90s Nostalgia, the Pull to Go Analog, and How I’m Making It Happen

An experiment in tech minimalism and returning to a more tactile way of life

🎙️✨ New pod episode alert: Letting My Groans Out — and the Deeper Nervous System Work I’m Doing Now

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There’s a word that started catching my attention a few months ago – particularly after listening to Lacy Phillips on an episode of her podcast, Expanded. She described how drawn she is to the Victorian era and creating a more *analog* way of life, where she is only reachable by mail and doesn’t use electricity.

While I initially found this to be such an impossible notion, especially for someone like her who runs an online business, I was intrigued.

Analog. Hmm, interesting.

Truly, that word didn’t fully register for me at first because, well, it hasn’t been in my awareness in ages. But then, more recently, I saw a note on Substack that stopped me in my tracks.

“The millennial urge to delete your entire internet presence and go back to a landline, walkman, and digital camera.”

WHOA. 🥹

First, it made me feel so incredibly seen – like, wow, YES and also I’m not the only one who feels this way. And second, it sparked a very important bit of clarity for me. While I’m not interested in a Little House on the Prairie sort of life like Lacy, I have absolutely been craving simpler times.

When there was no Instagram or TikTok, no smartphones, no incessant news updates or horrific videos at our fingertips, no reading books on devices, no taking notes on tablets.

Just the basics that are now collectively collecting dust:

Writing on paper.
Reading newspapers and magazines.
Listening to CDs, tapes, and records.
Sending stationery and letters.

I have to thank Mark Groves for articulating something I didn’t have words for yet. And for helping me see that what I’ve been craving so deeply is, in fact, a more analog way of life.

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If you read this post, you know that I started experiencing content creation burnout almost two years ago. And I wanted nothing more than to escape the social media vortex.

Gratefully, I’ve been able to untangle myself from the online business world and what it required of me. A task that wasn’t comfortable because the digital stream is fast and shimmery and often triggers fomo.

But there’s something deeper I’ve come to realize in the time I’ve stopped posting: I want my life to feel like the 90s again.

I know, that might sound incredibly bizarre. But I’ll explain.

Pre-teen me with my mom, grandmother, aunts, sister, cousin, and aunt’s mother.

The 90s was the decade of my tween and teenage years, the decade that carries so much nostalgia:

Green Day and Weezer CDs, family gatherings in my aunt’s quintessentially dark red and green interior designed house, skorts and leggings from the Gap, spending hours making friendship bracelets, and collecting erasers and pogs (IYKYK).

There was more space. More slowness. More intention. And most of all, no one was carrying around a device that distracted them from being in the moment.

My nervous system remembers how that felt. So much calmer, so much simpler, so much better.

Back in 2024, when I found myself wanting to escape Instagram, I didn’t realize that desire was a small breadcrumb leading me towards a totally different frequency. Where I was being called to adjust the radio dial of my life from the intensity of techno dance to something softer like the symphony, jazz, or classic rock. Because that’s essentially what I’ve done.

That might explain why:

• I’ve been listening to Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Billy Joel ever since we landed here almost one whole year ago.

• We bought a house built in 1997 that carries some of the same character elements of my aunt’s house from my childhood.

• I’ve created an entire 90s Pinterest board with denim-on-denim fashion choices, Ralph Lauren inspired interiors, and classic lifestyle visuals that bring me back (Keri Russell in Felicity, 90210, J.Crew catalog covers).

I feel myself wanting to merge with all of it and create a larger distance from a digital world that is so captivating, shiny, and distracting.

And I want to lean into the casual, minimal style I’ve always gravitated towards: wearing straight leg jeans, chambray button downs, and loafers. Embracing the fact that I will probably always be an air dried hair kinda gal. Reading books and magazines. And somehow creating a bridge between a simpler life and the modern world.

Most of all though – and this is very much at the root – I want this for my kids. I want to protect them from what the internet and social media could do to their sense of self. And I want to surround myself with other parents who want the same exact thing.

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So, what does a 40-something millennial do with this desire? How do I make life more “90s”? Outside of preppy minimalism and interior design choices like lots of lamps and wallpaper, it really comes down to shifting to more tech minimalism.

Where we finally get the landline we’ve been talking about. Where I actually get a film-only camera. Where my iPhone is only used for calls, texts, and the necessities. Where I only shop, Substack, and research from my laptop.

Yes, this is absolutely possible – it’s right there just waiting for me to do it. At the same time, I totally feel the resistance. The thought of removing Pinterest, ChatGPT, and all of my shopping apps made me inner teenager whine, But I don’t wanna. I like them on here!!

But if I want to honor the simpler life and actually live it, this is what’s required. Which is why I started this untangling process with the lowest hanging fruit: removing dozens of apps from my phone. Specifically: Madewell, J.Crew, Gap, Shopbop, Revolve, Google, Safari, iTunes, News, and so many that I just never used.

And then, of course, the biggies: ChatGPT, Pinterest, and Substack. Those three in particular have truly been my biggest crutches since removing Instagram a week or so ago. But the deal is, I can still access all of them on my laptop. So, is it really a loss? No. Just an opportunity to get less distracted by – and be less attached to – my phone.

As I sit with how I’ll navigate this experiment, and hopefully new way of life, my intention is to reach for other things in the idol moments:

• the stack of books I’ve been meaning to read

• the issues of Darling Magazine I’ve collected for over a decade

• the organization projects that need tending to around the house

• the framed photos that need a home on our sitting room wall

• the toy clutter and old clothing that needs to be donated

• the little watercolor Valentine’s project I’ve been wanting to do

Less virtual reality. More touchable reality. That is the goal.

I know this evolution into the “90s frequency” will be somewhat gradual. I’m not expecting it to happen overnight. But clearly, it can happen quickly if I take the steps necessary. Any of us can.

So, if you’re like me – someone who has noticed a strong desire to do less, to get unhooked from the digital world, to reclaim your attention and energy and use it more intentionally, maybe you might join me in the untangling too.

It will be so interesting to see it’s effect on our lives.

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