A “going analogue” motion has actually been getting rate through 2026 as an international media story, with youths switching mobile phones for iPods, flip phones, CD gamers, movie electronic cameras, and so on. “Analogue” has actually ended up being the shorthand the whole media story has actually decided on for anything that isn’t a smart device or a streaming platform.
< source media ="(min-width:768px)" alt ="Gen Z is going back to basics with DVD players, dumb phones and more" > < img src ="https://www.hindustantimes.com/ht-img/img/2026/07/22/400x225/analouge_1784724097519_1784724103003_a9e093c5-5fa9-45cd-b5da-b1dc18f82e23.jpeg"alt ="Gen Z is going back to basics with DVD players, dumb phones and more"title ="Gen Z is going back to basics with DVD players, dumb phones and more"width ="360"height ="202"loading ="eager">Spotify has 100 million tunes on tap. Why is a growing number of Gen Zers intentionally going back to gadgets that hold a couple of hundred?
In the US/UK, the iPod is the flagship of this revival. eBay information reveals the gadget was browsed approximately 1,300 times an hour typically in 2015, with costs on some designs climbing up in between 40 and 60 percent. Refurbished-tech market Back Market has actually begun equipping iPods, Game Boys, and other retro gadgets after a restricted run of bare-bones Nokia phones offered out faster than anticipated.
CDs are having a parallel minute. A UK-based CD maker’s study of over 2,000 participants discovered that Gen Z purchased more CDs in the previous year than millennials, Gen X, or child boomers integrated. Luminate’s 2026 Midyear Report, launched mid-July, reveals United States CD sales up 16 percent to 16.3 million systems in the very first half of the year. Overall United States physical album sales– vinyl, CD, and cassette integrated– increased 7.8 percent to 38.2 million systems in the very first half of 2026.
According to IMARC Group’s India vinyl record market report, the marketplace was sized at USD 66.3 million in 2025 and is anticipated to reach USD 119.2 million by 2034. For digital video cameras, IMARC and Deep Market Insights both design the India market at approximately USD 0.42– 0.49 billion in 2025, predicting development of about 5.1– 5.2% CAGR from 2026 to 2034. ET Manufacturing and Whalesbook keep in mind the reconditioned electronic devices market growing about 12% in 2026.
Turn phones and stripped-down “dumbphones” — some with screens hardly longer than a finger– are likewise seeing restored need, mainly from individuals who desire a gadget that is, by style, hard to invest hours on.
Why is this taking place?
Beneath the 2000s anemoia, there’s likewise an easier system at work: remedy for option overload. A case research study of a 29-year-old who changed to an iPod explained getting “paralysed” whenever she attempted to choose a tune on Spotify, just since of just how much was offered; on a gadget that holds just what she’s by hand picked to place on it, that issue vanishes.
That compromise appears once again and once again. A CD needs to be purchased, unwrapped, and physically played; it can’t be switched out mid-song the method a playlist can. Individuals try out this shift explain that hassle as the point: it requires a sort of dedication to what you’re in fact listening to, seeing, or shooting, instead of defaulting to whatever an algorithm dishes out next.
Some analysts have actually connected the pattern to a more comprehensive pushback versus AI-generated material and algorithmic feeds– a desire for things that are selected intentionally instead of optimised for engagement, at a minute when AI-written material has, by some steps, started to surpass human-written material online.
There’s likewise an easier, more useful draw beneath all of this: ownership. A vinyl record or a DVD of your preferred movie does not disappear since a licensing offer ended or a platform chose to deprioritise it. Streaming gain access to is actually a lease, not a purchase; the program or album you like today can silently vanish from your membership tomorrow, re-routed to a various platform or pulled entirely. A physical copy avoids that completely. For a generation that has actually matured leasing access to whatever and continuously being kept track of by algorithms, owning something outright, even something as little as a DVD case on a rack, has actually become its own peaceful kind of security.
What Gen Z in India is in fact doing
For some, it’s driven by gain access to instead of visual appeals. Siddharth Veer Sawhney, 19, an undergrad trainee, began purchasing DVDs after encountering movies not available on any streaming platform and not buyable on YouTube either. By owning the disks, he had total ownership of the material he wished to enjoy, and the tangibility of it made it even more significant.
