Craving An Analogue Existence: The Return Of Physical Media?

For years, the topic of smartphones and our love/hate attachment to them has been a frequent talking point between my friends and I. We often express our despair towards the  feeling that smartphones are stealing our time,wasting away our attention spans, and motivation alongside a notion of powerlessness to stop it. When Oxford University Press announced ‘brain rot’ as the 2024 word of the year, it was obvious the symptoms of a smartphone-absorbed society were felt on a societal scale. With trending hashtags such as “low tech lifestyle” and “digital minimalism,” could it be that we’ve reached a point of digital saturation and are now looking to backtrack?

The yearning for a release from digital detention has resulted in a growing social media trend, primarily on TikTok and YouTube, of ‘going analogue’. The analogue trend is (ironically) an online lifestyle movement in which the participant incorporates less digital media into their daily routine, in favour of physical media. This is largely an attempt to replace the smartphone as the primary medium for getting things done. For some, this is done through returning to physical media, through the likes of CDs and vinyl when listening to music, such as DVDs, CDs and vinyls. For others this is reading newspapers as opposed to being bombarded by news online, or using an alarm clock in an effort not to be face to face with their phone as soon as they wake up.

The reasons for this digital detox vary from person to person, however, there is a common theme. One of the universal experiences spoken about under the analogue hashtag is the cycle of becoming stuck in a doom scrolling session, lasting anywhere between thirty minutes to hours, every time we reach for our phones to do a simple task. Whether it’s the allure of a notification that draws us in, or muscle memory trained to open Instagram, what can start as simply putting on a song or noting something in your calendar becomes another 20 minutes added to your daily screentime. If not checked, this can become slightly self-paralysing, as time slips away from us and into our screens, neglecting our hobbies, interests, and priorities.

In my own effort to reduce my phone dependence and be more intentional about how I spend my time, I’ve recently ditched my smartphone for two new-yet-old forms of physical media. A planner and a CD player (and of course some CDs). My mum always had a planner when I was growing up, filled with pictures and souvenirs, alongside a record of her day-to-day life and the contacts of those she has known and maybe lost touch with over the years. As a child this was like a treasure trove to carefully tour– a beautiful and messy collage of moments from her life. Seemingly menial things which she kept in this planner became special because of the stories which were attached to them. This memory rekindled the appeal of a physical planner, for me. 

Functionally, the iPhone calendar worked perfectly, however, it lacked soul. Similarly, digital music subscription services provide me with a wealth of music at my fingertips, fit for whatever mood I’m in, but I missed the intentionality of curating a collection of albums which resonated with me, and the process of picking one out and listening to it from start to finish. Through their careful compilation,listening to albums in their original form allows for an uncovering of wider themes and meanings behind the music, something I have longed to do again.

This trend, like most online lifestyle trends, is certainly subject to romanticisation. It’s often interlinked with ‘nostalgia-core’ and a longing to return to the ‘simplicity’ of the 90s and early 2000s life. The main fans of nostalgia-core were actually babies or young children during the era over which they reminisce so fondly -so, is it a case of rosy spectacles? Many of the issues which plague society now were also present then, although now they are perhaps magnified by the strong presence of social media. 

There is also an inherently aesthetic element to this trend. Reducing digital media doesn’t have to mean a beautifully arranged vinyl collection or planners adorned with a dozen keyrings and washi tape (although they do look cool). It can be as simple as buying and reading a newspaper – practicality and intentionality is the crux of this trend. What’s more, subscribing to physical media does mean more to carry! Using a planner has now added extra weight to my already heavy bag. And although I have started collecting CDs, my digital music subscriptions are still my go-to during my commute, as carrying a CD case to London and back for me, is just too impractical. Similarly, TikTok users voiced queries about the practicality of exercising with a Walkman attached to their hip, or about being unable to replicate their digital music library with physical media forms.

My take on this trend is that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. I think that for most people, myself included, in order for it to be possible to incorporate into everyday life and stay meaningful, there has to be a bit of both. Smartphones provide great convenience, but in our ever-busy world, there’s an argument for taking a step back sometimes and choosing to be more deliberate in the way we do things.

• analogue
• digital detox
• Physical media