Why I Love the "Going Analogue" Trend

"Going Analogue" is a current trend on social medial where people are intentionally moving away from digital engagement and instant access- yes, I hear the irony of an online trend encouraging you to be less online! Still, it deeply resonates with my thoughts on mental health in the modern day.

"Going Analogue" encourages small changes like: leaving your phone at home, visiting shops and restaurants instead of ordering online, listening to music without multitasking or engaging in non-digital hobbies. For many, this trend isn’t about nostalgia for the past, it’s about a sense of relief. A response to the feeling that life has become too fast, too loud and too demanding of our attention.

At its heart, the analogue trend is about slowing down and reconnecting with experiences as they unfold, rather than surface level consumption at speed.

Challenging Instant Access to Rewards

You may have heard of the brain’s reward system, often called the dopamine pathway. Dopamine isn’t actually about the pleasure of the reward itself, it’s more about the seeking; the anticipation and the sense of moving toward something we want. Dopamine is what gives us drive and motivation.

The problem comes when rewards are instant. When we don’t have to wait, our dopamine system can become dysregulated. This means that satisfaction doesn’t fully land when we reach the goal, because the process of effort and anticipation has been skipped.

Over time, this can leave us feeling flat, unmotivated or unsettled in daily life. Things that once felt nourishing may lose their depth and we can find ourselves reaching for more and more stimulation without ever feeling truly fulfilled. This pattern is closely linked to anxiety, low mood, emotional exhaustion and a constant sense of inner restlessness.

Constant access to rewards and distraction also make it harder to access the quieter, healing spaces within. When every moment of boredom, loneliness or uncertainty is filled, there’s no room to listen to what our inner world is trying to tell us. Going analogue doesn’t just help restore motivation and a sense of being settled, it can also be essential for emotional healing.

Emotional healing rarely happens in moments of immediacy. More often, it comes from staying with an experience rather than escaping it. When we allow emotions to be felt, they can move through the body, be processed and gradually transform or release. This kind of healing teaches the nervous system that discomfort is tolerable and doesn’t need to be escaped urgently.

When your system learns that discomfort isn’t dangerous, it stops feeling like such a threat. As a result, big emotions don’t create the same intense pressure to be eliminated, and a deeper sense of safety and steadiness can begin to emerge.

Challenging Constant Access to Us

The analogue trend doesn’t have to just be about how we access rewards and distractions, it can also support changes in the way others have constant access to us. Not so long ago, always being reachable wasn’t the norm. If someone wanted to contact you, they called your house phone and would only do this at sociable times. I remember my mum exclaiming, “who would call at this time?!” if the phone ever rang when we were having our dinner. It was seen as rude to assume that one would pause their meal time to speak to you on the phone. If you weren’t home or didn’t answer the phone, you simply weren’t reachable. There was no expectation that you’d explain your absence, or that you’d see the missed call and respond immediately

Because of this, people were more present in whatever they were doing. When you went out, you were unavailable. When you spent time with others, your attention wasn’t split between them and the activity on your phone. There was a natural permission to be unavailable, and that unavailability wasn’t interpreted as disinterest or avoidance, it was simply life.

Today, the expectation has quietly shifted. We are reachable almost all the time and with that comes a subtle pressure to respond, stay alert and be mentally elsewhere even when our bodies want to be present. This constant reachability keeps part of our nervous system switched on, waiting.

Slowing down and being unreachable for a while allows us to practice a different relationship with time, with others and with ourselves. We learn that nothing collapses when we step away, and that our presence deepens when our attention isn’t fragmented. Connecting with others can also feel easier and more fulfilling when relationships move from a pressure to respond to moments that are intentional and reflective of our current abilities.

Additionally, when we don’t have constant access to others it can give us space to learn new ways of being in relationships. Trusting that we can cope without immediate reassurance builds resilience so that long-lasting emotional healing can develop within.

Going Analogue Is Recalibration

To me, choosing analogue experiences isn’t about taking something away, it’s about allowing the nervous system to reset. Trying some of the changes below can:

·      Increase your capacity to focus

·      Build motivation

·      Increase your tolerance for uncertainty

·      Help you to feel more connected to your internal cues

·      Help you to feel satisfied by small pleasures

·      Build meaningful and enjoyable relationships

Instead of…	Try…
Online shopping	Planning in time to visit the shops
Ordering a takeaway	Going out for a meal with your loved ones
Always being available	Spending time away from your phone and replying at a time that suits you
Binge watching a TV show	Planning a trip to the cinema
Scrolling on social media	New hobbies
Posting on social media	Creating art that’s just for you

Choosing Analogue as an Act of Care

The analogue trend isn’t about rejecting technology altogether. It’s about reclaiming choice. About remembering that we were never meant to live in a state of permanent accessibility. Slowing down is not falling behind, being less reachable is not neglectful and delayed reward is not failure.

In a culture built on immediacy, choosing analogue is a quiet act of care and defiance, one that reminds us that true healing, growth and connections takes time.