Hoel referenced a tweet referring to the larger trend as "grey goo". I've thought of it as the "greying of reality" at past intervals, but "grey goo" really hits at the core of the issue. The goo sticks to a person, ever so slowly (yet steadily) impacting his perception of the world. Over time, it has a cumulative buildup and effect not unlike that of mercury.

Truly, you are correct. There is fast approaching a time (more like an era) where the vast majority of people, at some point or another, will be forced to disconnect from the web, or lose their minds. While I do understand that algorithms are a mirror of the user, however distorted it may be, I think that has been a big driver of the nostalgia trends one sees on social media. It's a coping mechanism used by a lot of people who sense, in varying capacities, that something has gone rather wrong. It's a reaching for substance. This is not to say that nostalgia has never existed before now, but rather that the trends are indicative of a much more public, unified, and shared desire for the past than would otherwise exist is this issue were not so widespread.

I, too, find it to be quite sad how the "grey goo" is becoming increasingly hard to avoid online. I suppose it's better in the old style forums about niche topics than it is on the main line social media sites. Perhaps, in all of this, that will be the silver lining.