I recently took an abstract art class for the first time. I am not a painter. I had no idea what I was doing. I stood in front of a white cloth, a brush in my hand, and a worried little voice in my head asking: What now?
Encouraged by the passionate teacher, she dipped the brush into the paint, touched it to the canvas, and watched a streak of color appear. The voice in my head became a little softer. The studio smelled of turpentine and quiet joy. I could hear hairs dragging across the surface. There was no algorithm telling me what to do next. No notice. There is no one-time measure of success. Just the paint and the canvas and everything that was going to happen.
I left my first drawing class feeling something I haven’t felt in a while: Fully engaged. Not because I didn’t do anything, but because for three whole hours, there was nowhere else to go.
I left that first class feeling something I hadn’t felt in a while: Fully engaged. Not because I didn’t do anything, but because for three whole hours, there was nowhere else to go.
It turns out I’m not the only one who feels this way. Quietly, all around us, something is changing.
Rethinking analog life: a cultural shift
People started buying film cameras again, not because they couldn’t afford digital cameras, but because they really wanted the grain. They want the uncertainty of not knowing how the picture turns out. They fill their bags with paper magazines and puzzle books and leave their phones in their pockets. Searches for analog hobbies are up. Sales of film photography equipment have doubled since 2020. DIY kits are flying off the shelves. There is even a viral trend called Analog bag– A small, curated collection of essentials (magazine, puzzle book, movie camera, journal) so that when you reach for something to turn on, there’s something other than your phone.
Forbes called this a year Analog living. Design platforms call it generic Incomplete pictures: Grains, hand-drawn lines, chaotic textures. Interior designers have moved from sterile minimalism to what they call minimalism Dopamine decor: Bold colours, personal heirlooms, physical combinations that make up the room feel Something instead of just shooting well.
A phrase that caught my attention recently is: brain wealth. This is the idea that mental longevity comes from slow, mindful activities: long reading, writing by hand, making something with your hands. One poll It found that around a quarter of Britons are actively looking for creative, non-digital hobbies specifically to help them switch off after work.
This is a quarter of a country that quietly raises its hand and says: There’s something not quite right about the way I live.
Why does the brush in your hand change things?
This is what struck me in abstract art class. The information available to me was, to some extent, much less than what was available on my phone. There is no endless scrolling. I won’t find the tutorials autoplaying. There is a distinct absence of comments and likes. However I felt moreNo less. More alert. More here.
Every piece is digital technology Our products are ingeniously and expertly designed to eliminate friction. To make things faster, smoother and smoother. You don’t have to wait or be patient. You don’t have to sit with uncertainty. On the surface, that sounds great.
But here’s the thing: some friction is the goal.
Why does holding a paper book feel different than reading the same words on a screen? Why is a handwritten letter different from an email with similar content? Why does the photo look a little more grainy and imperfect? alive From a flawless high-resolution image?
I think one answer is friction.
Every piece of digital technology we use has been expertly designed to eliminate friction. To make things faster, smoother and smoother. You don’t have to wait or be patient. You don’t have to sit with uncertainty. On the surface, that sounds great.
But here’s the thing: some friction is the goal.
When you turn on the movie camera, you only have thirty-six pictures. This limitation actually forces you to do so He looks Before you press the shutter. when Writing by handYou can’t write as fast as you think, so you slow down, choose your words, and delve into the idea instead of thinking about it. When you’re standing in front of a canvas with a brush in your hand, paint doesn’t care that you’re late or that your inbox is full. It simply is what it is, and it requires your full attention.
In mindfulness, we sometimes call this Beginner’s mind. The quality of encountering something new, without the overlay of habit or expectations. Analog activities seem to call upon the beginner’s mind almost by default. There is no algorithm that predicts what will come next. There is only this moment, and what you do with it.
The deeper question that we must carry in our consciousness
Now, I could stop here and tell you to go buy a movie camera or sign up for a pottery class. This wouldn’t be bad advice! But I want to go a deeper level, because I think this cultural shift points to something that no number of analog hobbies can fully solve on their own.
Here is the question I keep coming back to:
Who is the person who wants to be extinguished?
We talk about digital fatigue as if it’s a problem that’s out there — the apps, the notifications, the powerful, compelling algorithms. And these things are real. But the deeper discomfort, the thing that makes a person reach for a puzzle book or a movie camera, doesn’t actually come from the phone. It’s coming from within.
It’s insomnia. Constant low-level mental noise. A feeling that you are never well hereBecause part of your mind is always somewhere else – planning, comparing, scrolling, performing.
The thinner phone made obvious. It gave the restless mind a place to constantly go without rest.
The thinner phone made obvious. It gave the restless mind a place to constantly go without rest.
So when people say they want to shut down, I think what they’re really saying is: I want a break from being relentlessly me. From constant commentary. Self-monitoring. Performance. The quiet undercurrent of not being good enough.