For others, the appeal is better to social currency. Manvy Devraj, 19, an economics and computer technology trainee, brings a tiny digital video camera that shoots pictures and video and functions as a discussion starter with individuals she satisfies. Her sis has actually given that gotten a comparable Kodak mini electronic camera after seeing hers. She calls it low-effort to bring and prepares to begin bringing it to college daily. Her thinking for picking it was greatly affected by “the desire to have something different and unique.”
Kaisha Narula, 20, pre-law student, has incorporated three physical media habits into her routine – a digital camera, a growing vinyl collection, and a notebook she carries to write or doodle when stressed. She describes all three as making her more present: photography feels more intentional through a camera, vinyl makes listening to music “a method more pleasurable thing” than pressing play on Spotify, and writing by hand helps her decompress.
What tech expert thinks
Rohit Raj Gupta, a tech content creator and founder of Bro Its Tech, thinks that the underlying feeling for the trend is genuine, as people really are exhausted by how much of their day happens on screens. But it’s also important to realise that the visibility of that feeling is a different story: once a video of someone switching to a dumbphone performs well, platforms recommend it more widely, and viewers start assuming “everybody is going analogue” when, in reality, it’s a small group amplified by an algorithm rewarding novelty. That creates a secondary wave of people buying the same device not out of disconnection, but because it looked good in a 20-second reel.
In his view, the Western version of this trend – dumbphones, iPods, cassette players – hasn’t gone mainstream the way it has abroad. India, he argues, has its own parallel version instead: renewed interest in physical books despite Kindles being available, instant pocket cameras and printed photographs, wired earphones making a comeback, and a pull toward retro-looking gadgets more broadly.
He also explained how screens now touch nearly every part of daily life, from work to entertainment to ordering food to exercise, and the constant stream of notifications and recommendations is exhausting on its own. Analogue objects offer a sense of control that digital defaults don’t – a physical book has no pop-ups, an offline music player requires an actual choice rather than an endless scroll of recommendations. He adds a layer specific to this moment: as AI-generated images, video, and music become harder to distinguish from the real thing, physical and human-made objects gain value simply because they feel authentic.
What the psychologists say
We consulted Dr. Jaya Sukul, clinical psychologist and founder of Headspace Healing in Noida, Dr. Rashi Gupta, counselling psychologist at RxMen, and Dr. Priyanka Patnaik, senior psychologist also at RxMen, gaining a more layered read on the trend.
Sukul frames the shift as generational: Gen Z grew up permanently connected to technology, and pushing back against that is itself a familiar pattern as each generation tends to reject the norms it inherited. Gupta, who identifies as Gen Z herself, adds that the pull isn’t really anti-technology so much as curiosity about a slower pace many in this generation have heard about but never lived. Patnaik reframes it slightly differently again: less about the past at all, and more about control and breathing room in a digital environment built to constantly demand attention. Older devices appeal to her clients specifically because they have natural limits – a battery that runs out, a feature set that simply stops – and because physical media feels tangible: you can hold it and use it without wondering how it’s being algorithmically filtered or pushed behind the scenes.
All three psychologists believe that screen time isn’t actually dropping, however. Gupta described the analogue gadget as an addition rather than a replacement for smartphones. She also flagged the irony of buying a digital camera to disconnect, but then uploading the photos to Instagram anyway, pulling the phone straight back into the loop.
Additionally, Gupta noted that social pressure comes bundled with the devices themselves – buying an iPod or camera often means learning to use it, researching it, and eventually showing it off online, which reintroduces the exact comparison-and-performance loop the purchase was meant to escape. Patnaik explains the reason for this trend as smartphone-linked stress, which comes down to “cognitive load”– the built up weight of little choices like whether to inspect or neglect a notice, which drain pipes focus even when every one feels unimportant by itself. Eliminating that sound does bring real, instant relief; she states individuals report feeling calmer and more present.
Is it a long lasting shift, or a stage? Sukul framed it less as a stage and more as proof of digital tiredness that requires a sustainable healing course, developed through routine replacement (swap the desire to scroll for a particular option activity) instead of pure avoidance. Patnaik’s research-based framing discussed that toughness boils down to a friction-versus-reward estimation– if an analogue routine meaningfully enhances somebody’s health and wellbeing, it sticks; if it’s too bothersome, individuals go back.