Rebelling Against the Internet!

In the late 90’s and early 2000’s the trend was for physical media to become digital. Journalists wrote dramatic articles about the death of physical music in the advent of Napster, Spotify and your home computer’s worst nightmare: LimeWire. CDs became a thing of the past, Blu ray tried to hang on after the DVD fell out of favour. Now we live in a world where no one owns anything, and we pay monthly for access to vast catalogues of movies and music and even books to some extent. Apart from the resurgence and growth of vinyl, the ownership of physical media is no longer the norm.

I noticed at the back end of last year, I was seeing a lot of content championing the idea of going analogue. Whether that was because it was a burgeoning trend or I had been training my TikTok algorithm I am not sure.  I acknowledge the irony of wanting to ‘go analogue’ whilst mindlessly scrolling on TikTok is not lost on me. I enjoyed the concept as I am painfully aware that I am spending far too much time on my phone, and I can tell it has a negative impact on my mood. I saw someone say that screens are like our generations cigarettes and that really hit a nerve. We are addicted to scrolling despite being acutely aware of the negative impact it can have on us.

I remember being told when I was a kid if I watched too much television my eyes would go square, these days the big screen in the living room is often a welcome respite from the tiny screen in my pocket or the medium sized screen on my desk and that is astonishing and incredibly sad. I have always been someone who prefers pen and paper to laptops and remember being an outlier in Uni lectures frantically scribbling instead of frantically tippy tapping. I also prefer to read physical books as opposed to e-readers. That being said, when it comes to music, TV and film, streaming platforms have become inescapable.

While I have jumped on the vinyl bandwagon to some extent, newly pressed vinyl remains extremely expensive and not every artist has committed to releasing vinyl therefore the vast expanse of music available at my fingertips via Spotify is hard to ignore.

Having seen the trend of ‘going analogue’ on TikTok, it struck me that the trend is being presented to me by a generation for whom physical media was not the norm throughout their childhood. Generation Z have grown up in a world of Wi-Fi, iPads and Netflix as opposed to dial-up, Vtech and blockbuster. Therefore, creators suggested that if you wanted to ‘go analogue’ you should compile an ‘analogue bag’ containing all of your offline hobbies. Like doomsday prepping for the nostalgic. The idea itself felt slightly insane to me.

It occurred to me that as much as I enjoyed the concept, compiling an ‘analogue bag’ is an opportunity to create another vehicle for rampant consumerism. I say this from experience as in my efforts to spend more time away from my phone I have bought greetings cards, stamps, magazines and a colouring book. I too crave the dopamine hit that comes with buying shiny new things, but I also need to be mindful.

I needn’t have worried; it was easier to be mindful of my consumption than I had anticipated. My plan was to try and start sending my friends cards and letters more often, but I am not sure how accessible that will be when ‘not enough’ stamps cost me the best part of £20.

Part of the reason I wanted to buy magazines was of course the nostalgia, it was always a great day when I was a kid and I was wondering around the shops with my mum and she said I was allowed to pick out a magazine, when I was younger picking the best magazine was about picking the one with the best free gift attached, as I got older and grumpier it was about picking a magazine with the best posters of heavily tattooed emo boys to stick on my wall.

The other part of me wanted to engage with print media again, because as I looked through the rows of magazines I hadn’t considered for a very long time the phrase ‘use it or lose it’ was circling around my head. Unfortunately, the high costs made it too easy to pick up a magazine once and think twice about doing so ever since.

The point is, I was searching for something to help me reduce the time I was spending on my phone. I think it is important to acknowledge why it is that we tend to scroll. There is a myriad of reasons, but I believe the main one is to escape.

We are seeking comfort from an unstable, chaotic and frankly terrifying world around us. I watched a video essay by Hazel Thayer, where they draw a comparison between modern society and the human characters in Disney Pixar’s Wall. E on their floating chairs with a tv screen and unlimited access to junk food. When I saw it, I felt a little bit sick because it was horrifyingly accurate. I remember when I saw Wall. E for the first time the idea felt ridiculous and silly, now it is unbelievably close to reality and extremely uncomfortable to confront.

Another creator described doom scrolling as a political choice, and if there is one way to motivate me it is to appeal to my seemingly innate desire to rebel against the establishment. It is true, if we are chained to our phones syphoned off into our echo chambers, we aren’t paying attention to what those in charge are getting away with in broad daylight. We are at the mercy of the tech-bro puppeteers who feed us misinformation, breeding division in order to maintain their uber powerful positions.

I want to spend more time away from my phone doom scrolling, trapped in the algorithms from hell. However, I would prefer not to bankrupt myself in the process.

What is the best way to unplug from an ecosystem that has been engineered to be highly addictive? I am yet to find out.