Do I Revisit Analog Life?

As the country feels more and more like it’s on fire, I find myself yearning for the simpler times. I was born in the early 1980s. I got my first computer when I was around 11, and I didn’t get a cell phone until I was 17 and left for college. My first foray into coding was learning how to write html so that I could style my MySpace account, and then my Facebook account when it was still college students only. Yeah, I had a LiveJournal. But the one constant throughout my life was that I always had analog items right alongside my technology. I handwrote a journal. I listened to the radio. I read paperback books, and dragged around an address book. Now I’m finding myself really missing that.

Don’t get me wrong, being able to type on this blog gives me a lot of joy. Plus borrowing e-books from the library is one of the best things I’ve ever been able to do. However I’m thinking this year maybe I bring back the balance between the two. Have this blog, and a paper journal too. Read e-books, but borrow physical items for the library more often again. Send emails, but also write more paper letters to the people I care about most. Because, why not? Why not bring that back? Maybe finding a balance here will help me find a balance mentally too.

It’s been my goal to stay off of social media more often this year anyway. To find a space between being informed and being so overwhelmed that I feel frozen. So perhaps bringing some of my good analog buddies back into my life will help facilitate that. I read my first paperback book of the year this year, and it honestly felt so good to just hold it and flip through the pages. The ease of carrying around a Kindle full of books is wonderful, but the serotonin that comes with turning the pages of a physical book will never go away for me. I need to give myself that more often.

How about you, bookish friends? Do you find yourself craving more analog things year?