An Analog Life

I recently saw a video that predicted 2026 as the year of people leading analog lives over digital lives. It fascinated me because it captured a lot of the thoughts that I've been ruminating on this fall. I can't recall where I first saw it, but I also read a piece earlier this year about how anything we do online is not real (unfortunately, I didn't save this particular source). I'm not trying to minimize the relationships I've built online, but the idea won't leave my mind when so much of our days are now spent looking at a screen.

The piece remarked on how anything financial feels fake now because we can conduct countless transactions without ever seeing another person or touching cash. Additionally, when we engage in reading on a screen versus a physical page, our brains can process the information differently. I've also seen various articles talk about how we need to go back to writing things down instead of typing them into our phones.

All of this has made me wonder how many skills I have that are atrophying. Having grown up in a purely analog world, I recognize that my handwriting has now gotten a little sloppier, my attention span is shot to pieces, and I'm constantly distracted by things that divert my focus. Some of the points in the video I referenced earlier that made me think about how I want to approach next year include the following:

Social Media Hit Its Peak in 2022

I can understand this having been offline from social media for almost a decade. I was there at the very beginning when I was in college, but left shortly after getting married and have not looked back since, other than anything having to do with Christian books. I don't miss having personal accounts at all and believe that it helped my mental health when I was nowhere on social media during the pandemic or when things became more and more politically divisive.

Even now, I'm only on Christian Bookstagram (not even Facebook or TikTok), and I can see the issues that have arisen over the past few years alone. When platforms constantly change to favour monetization and ad revenue, those who use it for free are at the mercy of algorithms that affect them detrimentally. This is why my book accounts are a hobby and not a source of revenue for me. I could not imagine having my income being tied to something as capricious as social media when it seems intent on punishing its users rather than helping them to build a platform or portfolio. I'm not surprised that social media's peak was in 2022 if people are becoming increasingly discouraged and choosing to leave. (Note: The video does state that this peak is outside the US; however, there are forms of diminishing activity.)

People are Looking for Offline Hobbies

The video references needlepoint, but I've seen this evidenced in the rise of adult colouring books, puzzles, board games, and any other type of offline activity that doesn't involve being on a phone or app. Personally, I think it's great to take the time to be with people or even with oneself. One caveat is that books have emerged as a "slow" hobby, though I need to be mindful that I'm spending more time reading than I am simply scrolling online under the guise of looking for more books.

Even though I'm not a very crafty person, I can see why it's attractive to learn useful skills and to have our hands engaged in touching physical objects. I've been amazed at the number of readers who are also artistic and have found success in sharing their wares online. Though I lack many of these skills, I'm intrigued to start learning and trying to work with materials other than a screen on a phone. If the pandemic allowed people to get in touch with different types of skills due to necessity, I'm hoping that the coming years will allow me to pick up other skills due to interest and a waning desire to constantly be online.

Detaching from Technology

The idea of a dumb phone becoming popular again is quite astounding. I love that younger generations are seeing the value in this and while I don't see myself doing this too soon, I applaud this decision and am already thinking of ways to get offline. Concerns around online safety and privacy have made me wary about installing further apps that could be used to obtain information through fraudulent means, and I appreciate not relying on them for every aspect of my life. It's why I don't track health information via technology and am very selective about which vendors I shop through. It's sad that nowadays, rewards are tied to having direct access to our phones—which could be argued, our lives as well—so I don't have a lot of businesses on my phone for that reason.

At the same time, I also struggle with this because the majority of ARC books I receive are in a digital format. I've tried to use a Kindle where possible, but the truth of the matter is, it is much more convenient to go on my phone to read books. While I still need to figure out how to minimize this aspect of my life, I am working on ways to downsize the rest of my time online. Part of this is going back to paper notebooks as opposed to online apps; another part is trying to limit myself from mindless scrolling and scanning that do little to enhance my physical wellbeing and life. The fact that it's even more challenging than ever to experience a digital detox means that I need to be prepared to be somewhat inconvenienced if I want to change things. This leads me to my next point.

Reprogramming the Brain

The biggest realization for me has been that I need to stop deriving an ultimate sense of satisfaction from what I am viewing on my screen. It's not that I can't enjoy things I see or read, but that I can't chase euphoric feelings through digital means. I'm guilty of taking people's presence for granted when I would much rather be reading or scrolling. I don't prioritize time in real life, opting instead to complete another task online. It's becoming more and more of a burden that my brain feels like it's missing something unless it's on a phone or computer.

I haven't figured out what this fully means, other than that I want my brain to go back to the way it was when I was more engaged in real-life activities. I miss the tactile feelings of creating things with my hands outside of using a mouse. I also feel as though I have little to contribute when I become more of a consumer than a producer or creator. It will be quite the challenge to see if there are ways that God would rather have me concentrate my efforts instead of being glued to digital life.

Loss of an Analog World

I'm not making a hard call on having a purely analog life, but it's a concept that has merit. Attached to the desire for a different way of living is the notion that younger generations aren't just feeling nostalgic; they're actually grieving a way of life that will never again exist (see Grave new world: Why young people are grieving a life they’ve never lived).

This quote particularly stands out for me:

The algorithms have given us everything  we supposedly wanted – frictionless-ness, instantaneousness and infiniteness – and robbed us of everything we actually needed – tension, delayed gratification, intimacy, risk, the ability to be stupid and the ability to forget it.

It's less nostalgia and more ontological grief. Not rooted in memory, but in the haunting suspicion that something vital was supposed to happen, and didn’t. A life that slipped through your fingers before you ever held it.

I don't want to have my life slip through my fingers while pursuing one online. At the end of the day, no one online will be bereft if I leave. I also don't want to trade the gifts of a real life, involving intimacy, risk, and presence for one that, as the article states, is frictionless and instantaneous without offering true gratification.

Will there be changes moving forward for me in 2026? Quite likely in terms of how I spend my time, though I haven't fleshed out how that looks. Do I also hope that I can grow as a person outside of anything that is shared online? Absolutely. I'm terrible at doing things in advance, but am also coming to the realization that if I am having a hard time keeping up, it could just be a weight and burden that is becoming more unnecessary for me. I'm still optimistic that perhaps there is a way to balance it all, but I also need to be willing to honour God with how I spend my days, and if that means a shift in where my energy is focused, I need to be obedient to Him so that the life He wants for me can take place.