2026 is the Year of Analog

In my circles, both online and off, the rumor is that 2026 is the year of analog. It’s not lost on me the irony of declaring it’s the year of returning to analog, online. I’m not the least bit surprised there’s a growing movement of people who are craving offline experiences and seeking ways to cut back on their screen time and digital dependence.

I often think about the privilege of growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, with no access to a smartphone, streaming, or a computer. There’s an entire generation of young people that have only experienced life online. Their entire lives and identities have been shaped by, and curated for, the internet.

It’s not clear who’s driving this analog “trend” (though I hope it’s more than that). Maybe it’s my generation of millennials, longing to reclaim their time and attention. Or maybe it’s younger generations, brushing up against fatigue and burnout from living their entire lives chronically online.

The reality is, now more than ever, our time and attention is currency, and the price we pay when we give it away to corporations is far too great.

Make no mistake, if analog is in fact “trending” for 2026, corporations will do whatever they can to capitalize on it. Going analog is not good for business, and if there is anything that a return to analog should not be, it is buying into whatever shiny new products marketers, influencers, and corporations will try to sell.

Going analog isn’t about consumption, it’s about reclaiming the gift of being present. A shift from watching life go by behind a screen, to experiencing it in real time, with all of it’s joy, pain, mundanity, and wonder.

I’ve watched the change in my own life over the last two years. Going from being anxious, burned out, and chronically online to finding meaning, purpose, and intention in my life by deciding what and who I give my attention, and how I spend my time. I know the power of going offline on purpose.

As I wrote at the end of 2025 about taking a scroll-free holiday, to log off is a luxury. And as I spent some of that time thinking about what value I could bring to all of you and this newsletter, I came up with a new weekly series: Offline, On Purpose.

Offline, On Purpose is for anyone who is exhausted from endless digital distractions, and wants more of what’s real, tangible, and human. It’s not about rejecting technology entirely, it’s about reclaiming our time and attention, to build lives filled with creativity, meaning, connection, community, and purpose.

Every week I’ll share themes, along with prompts, ideas, rituals, tools, and practices to explore going offline, on purpose. Here are just a few of the themes we’ll explore:

Paid subscribers can also still expect my weekly series Click. Read. Love every Sunday, in addition to personal essays, reading recommendations, and more. I hope you’ll consider joining me as we explore what it means to go offline, on purpose.