new york
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Our homes and lives are filled with AI-powered devices, assistants, and chatbots, and there’s a backlash.
Although it’s touted as an “analog lifestyle,” it’s not the same as a short-term digital detox. Instead, it’s an effort to find tangible ways to slow down, complete daily tasks, and find entertainment, especially as generative AI platforms increasingly think and act for us.
It’s hard to quantify how widespread this phenomenon is, but certain, especially offline, hobbies are exploding in popularity. Arts and crafts company Michael’s has felt the impact, with searches for “analog hobbies” on its site increasing 136% in the past six months, according to the company, which operates more than 1,300 stores in North America. Sales of guided craft kits are expected to increase by 86% in 2025 and another 30% to 40% this year.
Searches for yarn kits, one of the most popular “grandma hobbies,” increased by 1,200% in 2025. Stacey Sibley, Michael’s chief merchandising officer, told CNN that the company plans to devote more store space to knitting materials.
Sibley said more people are turning to crafting as a mental health break from doomscrolling, especially after the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think there’s a really big cultural shift happening right now,” she added.
I caught on to the trend and wanted to try it myself. For 48 hours, I lived like it was the 90s.
Logging off for just two days seems easy. For most people, probably yes. For me, that meant ditching three iPhones, a MacBook, two even bigger desktop monitors, a Kindle, Alexa, and that primal Gen Z urge to swipe between them all.
Before setting off on my journey, I spoke to some regular analog enthusiasts for inspiration. If you would like to contact Shaughnessy Barker, 25, of Penticton, British Columbia, you must call her landline.
Like many pre-teens in the 2010s, Barker was introduced to the internet through British boy band One Direction’s Stan Twitter. But as she gets older, she says, “everything[on the internet]is for profit and nothing is just for fun anymore.”
The transition to an analog lifestyle wasn’t difficult for Barker. Barker describes himself as a “deep down AI hater.” She grew up listening to the radio and records and has a huge collection of cassettes, DVDs, VHS, and records. She hosts technology-free craft nights and wine nights, writes notes, and sets limits on computer time.
The biggest change came when Barker bought an adapter to use her landline at home and a “dumb phone” app when she was out.
If you want to contact me, please call or write, Barker told her friend.
But even for Barker, going completely offline is becoming increasingly difficult. For example, the only way she can promote her vintage shop and “Snail Mail Club” is through the Internet.
“I’m making contradictory statements like, ‘I want to get off my phone and I’m going to make a TikTok about it,'” Barker said.
Analogue people are either tired of doomscrolling and AI slop, or just frustrated with what ChatGPT and other generative AI services think and create for us.
“AI slop is very tiring, both in the actual act of viewing the content and the fact that it’s very repetitive and unoriginal,” said Abriel Epps, an AI researcher and assistant professor at the University of California, Riverside.
That doesn’t mean denying all technology, and it doesn’t mean analog participants are anti-technology. Some simply adopted some aspects of their lifestyle. For example, replace Spotify or AI-powered shuffle with an iPod. Instead of taking a million photos of the same pose (which I’m guilty of), slow down and take handheld film photos. Even small acts like buying a physical alarm clock can feel liberating.
“Going analog doesn’t necessarily mean cutting yourself off from the information on the Internet, but rather cutting the internet off from information about you,” Epps said. She recently quit Google Suite and goes screen-free on Sundays.
The morning of the first day offline was very easy. I woke up naturally with the sun and cosplayed as a lifestyle influencer. I wrote in my diary, opened an old copy of Wuthering Heights, and got ready in half the time I normally would. I didn’t have time to find my old iPod or VHS player, so I relied on crafts and reading to get me through the days.
My biggest problem was feeling like I was performing.
I was writing about it in digital media publications and talking to people I found on social media. We’ve also selected the easiest alternatives for your digital life. I knew writing out my grocery list would be much easier than choosing to never FaceTime my family again.
Yet, as I walked into the office without technology, I realized how many other people don’t have screens. Normally I would ignore the tourists staring at the skyscrapers, but this time I followed their gaze. The Empire State Building looked absolutely stunning on this sunny day.
When I attended a weekly knitting circle at a Brooklyn library during the two-day challenge, women of all ages exchanged stitch tips and color ideas without a screen. In a warm room of about 20 people, everyone talked about how they used their knitting time as a distraction.
“Knitting allows you to use your hands instead of being on your phone,” said Tanya Nguyen, a regular knitter at the event.
My own day ended with me finally finishing reading Wuthering Heights, sending a postcard to my 8-year-old cousin, taking probably 12 more knitting lessons, and then spending a lot of time making that scarf. I felt like I had accomplished something outside of work, and my screen lit up.
Like many people my age, I needed a TikTok trend to tell me to do it.
