There’s something in the air and it’s not 5G. It seems ditching your smartphone is becoming increasingly popular. 

A post that is trending on Substack (an online blogging platform): How to Have an Analog Fall, includes options for “analog” living. The writer yearns for a simpler time–the 90’s; when people called each other or hung out in person rather than communicating via text or social media; when people watched movies, not 90-second TikTok clips (bonus points if you watch the movie on VCR); and, of course, if you’re reading this while holding the newspaper in your hands, congratulations you are having an analog fall by consuming physical media. 

Chances are you’re also probably a member of the Baby Boomer generation. But Millennials are re-claiming the 90s, the decade in which they were born or grew up in, a one-of-its-kind generation that was raised without smartphones but were still young enough to embrace new technology. 

We want kids today to have the childhoods that we had, playing together outside, calling someone on the phone and no social media until you turn 18. 

New York’s cell phone ban in schools seems to already be having positive ramifications–with teachers and administrators noting laughter in the hallways and students paying attention in class.

And it’s been all over the news that Gen Z are ditching their smartphones in favor of flip phones, or “dumb phones” in an effort to disconnect from social media. 

In the 2024 book “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness” author Jonathan Haidt uses data to argue that the spread of smartphones, social media, and overprotective parenting have led to a “rewiring” of childhood and a rise in mental illness.

With schools banning cell phones and Millennial parents making efforts to decrease their kids’ screen times, it seems solutions are on the rise. Haidt’s new book “The Amazing Generation,” coming out this December, highlights stories from real kids about how their lives have improved without cell phones. 

It’s something that we adults can take a page from.