One of my friends has never made her own playlist. “I just get on Spotify and use what the algorithm has made for me,” she says. “If I’m in a good mood, I ask for a ‘happy playlist’.” 

Then again, I also have friends who are going out of their way to make life less easy. Three of them recently purchased flip phones with no internet connection. Others have bought digital cameras to lug along to every event. CDs are popping up in the center consoles of some of their cars. 

Even ‘purchasing’ a movie or TV show on a streaming platform doesn’t guarantee your ownership

Even ‘purchasing’ a movie or TV show on a streaming platform doesn’t guarantee your ownership

Is this just an extreme extension of the Y2K aesthetic that has overtaken Instagram feeds? Is Generation Z nostalgic for a bygone era they barely experienced? 

It’s deeper than that. Gen Z is also getting sick of technology that claims to have and be everything all at once. How often are we told our cellphones are ruining your life? We hear the stats every day and feel the effects when we stay up till 2 a.m. scrolling through videos we will never think about again. More than a third of Gen Z report that they rarely post or engage on social media and use it only for doomscrolling – turning tools once touted as “social........

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