It’s much easier to be silly as a child, especially in pictures. The crumpled faces almost come as second nature once someone places a camera in front of you. According to clinical psychologist Dr. Daniel Glazer, it's because children don’t have the same filter on their emotions as adults do.
“(Children) also aren't yet capable of self-regulation (social self-monitoring); therefore, the photos capture pure emotion,” Dr. Glazer told Bored Panda. “Their clothing doesn't match. They're sitting in an odd position. That's the "authenticity" part of those images – the lack of ‘performance.’”
Dr. Glazer adds that most adults who are extremely sensitive to social norms may perceive such behavior as “funny or ridiculous.”
But why do funny and relatively embarrassing childhood photos eventually become cherished with age? According to clinical psychologist Dr. Eleni Nicolaou, it’s primarily because adults have a reflection of themselves from before social expectations existed.
“We refer to this as a nostalgic defense against present-day stressors of adults,” Dr. Nicolaou explained. “Original embarrassment is filtered out by our brains. That shame of our youth we put in its place, our strength of having lived to old age”.
Childhood photos, whether of ordinary people or famous names, are instant viral content. You can count on people to gravitate toward them and pass them around. According to Dr. Nicolaou, it’s because people yearn to be free of the online masks they wear every day.
“On the spaces between our desired poses, relatability flourishes. Our past awkwardness is a sign of safety in the new world,” she explained.
Meanwhile, Dr. Glazer says sharing childhood images can serve as a “micro-healing process.” As he noted, silly photos from being a kid provide a sense of “acceptable vulnerability" through “embarrassment.”
“We all recognize our own version of awkwardness within the photo,” Dr. Glazer said. “When we laugh at the previous versions of ourselves, we are simultaneously tempering our current self-perceptions.”
