Ah, nostalgia, the fond reminiscing of things that took place in our past. Memories of bygone days bathed in the golden light of fond reminiscence, and often just a touch of self-delusion or selective editing.

Sometimes, however, someone will remember something that happened only recently through the tender filter of long-ago nostalgia, only to be reminded by someone that it wasn't all that long ago that the event in question happened.

Or, alternatively, someone with a lot more past will listen with mild amusement, and possibly a touch of irritation, as a much younger person describes something that took place within the span of a couple of years as "so long ago". Indeed, the more elderly the person involved, the more they might reply with Elderly Ailment Rambling about some medical condition or another that has lasted longer than the time in question.

Another variation has someone deliberately invoke nostalgia as if things from their past are seemingly gone forever.

Typically Played for Laughs as a form of comedy beat, wherein someone will inevitably call out the fact that the nostalgia in question wasn't all that long ago. In fact, the shorter the time frame in question, the bigger the laugh involved.

Typically the person with the short-term Nostalgia Filter is a Cloudcuckoolander or a Bunny-Ears Lawyer, though in a pinch The Gadfly might deliberately invoke this For the Lulz.

Sometimes overlaps with I Remember It Like It Was Yesterday. May involve a Flashback, with humor proportional to how little time has passed between the event and the recall. Or, even funnier, a Flashback Fail, which shows that even in such a short time the character's memory has become distorted and rose-tinted.

Compare Low Count Gag and Unimpressive Progress Reveal for similar types of jokes. Compare with Viewers Are Goldfish, which is about gratuitous flashbacks to something the audience just saw—sometimes as a deliberate joke, sometimes because the writers really underestimate the audience's intelligence. Contrast Time Dissonance, where a Long-Lived character recounts things from long ago that happened just recently from their perspective.

Examples: