Over the past two decades, many people have been ditching their DVD, CD and vinyl collections for streaming services, their camera for a phone and magazine and newspaper subscriptions for endless scrolling online.

But this year is different. Not only are streaming services becoming more and more expensive, often increasing their prices yearly, but many are tired of seeing AI creep into areas that were once AI free. 

People want to own DVDs of their favorite movies so they can watch them over and over again without having to make sure a streaming service didn’t take it down or put it behind an ad-free paywall. Owning your own collection is especially nice when your favorite movies aren’t available anywhere. 

Where once people would buy and download individual songs or albums to their phone, now you can pay much less and still download anything you want and listen anytime you want. Except you don’t own it, and the minute you stop paying for the service, your downloads disappear. Now, people are buying CDs and even vinyl records to have a unique collection of music only they have. 

The trend of disposable, digital and even Polaroid cameras has been around for several years. It’s fun to get your camera out of your purse and take pictures of your friends instead of using your phone. Using a camera allows people to be more in the moment than if they took out their phone, often getting distracted with a text message, social media or something else. 

This “trend” of returning to physical media doesn’t just apply to media itself, but also to the hobbies people have. Many are trading in endless scrolling for reading, needlepoint, journaling, scrapbooking and more. Another trend of the “analog bag” has also been gaining traction over the past several months. 

Having an “analog bag,” or activity bag, is supposed to stop people from scrolling by having a bag of other hobbies ready for you to do. You fill the bag with whatever you would like to do instead of scrolling, with items such as word searches, coloring books and colored pencils, books, watercolor, or junk journaling supplies. 

While it may seem like a ‘trend,’ it’s more about nostalgia, slowing down and having control over the things you own in an ever-growing, fast-paced online world. If nothing else, this resurgence shows that even in the most digital era everyone doesn’t just want to be on their phone all the time, they want to be more in the moment. 

Categories: Arts & Entertainment