Written by: Sierra Perrin Hee
Before the digital age brought an endless algorithmic stream of photos, videos, and music, society had both simpler and more meaningful technology. Today the emotional appeal that vintage, physical media provides is being sought after by generations raised upon digital content. Within the past year, vinyl records alone have reached over one billion dollars in sales as consumers rediscover their love for physical media (Leimkuehler, 2026). The rising popularity of physical books, film cameras, and flip phones also echoes changing consumer trends. Overall, Generation Z faces a growing sense of nostalgia that is continuously shaping how they live and express themselves. Even with technology ever-progressing, society has begun to realize that sometimes the classic analog and early digital formats provide the missing piece of today’s technology: emotional appeal.
Consumers often express that “analog media adds a layer of ownership and intimacy over our experiences of the world,” one that social media and the digitalization of our society has removed from our lives (Bero, 2026). Physical media has given the youth of today a feeling of a world unknown to them, a yearning to experience the life their parents lived. Such nostalgia has found its current focus in the 90s, helping to bring back physical media, fashion, and many other aspects of the era. Physical media has been described as having a deeper emotional awakening and many users have described that their use of physical media has created connection with others (Music Week, 2025). When social media was first introduced it was highlighted as a platform to bring people together worldwide, but as time passes it has become its own algorithmic world, trapping users for hours. Everything is at your fingertips, but is that really what consumers want?
As physical media has grown in popularity, retail locations of these goods have seen expansion as well, a direct increase in supply due to consumer preferences. According to Barnes & Noble and similar brick and mortar retailers, physical stores have been expanding: Barnes & Noble added 70 new stores in 2025 on top of the 323 new brick and mortar stores seen in 2024 (LaBee, 2026). The increase in physical booksellers is not only an economic revival, but another example of a longing for connection. When buying a book at a bookstore, it often sparks a conversation with the cashier about their opinion of the book and how old they were when they read it. Books themselves have always been something meant to discuss and think about with others, exemplified in the lasting popularity of book clubs. The downloadable e-book and kindle took away many opportunities to talk about books, such as the chance for a stranger to see you reading a book in public and ask what part of the story you are in. Human connection surrounding literature has been somewhat kept alive in Goodreads reviews, but nowhere near the same level that physical books bring. The return of physical bookstores both showcases a desire to hold a book in your hands, but also to foster conversations around them.
Additionally, vinyl records and film photography provide a clear economic perspective in consumer preferences: each individual record and film roll cost money. In order to justify buying a record, or taking a photo a consumer needs to value one of the songs or the album itself enough and each moment captured on film needs to be worth the money spent on film and development. Even though any song could be listened to on Youtube, Spotify, Apple Music and other platforms, and any photo could be taken on your phone, users are still going into the record store and buying their favorite album and consistently paying to buy and develop film. Why? Because physical purchases and items provide human connection. Listening to music on a record player not only is a different experience through sound, but it also allows immersion with the music and the moment, sharing it with those around you. Record players require you to set up the tonearm and manually lower the needle into the gap between songs, preventing the immediate skip of a song that digital platforms allow. The growth of vinyl sales in recent years is one of the many reflections of a shift in consumer trends and demand. As social media and phone addiction become daunting and inventions such as the Okta app and the Brick arise to get people off of their phones, it appears that physical media and its break from technology are having their moment once again. Vinyl records slowly reverse the brain hitched on quick dopamine by preventing the skip, and similarly preventing the immediate scroll.
Furthermore, film photography provides a nostalgic hue, encapsulating the moment in a way a phone camera never could. Film makes memory feel preserved rather than captured, as though the memory lives inside the photo itself. Due to a stark difference in light capture and dimension, film is already worth the investment for more serious photographers, but its emotional connection, often being the kinds of photos found in scrapbooks, is what sparks a casual desire for film photography. With one roll allowing as few as 22 photos, film demands attention; “film makes you pause, compose carefully, and make each frame count,” something that the phone camera took away the excitement of (Dhillon, 2025). An increase in AI-generated imaging has furthered consumers’ desire for authentic film photos that capture exact moments, even their imperfections (Dhillon, 2025). Film photography is a precious art, requiring patience in order to bring the moment back to life out of the roll. Patience in itself is something that social media and our digitalized world has threatened in society. Photos are available at the click of a button, news is available within minutes, and the want of users to keep taking film photographs and individually develop or wait weeks on end reflects a consumer demand for a decidedly less digital life with patience.
While technological developments and social media will never go away due to their advancements in connectivity and efficiency, there is now a larger cultural need to be disconnected from modern technology. The increasing demand of physical goods, coupled with their limited supply suggests that the resurgence of physical media is a trend likely to continue (Pazzanese, 2021). Although analog media trends have been connected to social media in some regards with Generation Z being the “first ‘digital native’ generation to use social media to further their interest in records, collecting, set-ups and more,” the records themselves are what brought about the physical connection that social media lacks (Music Week, 2025). Consumers are still willing to buy these records even when they are 7 times more expensive than they used to be (Mellor, 2025).
The question is not whether physical media will replace our digital world, but rather how has physical media’s comeback showcased what is missing. Physical media has adapted to fit our present day, but our present day is also adapting from its revival. The resurgence of vinyls, physical books, and film photography are a direct reflection of the need for human connection that the digital world has taken away.
References
Bero, T. (2026, February 17). Analog is back, and my millennial heart couldn’t be happier. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/17/analog-is-back-and-my-millennial-heart-couldnt-be-happier
Dhillon, S. (2025, September 3). Why film photography is making a comeback: Analog photography thriving in a digital world. Beyond Fifteen Stops. https://beyondfifteenstops.substack.com/p/why-film-photography-is-making-a
LaBee, R. T. (2026, January 8). The bookstore boom is real: Why physical media is making a comeback in 2026. Military.com. https://www.military.com/feature/2026/01/02/bookstore-boom-real-why-physical-media-making-comeback-2026.html
Leimkuehler, M. (2026, March 16). Vinyl sales surpassed $1 billion in 2025: Report. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewleimkuehler/2026/03/16/vinyl-sales-surpassed-1-billion-in-2025-report/
Mellor, J. (2025, December 7). Why Gen Z has a growing appetite for retro tech. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgl8nj8nvzo
Music Week. (2025, January 23). Vinyl Alliance says Gen Z is now the driving force behind the format’s popularity. Music Week. https://www.musicweek.com/labels/read/vinyl-alliance-says-gen-z-is-now-the-driving-force-behind-the-format-s-popularity/091294Pazzanese, C. (2021, November 12). Renaissance for vinyl records. The Harvard Gazette. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/11/renaissance-for-vinyl-records/