Published January 27, 2026
BY JOHANNA MELTON
According to the Pew Research Center, 95% of teenagers have access to some kind of smartphone, which provides quick and easy access to all kinds of entertainment, including movies and TV, large catalogs of music and built-in camera features. So why in recent years have many teens and young adults strayed away from their smartphones and instead turned towards a lower tech lifestyle?
Many teens enjoy shopping for CDs at second-hand stores due to the low prices and unique finds. Photo by JOHANNA MELTON
Using technology from other generations has been trending since mid to late 2010s, yet this trend has picked up speed among Generation Z within the past six years, as they’ve become popular collectors’ items and online streaming alternatives, and many students at Carmel High School have embraced this analog movement, making the switch from classic streaming services and phone apps to physical media.
“I started listening to CDs when I got my car because it has a CD player,” says junior Maya Steinberg. “I like it because I can listen to a full album really easily while I’m driving.”
The abundance of music available on modern streaming platforms and the sheer ease of making a playlist has made listening to albums in their entirety a dying art form.
The resurgence of CDs and vinyl is allowing people to listen to albums as they were created, rather than only hearing the most popular songs and singles off of albums. This allows for a more active listening experience and, via liner notes, lyrics and displayable cover art, provides a stronger more personal connection between the listener and the music.
“I would one hundred percent choose listening to vinyls over any kind of media device because it feels a lot more immersive than streaming,” says senior Claire Reed, who mostly enjoys listening to ‘60 and ‘70s era music, including Bob Dylan and Fleetwood Mac.
With this younger generation having spent so much time on screens due to the pandemic during their critical developmental years, the widespread want for physical and offline media is not a shock. Many teens are, despite being addicted to them, tired of their phones, and this works as a way to separate from them, allowing the consumption of entertainment without endless advertisements and distractions.
“It’s good that we’re starting to disconnect from technology and phones and getting way more into physical media,” says senior vinyl collector Ember Franklin.
Media such as CDs, DVDs and vinyls are also common to come across second-hand, making it easy to collect many of them with little financial impact.
Freshman Gretchen Peelman enjoys both her CD and record player to listen to artists such as Phoebe Bridgers and The Beatles. Photo by JOHANNA MELTON
Most streaming platforms cost a large amount of annual money and some even charge for content after the subscription has been bought. Especially with costs of these subscriptions rising in recent years, young media lovers are flocking to second-hand shops to thrift a movie or album for a dollar rather than paying for an expensive streaming service.
“When I started working here in 2019 our average age was about 55-65,” says Christy Jacoby, the manager of the SPCA Benefit Shop. “Now we get lots of young people coming through to shop.”
Old school devices can also be nostalgic for many teens nowadays, as their parents likely grew up in the ‘80s and ‘90s and might have raised them on technology from that era.
“It feels really nostalgic to watch DVDs,” says freshman Anya Griesser, a lover of folk, jazz and rock tunes, “especially because a lot of the ones I own belonged to my parents when they were younger.”
The trend of collecting media, while starting out small among youth, has spread drastically from person to person through both social media and human connection, as people see their friends’ collections and get inspired to start their own.
“A lot of my friends have CD players or record players, and they use them pretty frequently,” notes Griesser.
A growing group of Gen Z teens works to detach themselves from the online world, embracing the use of the same tech their parents and grandparents grew up on. This analog movement among today’s teenagers and young adults dips into a healthier, more immersive method of consuming art in the technotopia of 2026.
