OPINION: Returning to the physical

Every year, it seems that more aspects of life are going digital. I’m sure life today would be unrecognizable even 20 years ago.

Every morning, an alarm on my phone is what wakes me up. I’ll throw a YouTube video or music from Spotify on while I get ready. Once I get to work, almost everything I do is digital - my calendar, my notes, almost all research I do.

I take a digital photo, edit it on my computer and throw it on the digital newspaper. I interview someone on my phone, transfer the recording to my computer, type out the transcription and then write the story all on the world wide web. That story then goes out on, again, a digital newspaper, as well as social media.

Almost all contact I have with friends and family is online. Since I live quite a ways away from everyone, it’s through texting, social media and phone calls that we keep up to date.

While I don’t have anything this advanced, many people have vehicles, lighting, TVs and even refrigerators that are “smart,” running on new forms of technology.

I’m not going to lie, I really appreciate all these conveniences. I know people my age have it easy. I’ll never have to spend hours in a darkroom developing film for work. I can delete, copy and paste with the click of a button rather than completely retyping everything or literally cutting paragraphs out like with a typewriter. I don’t have to sit by the radio with a tape, waiting for my favorite song to play so I could record it for later, like my parents did.

However, for probably the past decade, there’s been a huge trend of people going back to older technology: record players, Polaroids, even letter writing. I’m no stranger to this, as I’ve found myself doing it too.

I think as everyone became excited about the next new tech item, people forgot the joy in the earlier, more physical items, and that’s something it’s becoming more popular to return to.

Like many people my age, I have a record player and a handful of vinyls. I bought a Polaroid in my teens and still use it - though it’s much more of a pain to bring around than my phone! In high school, I began scrapbooking, and while I haven’t done much with it recently, there’s something special about having your photos and other memorabilia from special moments physically laid out in front of you.

I’ve tried my hand at letter writing and journaling, but I’ve never been great at keeping the habit. The few times I do, I know it’s appreciated though - there’s nothing like getting something other than bills or junk in the mail!

When my family went to Yellowstone in August, I bought us all disposable cameras to use. We’ve gotten so used to taking photos of everything on our phones, it’s interesting to see what we prioritize when we have limited takes.

I think a lot of people are starting to move away from digital media, too. Sure, we all have at least some of the streaming platforms, but I think we’ve all lost trust for them. Movies and shows switch platforms at random and some are dropped completely. I am far from the only person to have recently bought a DVD player, and I’m slowly getting some of my favorite pieces of media. Netflix can take a movie off of their platform, but they can’t take the DVD from me.

And if you know me, this of course applies toward books as well. Yes, it’s nice to hold a physical book in your hand, to turn the pages as you follow the plot. However, I’m also happy to read an ebook or listen to an audiobook as well. If I like the book enough, I know I’ll eventually end up buying it and bringing it to my physical shelf anyway. I never know when I will want to return to the characters again!

While technology and innovation is amazing and I appreciate what it does for my life, I’m also grateful I can pick some of the physical parts of life to bring back into my world. As our world continues to embrace technology, it will be interesting to see what stays relevant and what comes back, whether for convenience or nostalgia’s sake.