It’s New Year again, and 2026 is set to be the year of ‘going analogue’, marked by slowing down, owning physical media and getting offline. Cool girls have hobbies, and scrolling doesn’t count. Yet, it is only thanks to ‘anti-brain rot’ and ‘chronically offline’ positions becoming viral that real-world creativity is becoming the latest marker of social (media) capital in a world saturated by empty content. As many make resolutions to spend more time in the real world and replace scrolling with creativity, let us try and untangle the insidious tendrils of the Internet from the breath of fresh air we are all seeking.

Investing in single-purpose devices, going back to paper and pen, making more plans in the real world; ‘going analogue’ is an anti-revolution against our addiction to our smartphones. Universal pastimes such as listening to music and photography are being reclaimed from the online world, with people trading in Spotify for CDs and iPhones for digital cameras. However, physical media often remains intertwined with social media, which has cemented itself as a tool for building and broadcasting one’s personal brand. Even on private accounts, people perform the analogue to exude an air of coolness and exclusivity, whilst remaining chained to apps like TikTok and Instagram.

“Universal pastimes such as listening to music and photography are being reclaimed”

If you looked at a pie chart of most people’s free time, one clear pastime would appear: scrolling on our phones. And yet no one gives this answer when asked what their hobbies are. Instead, it is reading, painting or poetry, even if it has been months since picking up a book, brush or pen. Of course, we do not associate ourselves with the mundanity of semi-conscious social media use. Paradoxically, through watching others partake in our interests, we feel our own commitment to them cemented, even if it goes no further than an algorithm filled with videos we rush to save for later. It is what we consume via these bespoke algorithms that acts as a mirror for who we are.

It is a surety of modern life that convenience is the gold standard. We crave the type of creativity that filled our childhoods, which we hope will captivate us so intensely that the hours fly by without a single phone check. Yet, this only comes from the very friction we now seek to avoid; through experimentation, failure and hard-earned breakthroughs. Creativity breeds resilience, and compared to the infinite ease of doomscrolling, taking up an artistic project seems insurmountable.

Our nostalgia grows ever stronger for the tactile world from before the 2010s, yet we are attempting to reconstruct it virtually. Many point to the transformation of the Internet from a tool we used to a space we enter and exist within, allowing online iterations of our real-world interests to offer a temptingly low-effort alternative. “Your feed should feel like a room you want to sit in”, says Loni (whimsical.daydreamer) to her 73.3 thousand Instagram followers. The shift away from creation and towards curation permits aesthetically pleasing collections of ideas to stand in as personality markers, threatening to absorb the analogue trend as its next victim.

“No amount of feed-tuning reduces the chemical and social impacts of social media”

We must stay vigilant, as influencers distort this narrative for their own gains. Loni goes on: “Tune your algorithm. Unfollow accounts that drain you. […] Follow what inspires, teaches, or soothes.” And yet, no amount of feed-tuning reduces the chemical and social impacts of social media overconsumption on our painfully overstimulated brains. The vicious irony of promoting a paid “cozy online hub” for “analog magic” above a dozen affiliate links speaks for itself.

Several creators have commented on the alarming overconsumerism associated with the latest surge of arts and crafts hobbies. Some point to the urge to rush out and buy the supplies for our new analogue lifestyles, succumbing to the ease of immediate solutions instead of acquiring things more slowly and personally. Others highlight the painful contradiction of promoting Amazon as a resource for DIY. As a veteran junk journaller, I have found myself bombarded recently with ‘sticker hauls’, sponsored notebook recommendations, and other monetised interpretations of the pastime, separating it entirely from its values of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’. I discussed this with Newnham student Isa del Solar, who also pointed out the lack of confidence and competence that ‘Amazon culture’ creates in us, discouraging creative solutions to problems in favour of instant replacement.

My aim here is not to police people’s hobbies or dictate how students spend their free time, but to encourage those seeking a more peaceful 2026 to be mindful of their consumption habits – both digital and material. If there is one truth we take from the analogue trend, let it be that we deserve more than the ennui of endless scrolling. Creative hobbies can provide an expressive, immersive and time-slowing rebellion against the pixelated path of least resistance where we all found ourselves stuck in 2025.