Chronically Offline: Cure or Consumerism Trend?

Art by Isabella Mendez

Chronically offline is the new online trend. Your phones are begging you to put them down and dust off the book on your shelf. And it’s not just your phones. You can say goodbye to your laptops, streaming services, and digital clocks. Digital is degrading. That is the message being pushed in the last few months surrounding screen time and the efforts to demolish it. Goodbye 2025 clutter and hello to filling that space with camcorders, CD players, Walkmen, iPods, DVD players, analog clocks, and notebooks. 

What is analog? A simple definition could be engaging in an activity that is not online. My question is, why are we leaning toward the analog lifestyle? Is it really an attempt to come together and improve oneself, or is it just a passing trend that encourages more consumerism? 

Analog, is it a cure or a consumerism trend?

One might lean toward analog as a cure for the online epidemic, stemming from an individual lack of control, modern-day surveillance, and the human emotional disconnect we all feel the weight of. Social media, once a digital scrapbook, is now a complex algorithm mastered by large monopolies. Journaling, scrapbooking, zines, and flyers let people express their opinions without the constructive insertion from tech lords, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. Fast-paced media, dangerously mimicking the structure of slot machines, feels comforting due to the trust the producer and the consumer put in it to curate the perfect leisure time. The consumer fails to recognize the little control they actually have in the matter; Analog offers consumers full control over choosing what they wish to consume and when, and even leads to entertainment that can be physically shared by many. There’s no doubt that the increase in digital media has had a tangible impact on human connections. Introducing analog to your life could be the secret gateway to genuine human connections, that is, if social media influencers can push it onto enough people. 

Analog could easily be seen doing what trends always do: recycle culture, patterns, media, fashion, music, etc., from the past. The incoming analog trend doesn’t seem too far off,  just a promotion of old technology trying to seem new and original, but also classic and timeless at the same time. Your favorite influencers telling you to ditch your smartphone (home of many tools) and buy analog products are ultimately asking you to indulge in unnecessary collection culture, rather than simply deleting pesky social media apps off your phone. Collection culture, not only subjected to the wealthy, but undeniably a money pit, is being slapped over analog media in the name of necessity. It’s up to us to decide when a tool is necessary and when a tool is unnecessary. 

The next time social media feels heavy to you, I encourage the distance. Getting off our screens is a good thing. Developing hobbies is a good thing. Falling victim to trends that only further promote consumerism, however, should be avoided at all costs. 

Emma Stallings 

Art by Isabella Mendez