It feels like every few years, something ‘vintage’ is coming back into style. Suddenly, people born in the age of MP3 and who grew up with Spotify are spending tens of dollars on vinyls. Young girls have embraced the aesthetic of letter sending, using washi tape and scrapbooking materials to handcraft the perfect letter for a pen pal they might've met on social media. Calling myself out with this one, people will spend over $30 to buy and develop film while having a phone in their pocket that takes pictures. Quickly, these habits can be chalked up to the trend-cycle. Vinyls are becoming popular in a decade littered with 80s nostalgia, or film is becoming popular amongst artsy, pretentious people. However, these old mediums becoming popular amongst the new generation can reveal our desire to break away from our never-ending digital life. 

There is real movement behind Gen-Z embracing analog technologies. A survey done by Key Productions reported that 59 per cent of the 18-24 age group surveyed listen to either vinyl, CD or cassette at least once a week, more than any other age group surveyed. Companies are creating phones that purposely have limited features, such as the Boring Phone, which was successful enough that the company is releasing a second version. I have multiple friends of my own who own flip-phones to bring when going out, so they spend less time scrolling while with friends. 

Personally, my love for analog comes with film photography. I took my first roll in 2021 after seeing a TikTok about it. After the first time, I could not figure out how I loaded the film the first time and then I proceeded to shelve my camera for three years. However, once I picked my camera up again, I fell in love and could not stop taking photos (to the detriment of my wallet). Personally, what I enjoy about film is two things: the look of the photo itself and the waiting. I take pleasure in taking pictures and not knowing how they turned out, and having to wait for not only the roll to be done, but to get it developed. The day my roll gets developed and sent to me, it feels like I’m unwrapping a present. Ultimately, I think this is one of the main underlying draws to analog. Living in an age when not only is everything instant with the advancement of AI, you can quite literally create things in seconds, there is a feeling that this is not sustainable and healthy.  

Even better is the fact that it's art that draws us to these older forms of technology. I doubt anyone would really find it enjoyable to use a computer from the 1980s to do their work, but with art, there is a desire to connect with what we are creating and consuming. With records and the grooves, you can elect to spend however many dollars to be confined to the songs within the album. You are letting the artist know how much you value their work, and there is something peaceful about listening to a record instead of just pressing play on your phone. Letters are inherently more personal than text messages, and there are apps that allow you to have a film feel to your iPhone photos by using filters. 

Each year, we are finding new ways to push ourselves forward into the future. Since the industrial revolution, the modern landscape has been paved with innovations. We are at a point now in 2025 where it feels like too much, because in becoming so connected, we have disconnected ourselves from physical reality. There is no way to completely escape that, and I doubt many young people want to do that, but at the end of the day, what binds us more than anything else is art. Even with the advent of AI being able to conjure up anything, people want the labors and the inconvenience of analog technology. Our love for these processes still runs deep within us, and slowly, we can bring it back to the mainstream.