The latest must-have accessory is a “stop-scrolling bag” – a tote packed with analog activities like watercolors and crossword puzzles. We spend hours glued to our screens. “Analog bags,” as they’re also called, are one way millennials and Gen Zers are reclaiming that time. “I basically just put everything I could grab for instead of my phone into a bag,” including knitting, a scrapbook and a Polaroid camera, says Sierra Campbell, the content creator behind the trend.
The 31-year-old keeps one bag at home in Northern California, carrying it from room to room, and another in her car. The trend has quickly spread on social media, part of a bigger shift to unplug. Roughly 1,600 TikTok posts were tagged #AnalogLife during the first nine months of 2025 – up over 330% from the same period last year, according to TikTok data shared with Axios.
“It speaks to an incredible desperation and desire for experiences that return our attention to us, that fight brain-rotting, that are tactile … that involve creating over scrolling,” says Beth McGroarty, vice president of research at the Global Wellness Institute.
I have no problem just sitting down with nothing to do. I bring a book or go on my phone so that I dont waste my time starring into space dreaming.
I have a 30min bus ride to and from work its perfect for reading or listening to music or steamdeck. Most of the time i just do nothing but gaze out the window.
With these tiktok trends and ‘stop scrolling’ videos Im happy they are feeling the effects of social media and actually taking action.
Or, you know, books!
I love my ereader.
Ok Boomer.
Father I cannot click the book.
Get a Kobo. Read the book, click the buttons that take you to another book.
If only more boomers read books…
Wait, scratch that, if only more people read books. 🤣
The 31-year-old keeps one bag at home in Northern California, carrying it from room to room, and another in her car
I think the problem is that we’ve forgotten how to just do nothing and be content with it (or even a bit bored with it). While I think unplugging is good, this just seems like replacing one kind of attention addiction with another.
It’s not attention addiction. Note that it’s supposed to replace consumption with creative / problem solving activities. If you’re addicted to watercolors, at least you will be getting better at the craft. If you’re just consuming online content / doomscrolling you’re just wasting time.
This is probably a good methadone, though. It’s way easier to kick a watercolor addiction than an addiction to an app purpose-developed by a whole team of engineers to string people along with the minimum possible dopamine drip for as long as they can manage.
Yep. Encouraging a whole new generation of casual artists, makers and readers can only be seen as a great thing. I would just add that we all need to remember how to slow down, and understand that’s good and necessary to do so every so often.
- sent from one of my 117 open tabs
But silence reminds me of the impending actual and factual and imminent terror and doom about to strike us all!
Take up knitting. I’m serious.
BE CAREFUL following this advice! My friend took up knitting a few years back and now we have two cat beds, a few scarves, a blanket, and her house is overflowing with shaped yarn goodies. It seems very addictive.
I broke my wrist and took up knitting for physical therapy.
I’m starting to look at weaving from natural fibers. I have yucca in my yard. The roots are a calorie source and the fronds can make durable shoes.
Looks Great!
Nice work!
Or any manual task
Masturbation. I’m serious.
Hi Masturbation. I’m reading comprehension-challenged.
I’ve always joked that coding as a hobby is just digital knitting lol.
But that takes braaaaaaaainnnnnn :(
Hi serious.
Don’t. I have like five boxes of yarn.
You aren’t knitting fast enough. Crochet can fix that.
I am not the knitter or crocheter in the family.
Those are rookie numbers
I’ve gradually weaned off of smartphones over the last 18 months. Currently daily-driving the Minimal Phone and loving its distraction-free (or at least distraction-lite) ways.
I may not be analog like the article is highlighting, but I have basically eliminated the doom scrolling and have reignited my passion for reading (the one “distraction” the Minimal Phone does well is being an e-reader since it’s got an e-ink screen).
Roughly 1,600 TikTok posts were tagged
#AnalogLifeduring the first nine months of 2025I’m just going to ignore the irony of that and appreciate it at face value 😆
Ngl, how else are you going to get the trend to spread to those who are perma locked on social media?
It is like saying you can’t make a youtube video criticizing youtube.
How is the Minimal phone for using apps? Sometimes I feel like want a phone that does less and I like the price point. Just want to make sure I can keep using my phone plan and the few apps that I need. It says its fully andriod compatible so I assume they can run them but are they still usable
Pretty decent unless there’s a lot of animation / video in them. Calling, texting, looking up something on the internet, bank app, auth app, etc all work great. Some of the stock Android components don’t work super great with it, though, like the quick action buttons (though, arguably, they don’t work great on any Android phone either lol).
Feels sluggish at times but that’s just the e-ink being what it is. I mostly treat it like a dumb phone that’s also an e-reader.
I like the idea behind this but how do you promote your analog life on TikTok without also using tech at the same time
You don’t have to quit cold turkey.
Oh for sure and you prob never get rid of it completely, just find a healthier balance. It just feels ironic recording an analog activity in front of a smartphone
I think the idea is to get a break from the digital life, not abandon it completely
Nice, I can finally put that free tote bag I got with a magazine subscription to use.
A magazine subscription?
Vanity fair sends a free tote bag with new subscriptions lol I have no use for it. But now I might.
Zoomers are in their 30s now? [insert Matt Damon ageing GIF]
Depends on the cutoff line. But i would typically say Zoomers are too young to remember 9/11 and old enough to have grown up with Marvel movies. Born late 90’s-early 2010’s. 30 is around the cutoff between Millennials and Zoomers so that wwill come down to individuals. But also, generations are pretty suspect as a concept outside of the Baby Boomers since that was an actual charatable phenomen
Yeah, I typically use 1996 (unlikely to remember 9/11) to 2015 (in school for the pandemic).
I see it as anybody too young to remember a world that wasn’t connected 24/7, somebody who in their child/teen years that didn’t make heavy use of the phone attached to the kitchen wall to contact friends. Someone who’s never had to seriously use dialup Internet or an 8/16 bit computer.
It’s typically best not to use things dependent on wealth to assess age groups. A kid growing up in Hamtramck had very different experiences from a kid growing up in Birmingham Michigan, even though those two areas are only 10 miles apart.
You can do both
this seems to just be subbing one obsession for another. if you have to create a bugout bag because you have a scroll addiction, I think that maybe warrants a better look at properly managing your own behavior.
just put the damn thing down and read a book, or paint something. you don’t need to declare war on smart phones. or even eliminate them from your life. just take some responsibility for your device use.
Yea this is an issue with people’s behavior and habits. Not the device.
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