Nostalgia and Making an Imprint on the World

Recently there has been a resurgence of Y2k and with the revival of low-rise jeans, butterfly hairclips, and blue eyeshadow — there has also been a slow decline in using the latest tech. 

No longer are perfectly curated Instagram feeds with photo editing and facetune, people are instead looking for grainy, low definition photos with the help of older technology such as the point and shoot cameras and flip phones. 

While the reason for this regression to the past has been debated with theories circulating that Gen-Z are trying to regain control of the online activity. Other theories include: blurring the lines of as seen on social media and reality or that people are putting less focus on having the ideal feed and are simply replacing one technology for another due to cellphones being to time consuming and users are wanting to be more present in their lives. Or — for the ✨️ aesthetic ✨️

It can't be denied that yesteryear's tech is the new hot device on the market. 

To me, people want to go back to a simpler time, with less social media or social media that doesn't have malicious intent or trying to sell us something. To a time where everyone could make a mark in the world by being the first. 

But nowadays, everything has been done before. At the beginning of social media with the likes of MySpace and Tumblr, users were able to separate their online world to the real world, today, users often have more than one social media account on a various networks as shown by the use of "finstas" ('fake' Instagrams). 

Also the nostalgia of being offline has resurface with many growing frustrated at their lack of IRL friend groups that their only existence is purely online and now we as a society and generation want to be REAL again. 

We want to make an imprint on the world that isn't superficial but with new technology, artificial intelligence, and the internet as a whole, it is becoming more and more difficult to become anything really. 

We are tired of having a part of ourselves hidden from public view with any insecurity, flaw, or whatever being a Ctrl Alt Delete away from social media. So, we turn to what we think it will be MORE REAL — which currently is grainy nostalgic photography on point and shoot cameras. 

What do you think — just nostalgia of simple times or a permanent change to making online be more real?