As a kid, I always romanticized my 20s. It seemed like a whimsical time, something out of a movie from the 90s or early 2000s, filled with the coolest clothes, matching shoes, parties with extravagant handmade invitations, and always having the most perfect hair.
Now that my 20s are here, it looks more like sweatpants, a rat’s nest of hair, and spending most of my evenings scrolling on TikTok. Until I stumbled upon a video that made me realize that most of Gen Z felt that same lack of whimsy coming into their 20s and had come up with a solution: Analog Girl Summer.
The concept of an analog girl is to enjoy slower-paced, creative, screen-free activities. Instead of using a phone to capture the moment, disposable or digital cameras will be used instead to curate the vintage vibe. They also emphasize the use of physical media: books, scrapbooks, colouring books, or any sort of craft to use as boredom busters instead of spending more time on their phones.
Embracing vintage media is far from a new trend, but the analog girl is. At its core, the analog girl summer is about embracing the little joys in life and discovering new hobbies in the digital age, when scrolling is so much easier to access, especially as the generation has seemingly become lazier post-pandemic.
From a vibe to a trend
According to an article published in the Amsterdam University Press by researcher Vivian Roese, the accessibility of social media has “[allowed] regular users to create media hypes” which can turn into trends over a short period of time. Meaning trends don’t depend on celebrities and are accessible to a wider variety of people.
The look of the analog girl trend isn’t much different than others over the past few years. Using a disposable or digital camera has been trending for years, especially to make your Instagram feed look more like your Pinterest board. Additionally, the whimsical long skirts and bows in the hair have been staples in most wardrobes of women in their late teens and early 20s for the past few years.
The analog bag changed the trajectory of this vintage vibe into a trend, with content creators making their own and urging their viewers to try it too. The concept has been featured in a variety of women’s magazines. Cosmopolitan describes the analog bag as “a tote filled with everything that reminds you there’s a world beyond your screen” because the whole concept is to fill it with “ things like journals, paperback novels, watercolour kits, puzzles, and more—basically, a return to hobbies that don’t require Wi-Fi.”
Once the physical analog bag was introduced, analog girl summer was born! Bringing your screenless activities to the park, the coffee shop, or even hosting a craft party with friends is what it’s all about, making these hobbies just as accessible as your phone.
Julia Ellis, a 20-year-old woman, is the prime demographic for this trend. She explains that creating an analog bag serves as “an excuse to have as many hobbies as possible, which feel way more fulfilling than doomscrolling.” She fills her analog bag with her “digital camera, stickers, a book, some small craft thing – think friendship bracelets and beads, maybe a crochet project or colouring pages – and a sudoku book.”
Barbie summer, BRAT summer, and Analog summer
Evidently, the analog girl can be categorized as an it girl trend that has taken over the internet for this summer and will go out of style afterwards. Teenage girls and young women tend to be the target audience for these summertime trends.
Psychology student at McGill University, Mariane Brochu, explains that “ young girls, especially, have always [felt the need] to fit into a category. [There’s a] struggle to be on our own and feel a need to fit into the wider group. These trends are just another way for young girls to fit into a category.”
However, the analog girl trend differentiates itself from others by emphasizing building better habits instead of fast fashion or timely activities. It’s not about going hyper-feminine or grungy, as we’ve seen in the past, but instead finding new hobbies and putting your phone down. If someone puts books in their analog bag, that’s great, but you don’t need to if that’s not the type of activity that interests you. Overall, it allows you to fit in while developing new habits and staying true to your interests.
Go analog, but prove it… online?
Like all trends, analog girl summer is constantly in online content. Whether it be hosting a scrapbook night or an at-home market with friends, countless videos are being posted online of these screen-free events with the analog girl tag. The trend that promotes going screen-free, maintaining such an online platform, has received criticism for its paradoxical nature.
In Roese’s article, she explains that “[taking] one message and [posting] it to 1000 subscribers. Apart from the fact that it is very unlikely to reach all of the 1000 readers due to filtering algorithms, in the best of cases, your message will be read by an audience of 1000 people. If this audience had only 100 followers each and shared or retweeted it, your message would be read – again, in the best of cases – by 100 000 people, meaning that the idea of developing screen-free habits will reach more people if it’s shared on social media.
Using social media to promote going analog serves “a tangible reminder to slow down, romanticize your day, and rediscover what it’s like to be fully present,” according to Cosmopolitan. Being an online trend doesn’t change the fact that those promoting it are cutting their scrolling time, but it opens the idea to others.
It also shows that the trend doesn’t need to be all or nothing. A person can make an analog bag, spend their days offline, but still enjoy content creation and social media. This makes the trend feel more reachable as it’s difficult to cut out the internet completely in this digital age.
Change your life this summer, make an analog bag!
The analog bag is whatever you choose to make it. If you’re craftier, fill it with all the supplies you may need while out of the house. If you’re goal-oriented, fill it with a project you would like to finish before the end of summer. The analog bag is yours to create; it’s about creating new habits as opposed to achieving a specific look.
Sierra Campbell, the content creator credited as the inventor of the analog bag, told Marie Claire magazine that the trend took off because “[Gen Z] tired of the lack of slow creativity, personal connection, and all the good things that make us human. Creating the analog bag was my way of saying, I don’t care how phone-dependent we are—there [must] be another way to reclaim our full lives outside of a screen.”
With summer right around the corner, it’s the perfect time to go analog. Find new hobbies, start new projects, and romanticize your time instead of spending it scrolling.