We’re all sick of doomscrolling. As a generation, we’re lacking a lot of things: real life interactions, community, and a working attention span. On top of that, AI is completely changing how we search for information. Personally, my screen time is absolutely terrifying. It’s time for a change.
So what’s the solution? Breaking a phone addiction by swapping out online news for print magazines? Swapping phone alarms for physical alarm clocks? Maybe.
This is the basis of the analogue living trend, which has taken the world by storm.
The idea is to replace all digital media with its physical counterpart. Switch online communication for IRL hangouts, Zoom learning for in-person classes, etc. For the most part, this is a really positive change. A recent article from The Guardian calls us “dopamine addicts.” We’re hooked on the quick entertainment, instant information and quick-fixes of the online world. Bringing in these simple habit changes from a decade or two ago might show us how to live a little slower, build up our real-life experiences, and de-rot our brains.
One Sunday, I was scrolling Instagram and decided to bake a cake. The first thing I did was close the app… And then proceed to open TikTok. I searched around for videos to give me inspiration, ingredients, recipes.
But as soon as I went to my kitchen and started following the steps, it all felt so hollow. I’d only gone from looking at my phone on the sofa, to looking at my phone in the kitchen. Where had the magic of baking gone? When did all my hobbies and activities start to feel so boring? I felt so frustrated by how easy everything was to do. There was no challenge to anything when I could just look up an answer.
So, I borrowed some cookbooks from the library. I thought through my questions before looking them up. Then I took it further; instead of writing my To Do lists on my phone, I put them in a notebook, real-life paper with an actual biro.
It started off exciting but, as most trends do, it got a bit much.
Has it gone too far?
Weirdly, this trend of analogue living is all over TikTok. People show off their physical media collections, listing all the replacements they’ve made for online habits. They talk about all the ways they’re stimulating their minds to tackle brainrot: they read an essay in the morning, learn a philosophical concept on the bus, do a 2000 piece jigsaw puzzle before bed.
Instead of promoting the slow, simple lifestyle meant by analogue living, it’s become a race to perfection: who can be the least online? I’m more anxious than ever about how I’m spending my time. I count how many times I pick up my phone, I list all my IRL hobbies and desperately try to find more; I ask myself at every step of the day, how can I make this more analogue?
The greatest irony of all is that I’m spending more time than ever on TikTok compiling ways to get off of it.
With my new notebook and pen, I’ve written down all my goals: all the in person classes I’d like to go to, the magazines to read, board games and puzzles to replace idle hands ready to scroll. But, truthfully, I’ve barely done any of them. All the lists, top tips, and advice have grown into an overwhelming lifestyle change that I just can’t seem to accomplish.
This analogue corner of TikTok has become a hub of inspiration and motivation, but does anyone else feel like it’s all too make to take on?
Why is it so hard?
I’ve been trying to understand why I’m finding it so difficult to live the analogue lifestyle. I suppose the simplest answer is that the current world is not built for analogue. There are emails to send to your manager, Zoom calls to take, questions to Google like “is it float or sink for an expired egg?” So going analogue is a choice you’ve got to constantly make to find a way around the online method for all your daily tasks. And sometimes, there just isn’t one.
We’re used to convenience. Reach into your pocket for a recipe, a game, an ebook, a conversation. It’s the way the world works now.
When you let go of the online sphere, you’re left all alone in the real world to figure it out by yourself. Digital convenience has become a companion to most of us, and I’ve found that it can feel lonely without it.
If you’re going to attempt to bring analogue living into your life, that’s something you’re gonna have to accept.
What to consider before going analogue
Maybe it’s so hard to switch off the online world because there’s difficult things going on in your real world. It’s easy enough to say, Just close TikTok and do a sudoku puzzle! But when you’re taking that time away from your phone, you’ve got a lot more time to think.
Maybe you used social media to connect with friends super far away and you don’t have as many connections within reach. Maybe TikTok was a distraction from your financial troubles or friendship issues or your stress about the state of the world. That’s all gonna come back when you turn your phone off. There’s no distraction when it’s just you and your puzzle.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t do it, but it’s something to be prepared for. It’s what TikTok creators are leaving out from their aesthetic “living like it’s the 2000s” videos. Going offline means facing the real world, and sometimes that’s just too hard.
So if you are going analogue, make sure you’ve got some steps in place for what you’re actually going to do instead of being on your phone. Simple, realistic things that don’t turn into a huge impossible list.
Before you completely cut yourself off from social media, think about ways to make your physical life somewhere you want to be. If you don’t, analogue living is probably going to feel awful.
Was it really better pre-screens?
It’s worth considering what exactly we want to get out of analogue living. Is it truly a desire for brain space, regulation and a more thoughtful lifestyle? Or are we romanticizing the image of the 2000s?
In the 2000s, it’s true that being online felt much more exciting. There were more niche spaces and communities, entertainment was typically long-form and more intentional since it took about 10 minutes to download a single song.
But non-internet media at the time was also very harmful. Body shaming and misogyny were all over popular television and magazines, and the internet was often not a safe place to be.
There were issues then and there are issues now. So, make sure your reason for a lifestyle change is based on your own needs and not a nostalgic yearning.
How to get a balance
On popular Substack, ‘Slower Space’, blogger Jodie Melissa Rogers offers some things to ask yourself when considering what you want from this lifestyle:
“What do you enjoy about your tech use and social media? How does it feel supportive to your life?”
“What’s something you’ve wanted to do, but struggled to find the time to do?”
It’s important to think about both sides of the coin: what does tech bring to your life and what does it take away?
You’ll probably find that there are answers to both questions. Maybe Instagram helps you connect with old friends but you also get stuck in a never-ending scrolling spiral and end up losing hours of your day.
There are a lot of benefits to analogue living; in my experience, the days seem to go slower. I have more time to think. I’m less tired from endless screen-staring. My hobbies feel genuinely exciting when I’m not looking to my phone to answer every little question. But, at the same time, I’m obsessed with checking my screen time like it’s a weighing scale.
It’s almost impossible to completely eliminate screens from your life, and I don’t think you even need to. There are corners of the internet full of inspiration and creativity. Platforms that allow you to connect with people. Beautifully-made video games, films, TV shows, webzines and YouTube videos. There’s so much thoughtful, well-crafted content out there.
We do need to limit our TikTok scrolling, but that doesn’t mean switching off every screen within a 5 mile radius and stressing yourself out when you’d prefer to play Geoguesser instead of reading your book.
So, to get that balance, think about what doomscrolling has stopped you from doing. Find just one or two IRL things you’d like to do, and weave them into your routine. I know everyone online seems to be seamlessly transitioning to a fully offline lifestyle, but treating your new goal like a trend you have to keep up with will ruin the point of doing it in the first place.
It’s not a race to perfection, and it doesn’t have to be one extreme or the other. Read a book then watch YouTube. Garden and text your friends. Go dancing and make a TikTok. You can always do both. There is no perfect way to live.
