Yesterday, I, an 18-year-old college student, went on a Spongebob Squarepants marathon.
As a kid, I had a huge obsession with Spongebob. I owned an embarrassing amount of merchandise, and the show practically shaped my current sense of humor. Until the end of elementary school I probably watched every single episode. As I entered my teens, the show adapted a new animation style that resembles most brain rot YouTube videos, and I finally grew out of my phase.
It’s a little embarrassing to admit how much I care about a cartoon. At the end of the day, it’s a piece of media I would mindlessly consume. But in a way, it’s also a form of art that helped form the way I see the world. It’s something I would tune in to every morning before school and was consistent throughout my developmental stages. Whenever I was upset, I would unironically say, “Tartar sauce!” or “Barnacles!” One of my best friends since kindergarten and I bonded over our love for Spongebob. Coincidentally, we both go to Stevens, and both still love the show, and occasionally send each other videos of Spongebob and Patrick and go, “This is so us.”
I honestly hadn’t given much thought to the show in years until random clips started appearing on my TikTok For You page. I fell down a rabbit hole, and my entire feed is random moments of characters exploding, with theorists explaining why Squidward is a better friend than Patrick and compilations of funny moments.
I recently saw a TikTok explaining why this is happening to so many of us. Starting college is a significant change for everyone. One second, you’re in high school, and the next, you’re in a new environment with people you’ve never met before. Growing up, I would turn on the same channel every single morning and walk two minutes to elementary school. Today, I scroll through Instagram stories as I eat breakfast and get on a train for 40 minutes to get to college. College freshmen typically revisit their childhood interests to feel the same consistency and comfort they had growing up.
So yes, that’s why I spent my morning yesterday watching episodes from season one of Spongebob Squarepants.
The fun thing about revisiting old shows I used to love is getting to rewatch them all over again. It’s the one time I can use my horrible memory for good. Like most young adults, I loved the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I also read it two times because I forgot practically everything months after reading it for the first time. And last year, when the Disney+ series came out, I read it for the third time. Unsurprisingly, the only thing I remembered was Percy being the son of Poseidon and the names of major characters. I also rewatched the Harry Potter series recently and forgot about major character deaths. I won’t give spoilers, but I somehow forgot some major, plot-relevant deaths.
On the bright side, this makes it easier for me to appreciate the series as an adult. As a kid, I’m pretty sure I was only drawn to Percy Jackson because I thought fighting was cool. As a fresh adult, I appreciate how well-written the characters and universe are.
If there’s anything you should take away from all this, it should be that there’s no shame in enjoying things meant for kids. It can psychologically add consistency to your life, and you get to revisit the stuff you also love. Personally, I’m gonna make it my goal to start saying “holy fish paste!” more often.
