Gen Z is craving simpler times and simpler tech.
There has been a recent trend of Gen Z pursuing analog technology. They’ve been buying up flip phones, old iPods, Polaroids and record players. They’re also picking up non-digital hobbies, like knitting.
“They’re buying the flip phones, they’re using film cameras. Nostalgia may have sparked the trend, but it’s the benefits,” Dr. Don Grant, a media psychologist, said. “It started as nostalgia, this whole return to the analog deal, but it’s sticking because it feels good.”
Part of the movement comes from screen-addiction awareness. Sales for Brick, a device that locks phones to prevent users from doomscrolling, has had a 600% increase in sales year over year, the New York Post reported.
“I have my Brick on a schedule so it automatically locks me out at 10 p.m. so I can’t stay up doomscrolling. Then, it unlocks at 8 a.m. so doomscrolling can’t be the first thing I do in the morning,” one user says. “I think young people are realizing that phones might actually be the problem, but we’re also so addicted that it’s hard to do the right thing — putting our phones down more — so then we don’t and we just keep scrolling.”
Since 2022, time spent on social media platforms has declined, CNBC reported.
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Jason Dorsey, president of the Center for Generational Kinetics, said, “We’re seeing that a group of Gen Z [and millennials] is choosing to leave social media entirely, and probably a larger group that’s choosing just to limit social media as they regain more of what they’re trying to find: balance and security and safety in their life.”
Purchases for flip phones among users ages 18 to 24 increased 148% between 2021 and 2024, according to a 2024 report from the peer-reviewed Partners Universal Innovative Research Publication.
It’s not just old tech that Gen Z wants, but the craving of a different era — with clothes to match. Thanks to the nostalgia movement, thrift stores are more popular than they’ve ever been. Thrift sales are 22% higher this year than they were last year, NBC News reported.
Gen Z thrifts more than any other generation and reports saving $289 a month through thrifting. Millennials say they save $160, Gen Xers say $134 and Baby Boomers $41, USA Today reported.
GWI found that more than one-third of Gen Z say they are nostalgic for the 90s, despite being born in the 2000s. Over half of millennials feels the same. They think of it as a care-free time when tech wasn’t too advanced, GWI said.
Whether it’s the Y2K feels, a safer, screen-free space or an attraction to what’s simpler, it’s clear that today’s tech and culture are proving to be a little much for Gen Z.
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