Why is everyone going analogue

I want to make a video about one topic that just came up to my mind, which is why, just recently, everyone is going analog. By going analog I mean going offline, trying to swap a bunch of tools that we use day to day with old ones, analog ones. Analog, to me at least, is things that feel much more like no touch screens, buttons, things that have some sort of friction, and the goal is to experience the thing itself much more and to be present.

I think the entire goal of going analog is to start feeling more the thing we're using. The gadget: the iPod instead of Spotify, the flip phone instead of your iPhone, an old BMW, a classic car, instead of an EV, for example.

There are other people who went too far, where it even became some sort of a style. But I won't talk about those people, because I feel like that's just something else. That's swag, or style, rather than actually doing it for the purpose of maybe becoming present or feeling much more alive. It's a fashion, a how-you-look thing. That's a totally different kind of analog. It's much more performative, I would say. Performative in the sense of, oh, I would make a post about it on Instagram and then just do it for a few days and then go back. Or people who literally post on Instagram, using their iPhone, a PSP photo. It doesn't make any sense. The reason you went analog is to not use the smartphone.

So, first of all, why recently do we see so many people talk about it? Just saying, you need to go offline, this changed my life. I even made a video about it. I didn't make a video about going analog, I just made a video about how removing a smartphone changed my life. That's totally true. And why do we start to see these videos recently, or more people talking about it?

First of all, not so many people do it. You might think they do it, but it's just a bubble. A bubble in the sense that you actually see what you like, or what you're interested in. So if you watched an analog video, you will start to see another analog video, because that's simply how social media works. If you have an interest in something, it picks it up and shows you a bunch of other people doing the same thing, and you start to think, oh, this is actually a ton of people doing this, I need to look into this. And the reality is there are probably a few hundred people who did it in the entire world. So just be careful about that.

It's also hard as fuck. Trust me, going analog is really painful. It's a daily thing. It's friction. There is no way for me, even if I try to go that way, there is no way for me to experience 2007 again. It doesn't exist, simply for the reason that everyone else lives in 2026 and 2027. I might live in 2007, or 2006, or 1999, or whatever you want to call it, but everyone else lives in now. Meaning the world is optimizing for now and the future, not the past. Which means people who try to go that route experience friction, they encounter problems, because everyone else is on their smartphone.

I'll give you a simple example, the most basic example I can think of. I want to go to the gym. If you want to enter the gym, you need to scan a QR code. Well, everyone has a smartphone that can read a QR code, but I don't. I have a flip phone. So I have to ask the people at the counter at the gym, every freaking time I go, to open the door for me, because I don't have a smartphone that can scan a QR code. I even tried to print it, but it didn't work. Small things like this, but very annoying.

I'll give you another example, and this one is much funnier. This one is actually crazy. GPS. GPS is insanely great as an invention. This is where you think, damn, GPS is actually really important in life. When you try to go to a place and you don't have a GPS or a smartphone, especially in a place you don't know. I move a lot, and I moved recently to a new city which I kind of don't know, and there is no public transportation because it's a small city, well, small compared to bigger cities. If I want to go somewhere, there is no GPS. There is no way for me to actually know where something is. And one day I realized I just had to print a map. I printed Google Maps from my Mac, essentially. And while walking and looking at the paper map, I was looking for the tracker on the paper. I was literally looking, like in Minecraft, where you have the map and there is your marker on it and it's dynamic. I was expecting the same on a real map. It's crazy. That's the most hilarious thing ever. But yeah, this is another one. GPS, insanely important, and you realize it when you don't have it, especially in a place where I don't have a map and I don't have a compass either. So it's very hard.

But the thing here is, I embrace those challenges. I say to myself, well, it's fine. Going to the counter and asking people to open the door for me is actually a kind of challenge to me, and it pushes me to actually talk to people. Same with the map, I ask for directions. That's how I talk myself into it. I'm trying to say, well, it's totally fine, I know there is friction, but it's worth it, I can live with that.

But yeah, it's really hard. Going analog, the reality of it, at least how I see it myself: zero internet, switching to old cars as well, all of it is really hard. You might think it's trending, you might think everyone is doing it, but no. You only figure this out once you do it. Either it's the real thing and you realize it's totally not worth it, maybe, depending on your case. Or you realize another thing, which is that it's just a new way of seeing another consumerism trend, where we got tired of buying the things we have today, so we might as well buy old stuff. So I would say just be careful. Make sure you know what you're watching. Maybe even this video.

So yeah, that's basically it, I just wanted to share my thoughts on that. I feel like I've started seeing a bunch of videos, or content. You might ask how I see it. Well, I'm not always offline. I would be lying if I said I'm offline all the time, because I'm not. I'm on the internet because I work there. My work is there. So I check the internet when I'm working. And obviously me as well, I might be making this video because of a bubble, because I started to see a lot of people talk about it, and I said, well, I might as well make a video, because some other people might think the same thing and can't see it. So yeah, that's basically it. Anyway, peace.