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Most Millennials are old souls striving for a successful, yet carefree existence not easily found in what many would call a difficult reality.

According to MediaPost’s “’90s Nostalgia: Millennials Long for Simpler Times,” by Melanie Shreffler, Millennials surprisingly long for the past… a time when they felt safe and secure. According to Shreffler, these were the “good old days.” For many, it’s hard to think that Millennials have anything less than a privileged life, but it’s quite the opposite. Millennials have spent most of their lives believing that they can do just about anything, an idea that their teachers, parents and friends instilled in them. But this group of mostly 20-somethings is learning that not everything is picture perfect.

Millennials are becoming adults in one of the worst economic slumps the U.S. has seen in decades. Instead of seeing the light at the end of a long tunnel of hard work, many Millennials are finding themselves unemployed. Many of them can’t even find their first job and are working for little or nothing just to gain experience for their resumes. Frequently feeling stressed and anxious, many are afraid to make their next move for fear that it will be the wrong one.

90s show "All That" brings back memories for Millennials

It’s no surprise that now Millennials are gravitating toward activities that bring them back to their childhood and youth – a time when everything was easy. They’re finding comfort in things that transport them back to that time, including indulging in television shows that make them feel as carefree as when they watched it for the first time. Stations like Nickelodeon have picked on this need. The network recently introduced a midnight programming block called “The ‘90s Are All That!” airing programs that were favorites of Millennials a decade ago. MTV is making a similar move by bringing back some of its more popular ‘90s shows with minor updates, including Beavis and Butthead and 120 Minutes.

Others have deemed a comeback for the decade, which is nice for the 20-something Millennials who are stuck between childhood and adulthood. Will going back in time give them the motivation to grow up?

And how do these trips down memory lane affect marketing initiatives aimed at the influential Millennial generation?

If consumers really said what they were thinking, marketing to them would be so much easier, wouldn’t it? Forbes.com recently debuted an app that takes us one step closer to getting inside the mind of the consumer. The facial expression reader app, developed by Affectiva and the MIT Media lab, asks participants to turn on their Web cams and watch video ads while the app gathers data about their facial expressions and reactions.

This technology was originally developed at MIT to help people who have difficulty reading emotion, but is now being commercialized with the potential to aid marketers with everything from their calls to action to analyzing and changing product offerings based on how users respond.

Imagine if every company with an online presence had the ability to implement this technology on its website. Businesses would essentially be able customize what each user sees. For example, say a user is watching a video with information about granite countertop “A,” and he smiles; the facial recognition technology analyzes that data and could send the user to a page with more information about that particular product or even directly to the purchase page. The same situation could apply if a user looks confused or discouraged; the app reads the expression and adjusts information accordingly by changing products, providing additional information or sending the user to a different page. With this technology, organizations will essentially be able to sell online almost the same way they would in a face-to-face setting. Being able to read an expression and adjust your “pitch” through a website would be revolutionary!

Additionally, the analytics that would result from this technology would be incredibly beneficial. Organizations would be able to gather data about what products, pages and/or information that viewers are most interested in, least interested in, most confused about, and where the drop off occurs. Being able to gather this data and build a better offering gives online business a new dimension. Every industry, including the home and building industry, could greatly benefit from the opportunity that this face recognition technology could provide.

It seems the more you have, the more you need. What if Americans traded in all of their “somethings” for nearly nothing? The recent “extreme-downsizing” trend is becoming a tempting challenge for many, and as their piles of possessions shrink, so do their homes.

In “Forget Marta Stewart—Try Martha Hubbard,” Ellen M. Kozak claims she is on the verge of tossing nearly all of her possessions and moving to a small space because the idea of less junk to dust, less floor space to sweep and less to account for is appealing. So appealing, in fact, that some are even setting a limit on the number of things they own. The 100 Thing Challenge, a grassroots movement in which people eliminate all but 100 of their possessions, is a minimalist trend that is proving successful for people across the country who are “overwhelmed with stuff.”

One reason for the purging of our possessions is the technological advances we’ve seen in the past few years. Electronic readers have replaced the books on our bookshelves and iPods have diminished our CD collections. Smart phones have virtually everything we need: camera, calculator, computer, alarm clock, and so much more including, of course, a phone. These things that took up space before are now all housed in one or two central systems. We don’t need alarm clocks, calculators, CD players or books if there’s an option to consolidate all into one device. These objects could even be considered irrelevant, especially to those adopting the “100 Thing” mentality.

But even if you do have more than 100 possessions and haven’t packed up your car and headed to warmer weather where you can toss your bulky winter wear and never worry about that snow shovel, the idea of having fewer items in smaller spaces is a continuing and noticeable trend, especially in the housing industry. According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the average size of a new- single family home declined from 2,521 square feet in 2007 – the peak of the housing boom – to 2,377 square feet in 2010. After the economic downturn in 2009, it seems everyone learned to cut out what they don’t need. People are now making the most of the space they do have; they’re remodeling their homes instead of moving into new ones.

Whether it’s an extreme elimination of items or a simple downgrade, it looks like the “bigger is better” mentality is on its way out. Much like we’ve seen the change from big gas guzzling SUVs and trucks to fuel-efficient eco-friendly cars, the change from excess to absence in possessions – and subsequently living spaces – is right behind.