The Power of Pre-Internet Nostalgia

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Tired of rage scrolling through AI Slop and Clickbait just to get a handle on today's news? Meet InPress, the algorithm-free news app that makes it fun and rewarding to stay informed. Track your media literacy and rediscover reality. Download today at InPress.app. That's I, N as in news nerd, press.

SPEAKER_2 (0:20)

Pros trust the Home Depot for heavy duty storage solutions for any job site or garage. Right now, get up to 15% off select storage and organization. Impact in water-resistant totes and shelving built to hold up to 2,500 pounds. Storage systems have space for all your tools and protect them in the garage, on the job site, and everywhere in between. Save time and maximize efficiency with adjustable shelving customized to your business' needs. Shop and save on pro-grade storage at the Home Depot. How pros get more done.

Julie Beck (0:50)

If you have one word, it can be a noun, it can be an adjective, it can be any part of speech that you want. To describe your overall relationship to technology at this moment in time.

SPEAKER_4 (1:01)

Antagonistic.

SPEAKER_6 (1:02)

Complicated. Fraught.

SPEAKER_4 (1:04)

I think of it as an addiction, similar to how I relate to like sugar or anything else that I sort of compulsively overindulge.

Julie Beck (1:12)

What's the word?

Natalie Brennan (1:13)

Indentured.

Julie Beck (1:14)

I was going to say reluctant, but maybe that's not right.

SPEAKER_1 (1:18)

Very frequent user.

Julie Beck (1:20)

Okay, that's a lot of words, but we'll take it.

Natalie Brennan (1:23)

I'm Julie Beck, a staff writer at The Atlantic, and I'm Natalie Brennan, a producer at The Atlantic.

Julie Beck (1:28)

This is How to Touch Grass.

SPEAKER_6 (1:31)

Have you heard the young people say touch grass?

SPEAKER_9 (1:33)

Switch to a dumb phone.

SPEAKER_10 (1:34)

This is the Nokia 2780

Clay Routledge (1:36)

It's like a term basically, which is like get off your phones.

SPEAKER_9 (1:39)

Smartphones are evil, they're ruining society, and we need to just stop. 100% disagree.

SPEAKER_11 (1:44)

Get off the Internet and go outside and touch grass.

SPEAKER_9 (1:46)

I nominate everyone for the Touch Grass Challenge. Go outside and touch some grass like I'm doing right now.

Go, go, go.

Julie Beck (1:58)

In this season, we'll be exploring the often-fraught, always-changing relationship people have with technology, and the ways that in this moment, the terms of the relationship are being renegotiated.

Natalie Brennan (2:11)

Julie, the way that I would like to renegotiate my relationship to technology is that I would like to throw my phone in the East River.

Julie Beck (2:20)

Natalie, you could throw your phone in the East River. Why don't you?

Natalie Brennan (2:23)

It's not really just about my phone. I want to throw your phone in there too, Julie. But I can't take everyone's phone. So I think what I mean to say is that I yearn for a pre-phone era.

Julie Beck (2:38)

I think we're not the only ones who have this fantasy. It's all over TikTok.

SPEAKER_10 (2:44)

What's the biggest trend of 2026 going to be? Analog.

SPEAKER_5 (2:47)

This past year, we've seen the rise of nostalgia.

SPEAKER_10 (2:49)

Switch from iPhone cameras to digital cameras.

SPEAKER_5 (2:52)

Here's how to actually be more analog in 2026 Analog era is here. And while audiences say they want to go offline, Gen Z and millennials openly expressing their desires to break from an online world, finding-

SPEAKER_12 (3:03)

I stopped using an iPhone three weeks ago, and the effects have genuinely been profound.

Julie Beck (3:08)

In the past few years, there's been no shortage of people advocating for reducing screen time. But another force that has been inspiring people to rethink how they use their devices lately is nostalgia.

Clay Routledge (3:22)

We can often feel overwhelmed in the moment and in the challenges we face today. It's hard to see past them. Nostalgia can't help us step outside of that moment.

Julie Beck (3:30)

Clay Routledge and his colleagues have been studying what's behind this widespread yearning for a time before smartphones and before social media. Clay is a psychologist who specializes in nostalgia, and he's also the author of Passed Forward How Nostalgia Can Help You Live a More Meaningful Life.

Clay, hello. Welcome.

Clay Routledge (3:51)

Hi, Julie.

Julie Beck (3:51)

I see you've got an Atari poster behind you. There's some kind of video game that is too small for me to see what it is. What is it?

Clay Routledge (3:59)

On the shelf, I've got an old Nintendo, the original NES. Then I've got the Robotron arcade game, which is an arcade from the 80s and the Atari poster. So yeah, lots of video game nostalgia from different brands and decades.