Gen Z is showing a renewed interest in analogue and grandma hobbies. This includes hobbies like scrapbooking, knitting, letter writing, etc.
All things nostalgia, right?
Life moves in cycles. Currently when we are going through digital saturation and intense disconnection amidst the hyperconnected world, this is a welcome change. Presence is the gift these hobbies offer and decompression the reward. A person engaging in writing letters rather than talking on phone is boosting her hand-heart connection. We have something tangible to touch and anchor ourselves to which also boosts motor-visual circuitry in brain and promotes mindfulness. The repetitiveness of activities like knitting, weaving calms down our nervous systems. These activities are slow, tactile, offline, skill-based and emotionally grounding.
Unlike digital, there are no longer 10 tabs open on one screen. Our energy if more focused on the one activity at hand. Dopamine is no longer cheap and becomes more reward-based. At a time when marriages are so easily thrown open to divorce culture and we tend to throw first rather than working on repair, this trend is a welcome change. It can encourage us to make more DIY products which can also build a culture around fixing things rather than replacing. Today we zone out on relationships because we have convenience at the fingertips of our hands. A relationship doesn’t work and we can easily swipe it for more options. DIY culture around craft items, hobbies can also percolate into our worldview encouraging repair over replacement.
Instead of digital disembodied connection, we can now engage in embodied connection via book clubs, cooking classes, gardening books, etc. So analog hobbies aren’t necessarily anti-social.
They’re often a way of replacing online connection with embodied connection.
Besides this can also boost inter-generational connect which is again a broken link in today’s time. It helps us hold on to our heritage and culture in a much more participative manner. The most important thing that analogue and grandma hobbies bring forward are imperfections. An imperfect hand-written letter to one’s parents, an imperfect woven scarf for a lover, imperfect collages put together by friends in a scrapbook. It will release the need to be perfect and put-together at all times. When we create more than consume more, our energy is channelled in a balanced manner.
I am reminded of a Indian Hindi-language comedy film “Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana” about a fugitive who tries to recreate a secret family chicken recipe to save his family’s roadside restaurant. He searches for the legendary, lost “Chicken Khurana” recipe that made his family’s dhaba famous so they can reclaim their wealth and pride. Family rituals go a long way in building closeness and camaraderie.
At a time when food-delivery apps promise 30-minute delivery, how about a slow-cooked meal ritual with your family every weekend?
For slow is the new cool
And connection the new school.