When I received my first phone, I remember being criticized by others for not being on my phone to answer their texts promptly. Now that I have adapted to their needs, I am addicted to my phone like 46% of Americans. My digital footprint is expansive, and I am often online even if I don’t want to be. Others are facing the same issue and planning to remove many habits our phones have created.
Going into 2026, an online movement was created when Generation Z and millennials decided they were done with doomscrolling. They are replacing Spotify with iPods, streaming services with DVDs and switching to burner phones to cut out social media.
This movement has gained traction for a few years, as many become more concerned about the mental health effects social media and phone usage have. However, the solutions are gaining popularity, with many agreeing to go analog in 2026.
Going offline sounds trendy because of our phone addictions, and many are posting about how much better their lives are since dumbing down their modern phone and cutting screen time. Essentially, to be offline has become a status symbol going into the new year. If you are offline, it shows others you are more connected with real-world activities rather than living vicariously through others online. Also, with the rise of “brainrot,” being offline proves you are smarter than more frequent phone users.
Status symbol aside, going offline to battle doomscrolling can also stop consumers from buying into products and voters from catered campaigning. Since we all have our own algorithms, it’s much harder to get the information we need. This is the perfect movement to train our brains to research on our own by picking up newspapers, asking our friends and experiencing the world without an influencer telling us what to know. This might be a healthy movement for all of us, helping us to connect more with our world and allowing us to focus.
Online, information rushes at us. Gen Z and millennials are at the forefront of content, and they have a lot to say about the online political climate. With many feeling hopeful since Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral win for New York, young people are taking action.
Engaging in politics online keeps people on their phones. The trend of going analog could bring more people to use tech intentionally as a tool for action. Such action worked for a major increase of 28% with young and first-time voters engaging in local elections in New York. Going offline and focusing on making change outside of the phone screen is a social movement greater than mental health.
The conversation of selling online data has become scarier since the rise of artificial intelligence. Companies use online behavior and algorithms to sell consumers trends. Since many of America’s billionaires are those who created tech for consumers, it seems they and corporations are urging us to stay online so that we continue to be distracted and fund their status. The more online we are, the richer they get.
Being online is a class indicator. If you are offline, you are cooler, smarter and wealthier. This is obvious when tech billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg are sending their children to tech-free private schools. If tech billionaires are selling tech but avoiding it in their own lives, there have to be negative effects to it.
If you can afford to spend time offline, you’re living a more luxurious life. Owning the latest technology used to be a status symbol. Keeping up with trends was always seen as for the wealthy and being offline is the new trend.
Having time and money to experience life offline with trips, gym memberships and other hobbies is the new cool, and so is not posting. Internet personality Emma Chamberlain spoke about this on her podcast, specifically about her opinions on how being online is “cringe” now. Chamberlain says the curation for users is influencer-driven and exhausting to keep up with aesthetic posts. However, people are finding that posting less is cooler.
This movement might be more than avoiding doom scrolling to keep us connected; it might be another piece to a puzzle, battling classism. If the new conclusion is staying on your phone distracts you from your world, new solutions have to follow. Analog tech, such as CDs and DVDS, is coming back to us, but there are still things many are reserving for their phones, like GPS.
Moving forward, I think partaking in a tech detox is beneficial. I am inspired to connect more with my friends and the world around me. Getting into more offline activities and using social media less. So, oh well, it’s a personal choice on how much time you spend online anyway.
Cassidy McClurg is a freshman student studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note the opinions expressed in this column do not represent those of The Post. Want to talk to Cassidy about their column? Email cm303824@ohio.edu
