I’d seen the wave of ’90s nostalgia. Vintage fashion collages. Celebrity moms posting photos of their own youth with the caption “Mom, what were you like back then?” It was a trend. Online. Distinct from reality.
Then my 13-year-old put on Nirvana. The Smashing Pumpkins. He asked for a Walkman. A record player. A boombox.
I stared at him. Why? He had Spotify. He had the entire recorded history of music at his fingertips. Why did he want the bulky plastic?
Then he asked to throw away his smartphone. He wanted a flip phone instead.
I realized it wasn’t a phase. It was a declaration. A deliberate retreat to a low-tech life. An unplugged existence that mirrored my own childhood in the analog dark.
I was cool with it. Really. I enjoyed telling him stories from before the internet became our nervous system. But curiosity nagged at me. What is driving this? What does it say about the world he’s inheriting? Was this healthy? Or was I just watching him make a mistake?
It’s Not Just Him
Turns out he isn’t alone.
Articles in The Guardian and the New York Times confirmed what I was seeing locally. Kids are ditching the cloud for the ground.
My son said his friends were doing the same. Some just liked the clothes. Others went further, swapping sleek rectangles for clunky tape players and spinning vinyl.
Take George LeJeunesse, 16, from Washington. He told me he never really bought into the social media hype. “I’ve found myself drawn to more physical Stuff,” he said. “DIY electronic work. An old synth. Guitar pedals.”
Mark Beal, an assistant professor at Rutgers who studies Gen Z, called it “definitely a thing.”
“Polaroid cameras, vinyl, flip phones… these items speak to a desire for a simpler living,” Beal says.
It’s a digital detox. A timeout from the 24/7 noise of the modern attention economy.
The Appeal of Disconnection
My son gave me the best reason yet.
“I like being outside. I like talking to people.”
He paused. “I think technology is anti both of those things.”
There’s nostalgia in his voice, but also critique. He loves the ’60s and the ’90s. He thinks the music was better. People were better. He wants to separate himself from what he calls the “mindless, colorless stuff” of today.
It’s a sentiment shared by Lucky Boy, a YouTuber who famously threw his modern devices in a dumpster. He kept a Tamagotchi and a flip phone.
“I spend most of my day staring a screen,” he said. “I just want to live in the real world.”
Stella Kimbrough, a teen psychotherapist, sees it in her practice every day. Teens are frustrated. They know the cost. They know technology is impacting their mental health. They aren’t being taught this by adults. They know.
Dr. Nidhi Gupta, a pediatric endocrinologist, frames it as exhaustion. The pressure to be perfect. The doom-scrolling. The constant ping of notifications. Kids are tired. They are overstimulated.
So they step away.
Is It Actually Better?
The benefits seem obvious when you look at the data.
Dr. Gupta says kids who step back often realize their anxiety, sleep issues, and overwhelm were tethered to the glowing screen. Without the tether, they return to the physical world.
Sports. Conversations. Music. Sleep. Focus improves. Relationships deepen. Creativity sparks.
But there’s a bigger picture here. Beal points out that these retro activities expose kids to a world outside the algorithmic bubble of their feeds.
Sure, they might snap a photo of their vinyl record and post it. That happens. But the experience itself changes them.
“Low-tech life experiences serve as opportunities learn and be inspired.”
This applies to everyone. Even the “old folks” who invented the problem. Engaging with the past—or the future—is an act of transformation.
The Downside
I’ll be honest. I liked the idea until the flip phone conversation.
Panic set in. What if he misses a school notification? What if friends stop inviting him to hangouts because he can’t reply instantly? What if there is an emergency?
These aren’t silly questions. Smartphones are the infrastructure of social connection for teenagers now.
Kimbrough warns against a one-size-fits-all approach.
“We live in a world where most people use smartphones.”
Not using one creates real disadvantages. It can isolate you. But she adds, gently, that the pros often outweigh the cons. Low-tech living helps kids learn social cues. It improves emotion regulation.
It forces you to look someone in the eye.
Let Them Try
So what will I do?
I will let my son switch. He wants a flip phone. I’ll let him have it. We will find other ways for teachers to reach him. Other ways for his friends to text him back.
I have to trust his instinct. There are parts of authentic life he is seeking out. Parts I forgot about too.
I won’t give up my phone. Not yet.
But Dr. Gupta has a point about families. When we slow down together, the whole household benefits. Board game nights. Book clubs. Neighborhood hangouts.
It’s about restoring childhood.
And honestly? Most teens just need permission to log off.
Maybe I should try it. Just for a weekend.
What would you miss?
