – Damie Leigh
[2] Facebook – In Loving Memory of Damie Leigh
[4] Instagram – worth__fighting__for
Related Entries 1 total
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