This is the beginning of the realization that meditators and meditators have been pointing to not just for decades, but for centuries. No phones at that time!
The soul is exhausted. And somewhere, on a level we don’t usually put into words, we know it.
Why the craft is therapeutic—and where it leads
When your hands are full, literally full of clay, string, or paint, the talkative mind becomes quieter. Her attention was captured somewhere more urgently.
These activities work with The mind’s natural tendency to rest in sensory experience. They give the thinking mind something to do and not feed anxiety episode.
This is why the craft is therapeutic. Why gardening is meditative Why cooking from scratch seems centralized in a way that ordering delivery never is. These activities work with The mind’s natural tendency to rest in sensory experience. They give the thinking mind something to do and don’t feed the anxiety cycle.
In abstract art class, I notice this every time. There is a moment, usually about twenty minutes, when something clicks. I no longer think about whether the painting is like that good. I am there, with the color, with the fabric, with everything that wants to appear. It is no different from a moment of contemplation when… He breathes It ceases to be something you observe and becomes something that happens here and now.
But – and this is the nice but analogue hobby – it is the gateway, not necessarily the destination. Because after art class, the anxiety comes back. After a nice walk without headphones, you get home and treat yourself. The deeper practice that mindfulness refers to is not staying busy enough that anxiety can’t find you. It’s for learning meet He – she. To get curious about this topic. To finally ask, gently, without demanding an answer: Who is this restless person?
This inquiry is where analog living and deep awareness practice can become something more profound than just a passing trend.
How to connect to this analog living moment more consciously
If any of this resonates with you, here are some suggestions.
Choose friction intentionally. Choose one activity each week that you intentionally use Slow down version. Write a card by hand instead of sending a letter. Read a chapter from a paper book instead of an article on your phone. Cook something from scratch that you would normally order. The point is not efficiency. The important point is the friction itself.
Let the activity be meditation. When you’re doing the analog thing, resist the urge to play podcasts in the background. Let it be the only thing that happens. Notice the sensations: the weight of the pen, the smell of the paint, the sound of the page turning. This is mindfulness in plain clothes.
Don’t choose the impressive person. People often assume that an analogue hobby must be as photogenic as pottery, calligraphy, and vinyl records. no. Making a slow cup of tea is important. Folding laundry without a screen is important. Walking somewhere without headphones is important. Hobby is not the point. Attendance is the point.
Choose the activity your hands really want. Notice what your hands do when you are idle. Some people, like me, doodle. Some people mess with things. Some people are always tidying up. Some people are attracted to texture, such as fabric, wood, and soil. Your hands have already told you, for years, what kind of analog activity is right for you. Listen to them.
Choose what you have Inner critic He refuses. I almost didn’t go to abstract art class because a voice in my head said: But you are not an artist. This sound is often a helpful guide. The thing he’s trying to talk you out of This is ridiculous, this is trivial, and this is unproductive– This is often the thing your nervous system needs most.
Pair the activity with one quiet question. As you do your analog work, gently put one question in the back of your mind: Who notices this? You don’t need to answer it. In fact, not responding is the point. Just hold it lightly. This question, if you let it, is a thread that leads somewhere extraordinary.
Let it be imperfect. The grains are on the photo. Fluctuation in handwriting. A color bar that you didn’t plan on in the painting. These are not defects to be edited. It is a signature of something real that actually happened. A life that has been touched leaves marks. Leave it.
Walk through the door
Analog movement gives millions of people a small daily taste presence. A real, embodied moment, here. This taste is the beginning. This is the door.
Mindfulness is what teaches you to walk through it.
So, this week, pick one thing analog. Make it small. Make it casual. And while you’re doing it, instead of just doing it, be a little curious. Notice the quality of interest that arises. Notice the way the mind settles. And then, very gently, notice the person who notices.
That observation, that calm, careful look, is what it all leads to. We do not return to the romantic past, but forward to the life we actually live.
I hope you find at least one moment this week that is beautiful and not perfect.
Join us: 7 Strengths Global Event
Find more ways to slow down and settle into inner calm, even (or maybe). especially) When the world feels crazy and uncertain?
From May 13-19, 2026, I will join some of the most respected teachers alive – including Sharon Salzbergand Rick Hanson, Kristin Neff, Tami Simone, Mamphela Ramphele, and Millie O’Brien – in a free, global, seven-day online event called “Seven Strengths.”
This event is hosted by Mindness.com in collaboration with Sounds True and DailyOM, and all proceeds support the work of the Global Compassion Alliance to build a more compassionate and resilient world. This means that joining is an act of personal growth and an act of collective generosity.
Part of this renewed interest in analog life is that we’re all sensing something vital: the world doesn’t need any more anxious, stressed-out people trying to hold everything together. It needs calmer, wiser, more compassionate humans who choose to emerge, day in and day out, from a place of true inner strength.
