Screens: Is this the year of ‘going analog’?
The always-on generation may be “falling out of love with technology,” said Jessica Grose in The New York Times. A growing number of teens are taking breaks from social media, swapping smartphones for “dumb” phones, and “pushing back against tech use in their schools.” In polls, nearly half of teenagers say social media has had a negative effect on their generation, and while they still rely on it for socializing with friends, they increasingly view being “extremely online” as “a depressing way to live, and they want a future that involves more embodied activity and real-life connection.”
Depending on the survey, between 60% and 75% of teens also “support cellphone restrictions” in schools. Their relationship with tech could deteriorate further with artificial intelligence, about which there is “a lot of uncertainty.” What is certain is that many teens want to resist an “establishment” that is devaluing “their own creative contributions and humanity.”
Young Americans are replacing their devices with “analog” hobbies, said Megan Sauer in CNBC.com, and businesses are noticing. Sales of retro products like “rotary phones, needlepoint kits, and embroidery services” are up for the first time in years. With Gen Z leading the way, roughly 75% of adults said they did at least one crafting project last year, up from 62% in 2019, according to Mintel research. A doll house and miniature figurine shop in New York City has seen a surge of young clients flocking into the store for “tiny Labubu keychains, Pez dispensers, and mock Eames chairs.” Some tell the owner, Leslie Edelman, “I’ve seen you on TikTok.”
A growing number of social media influencers are counterintuitively pushing more people “to kick the digital habit,” said Karen Garcia in the Los Angeles Times. The influencers’ goal isn’t to get followers to renounce technology entirely—that wouldn’t be good for business—but to help screen addicts wean themselves off “constant connectivity” and “reclaim their time.” It isn’t “the first time that people have tried to exit the online world,” but this trend may be different because of how it is being linked with wellness and mental health.
Boomers are the “real iPad babies,” said Sophia Solano in The Washington Post. While teens are returning to real-world hobbies, “grandma and grandpa can’t seem to stop scrolling.” Social media use among people 65 and older has grown from 11% in 2010 to 45% in 2021, while their time spent on YouTube nearly doubled from 2023 to 2025. The children and grandchildren are noticing. Some are worried that the devices are becoming a “constant companion,” and their parents are “slipping quietly into screen addiction” that keeps them couch-bound and isolated. Parental controls are a useful program to reduce screen time for kids. But who is enforcing grandparent controls?