To my Teens,

Can you believe the infamous, world-influencing slime was relevant roughly 10 years ago? Maybe this is our sign that we’re getting old. These days, kids may have Drunk Elephant and Glow Recipe, but we had slime. The skincare smoothies they make with their serums and moisturizers were our glue and borax. But regardless of what kids have now, why were we collectively happier back then? Yes times were simpler and we weren’t stressing about college, boys, friends, grades, you name it. But actually, what was it about having something tangible that was the bridge between friendships for many? Why does it seem like times got tougher as we stopped playing with slime?

The simple answer: slime wasn’t just a toy to us. In fact, it was noted to have a correlation with safety and relationship building. Teddy bears that kids grow attached to and develop feelings of “safety” was the same way we grew attached to slime. According to Mothercould.com the sensory play with slime was “a great way for your family to build relationships and foster a sense of safety.” In other words, slime provided an essential healthy childhood development 

Back at the height of slime’s time, most opened a “slime shop,” made a slime Instagram, or recorded slime videos. Everything held such a special place in our hearts: making, playing, trading, and exploring creativity through slime. It was deemed as our 19th century gold. But there’s more to it, us sharing our slime experience on the internet built a community. The anonymity of the internet helped those who may have struggled with social anxiety to have a bridge to friendships. From afar, us sharing our love on social media  can be seen as silly, but to think as slime evaporated, these friendships dried out as well.

So why did we stop? Undoubtedly, the number of conversation starters slime provided me is countless. And now in this screen-ager era more than ever, we need these conversations. RepKeicher.com shares that an average person spends nearly nine hours a day on screens and that teenagers are most vulnerable to this. Slime didn’t completely evaporate because I occasionally see slime videos on Instagram’s explore page and TikTok for-you page, and the comments are flooded with nostalgia. But why do we need to be nostalgic when we can just bring it back? For the better of our mental health and to embark on a journey of new friendships, let's grab our glue and borax, and start making some slime.