As a digital producer at 精东影业, I鈥檓 responsible for creating social media content that shares the latest news in Northeast Ohio with our followers. I鈥檓 a strong believer in the power of social media to uplift the voices of people who are often forgotten and to shed light on stories that national and global news outlets overlook.
But without boundaries, excessive social media use fails to make us more informed; it can simply make us more cynical and overwhelmed.
Around six months ago, with that in mind, I realized that I needed to rethink my relationship with my phone. Like many people, I couldn鈥檛 go more than 15 minutes without checking my phone, and I doomscrolled long into the night. I felt scattered and overstimulated from the constant stream of information.
I told myself that being tied to my phone was a necessity. I work in news and social media, after all. But that wasn鈥檛 true. Long after my work hours were over, I was still glued to a screen.
And I know I鈥檓 not alone.
Based on a the average internet user spends almost seven hours a day using the internet. A from the National Center for Health Statistics reported that from July 2021 through December 2023, 50.4% of teenagers had four hours or more of daily screen time.
It鈥檚 not a secret that can negatively affect our physical and mental health, especially in young people. From neck pain and eye strain to increased levels of depression, anxiety and social isolation, phone addiction takes a serious toll on our overall well-being.
I decided that if I was going to kick my phone addiction, I had to go old school, also known as 鈥済oing analog,鈥� something that has become a trend.
started to gain traction at the beginning of 2026, with social media influencers claiming it was going to be an 鈥渁nalog year.鈥� The lifestyle trend encouraged people to reduce their dependence on smart technology and to invest in hobbies that didn鈥檛 require a screen.
Influencers quickly began to show off their new 鈥渄umb phones,鈥� which those of a certain generation just called flip phones, thrifted iPods and corded earbuds. They posted videos of themselves filling carefully curated scrapbooks and hand-written journals. With early-2000s fashion rising in popularity, the aesthetics merged at the perfect time.
I don鈥檛 fail to see the irony of online influencers promoting an offline lifestyle. Some critics claim that 鈥済oing analog鈥� is a performative and consumeristic micro trend masquerading as mindfulness. They also point out the paradoxical nature of living a lifestyle 鈥渇ree from screens鈥� while posting TikToks about it.
Keeping those valid points in mind, the 鈥渁nalog鈥� lifestyle doesn鈥檛 have to be about over-consumption or online clout. Every day, people are turning to the analog lifestyle for a variety of reasons, like concerns about data privacy, stress reduction or a love of physical media like DVDs, CDs and VHS tapes.
Nostalgia is also a subconscious motivator for this trend. Millennials and older Gen Zers like myself, who grew up without smartphones, want to return to the simpler times of their childhood. Younger Gen Zers and Gen Alphas tend to romanticize the thought of a world before smartphones, which they have never known. They want to seek out a life that feels 鈥渞eal鈥� and full of the human connection they feel the smartphone has taken from them.
My dive into the analog lifestyle wasn鈥檛 as extreme as some have taken. I didn鈥檛 replace my Android with a Nokia or swear off social media forever. But I did start to slowly chip away at my dependency on my phone.
I fixed my analog wrist watch and bought a wall clock. I switched to a paper planner and an address book and rediscovered pens. I borrowed cookbooks, DVDs and CDs from my local library. I started to read the books that had sat untouched on my bookshelf for months.
I even repaired a 1966 Olivetti Underwood typewriter, which I discovered is far louder than a keyboard. Offices must have been very noisy before computers were invented.
My dependency on my phone has decreased significantly. My attention span and mood have improved. But my average daily screen time is probably still higher than yours by a mile.
It鈥檚 important to look at decoupling from your phone as a life-long marathon, not a sprint. Technology will continue to evolve and become more enmeshed in our lives, which will make it harder to avoid.
But we do have a choice. We need to choose what role our phones will play in our lives. Will it be a tool that we use in moderation or will we let it consume our lives?
When I listen to Carol King鈥檚 鈥淭apestry鈥� album on my stereo, when I take a walk around my neighborhood with my eyes up and not locked on my phone, when I spend time with a friend at a coffee shop talking instead of texting, I feel like I鈥檓 making the right choice.
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