Going Analogue: Why Gen Z Is Ditching Their Phones

The generation that grew up on smartphones is now making a point of putting them down.

"Going analogue" has emerged as one of TikTok's most counterintuitive viral trends of 2026 — a movement spreading across the very platform it's reacting against. Creators are documenting their switch to film cameras, paper notebooks, vinyl records, and offline hobbies, framing screen time reduction not as deprivation but as liberation.

The irony is noted. And apparently irrelevant.

What the trend looks like

Participants are swapping their smartphones for dumbphones or leaving them home entirely. Reading physical books instead of e-readers. Cooking from printed recipes. Writing letters. Journaling by hand. The aesthetic is deliberately tactile — rough edges, analog imperfection, slowness as a feature.

On TikTok, the #goinganalogue and related tags have drawn large audiences. The content's engagement tends to run higher than average — suggesting the aspiration is widely shared.

"Going analogue" advocates trade screen time for tactile, offline experiences — and document it all online.

Why now

The timing makes sense. In 2026, AI-generated content has made the internet feel increasingly artificial. Algorithmic feeds deliver content engineered for reaction, not reflection. Attention spans are widely reported to be shorter. Mental health concerns linked to heavy social media use are well-documented across peer-reviewed research.

Against that backdrop, a film camera with 24 shots that can't be instantly deleted represents something rare: commitment, intention, permanence.

The limits of the trend

Critics point out that "going analogue" as documented on TikTok is itself a content strategy — the trend commodifies the very anti-consumerist, anti-screen impulse it claims to represent. A $400 film camera and a linen-covered journal are still purchases.

Still, even if the trend is partly aesthetic, the underlying desire is real. People are genuinely exhausted by the pace and noise of digital life. Whether that exhaustion translates into lasting behavior change, or dissolves into the next trend, is the more honest question.

For now, the most viral thing on the internet is people trying to spend less time on the internet.