Action of the Week: April 26, 2026: Reviving the Analog
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Action of the Week
Reviving the Analog
“It dawned on me that the difference with typing on a typewriter is not just how you interact with the typewriter, but how you interact with the world around you.”
~ Sophomore computer science major
Action of the Week, April 26, 2026
Reviving the Analog
Smartphones and AI have altered the educational experience in ways that we are probably only just beginning to grapple with. When Grit Matthias Phelps, a German language instructor at Cornell, noticed that her students were using AI and online translation platforms “to churn out grammatically perfect assignments,” she decided to push back by bringing dozens of manual typewriters into her classroom.
Asking her students, “What’s the point of me reading [an assignment] if it’s already correct anyway, and you didn’t write it yourself?” she invited them to experience what writing and thinking “were like before everything turned digital” by giving them an analog assignment. (Delightfully, she brought in her own 7- and 9-year-old children to serve as analog “tech support.”)
Students and teacher discovered:
- Manual typewriters were not “intuitive” to a smartphone generation unacquainted with carriage returns and the need for pinky-finger strength.
- Students had to “think more intentionally” because they could not just delete and correct their mistakes. (One student said, “I was forced to actually think about the problem on my own instead of delegating to AI or Google search.”)
- The exercise led to more interaction with fellow classmates.
Although this particular analog exercise was instructor-initiated, there are growing reports that Millennials and Gen Zers are experiencing “digital fatigue” (also called “digital burnout” or “digital exhaustion”), defined by overwhelm from “always-on screens, pinging notifications, instant streaming, and endless scrolling.” According to one poll, from 78% to 81% of adults in those two generations “wish they could disconnect from digital devices more easily”—and their “digital detox” searches are way up.
Reportedly, this fatigue is leading to a resurgence of “personal and human” analog technology—“physical, tactile devices … such as film cameras, vinyl records, landline phones, and even physical books”—that provide “a sense of trust and longevity” rather than convenience. Others characterize the analog resurgence as “cultural resistance” and “quiet rebellion—a conscious act of reclaiming agency in an age where algorithms shape our tastes and screens mediate our experiences.”
If this is truly a meaningful trend, it is music to our ears at Solari, where we have steadily promoted the need to retain analog options for reasons that range from privacy and sovereignty to resilience. And of course, one of the best analog options of all, and one that we regularly celebrate, is—cash!
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Just a few notes to demonstrate that kids these days are going analog for their entertainment out here in crazy Los Angeles…
-Our 19yr old proudly named his 2004 Chevy Silverado 4×4 truck: “The Analog Control Center”
-Our 14 yr old uses cash everyday when out with his friends and he got them to stop using the Apple Pay on their phones…
-The lines are always long at these two (of many) “retro” gaming and DVD/VHS stores:
1. Retro Respawn: https://retrorespawngames.com
2. Game Dude: https://www.instagram.com/gameduderocks/
They take cash, write you a physical receipt and employ very intelligent young people who love analog and help parents find “age appropriate” games for their kids & are very aware of the dangers of digital money and technological control.
-Used music and bookstores are very popular out here. Just the other day I saw a long line of teens waiting for an album release and to meet the artist. They all said records sound better than streaming.
Keep up the great work Solari!
-Jennifer
My 17 yr old loves analog gadgets. He rejects smart phones and has a flip phone with no internet. I gave him a wind up pocket watch and he carries it everywhere. His project car is a 1940 Oldsmobile – he just got the engine running last week! I’m looking for an older car too (call it my zombie apocolypse car) that can’t be remotely shut off but more like from the 70s. I bought some photo film so he could experiment with the 110 year old Brownie box camera he’s had for a while. It works! I need to get film for my old Canon and take photos with him. He bought an electric Smith Corona typewriter at a thrift shop a few years ago and loves it. It’s loud! I just bought a manual Royal typewriter from the 60s from a neighbor. Ribbons are still easy to obtain. He asked me to see my old vinyl records – I still have a player. Also bought a tube radio from a thrift shop and we are learning how to fix it. Everything that’s old is new again.
What a blast! Sounds great. Never forget my uncle telling me about the summer he and his best friend in high school took apart a Model T Ford and then put it back together again.
Love your post! Lots of choices on ribbons on Amazon! In fact a lot of typewriters are available. There are only a few really good places to get them fixed, but honestly if you have any mechanical “knack” then you can probably figure it out with some youtube videos. I pulled the one my parents purchased for me in the 1980s, a 1937 Royal, and with some love and light cleaning it works fine. Make sure you watch a few of the DIY videos, because typewriters do not love to be covered with WD40 to get them unstuck. Also if you can defiantly get an older sewing machine. I have a singer and absolutely love it. The serial number will tell you where and when it was manufactured, 1947 on Prince Edward Island. Unlike the typerwriter make sure you oil the sewing machine well and use “grease in the motor cups” if it has them. At some point, I just know I’ll have to look for a car again. But notice that there are a number of people (companies) like real estate management companies that are advertising to buy your car. Don’t sell it. Its not clear if these older cars will ever get back on the market again. We don’t want to lose them. Most importantly remember analog machines like to be used. Most manuals can be found on line as PDFs and some as reprints.