What’s in your wallet analog bag?
There was once a credit card company commercial asking what’s in your wallet. Today’s answer isn’t a specific credit card, it’s a phone and in that phone there’s a “wallet.”
Have you heard of the craze? My son, along with people I watch in thirty second blips while doomscrolling, introduced me to the term. An analog bag is a tote, backpack, basket, messenger bag, or any other type of portable container for storing items one can reach for instead of those little devices that are so much more than phones.
My son’s bag contains an MP3 player, wired headphones (they sound so much better, Mom!), a journal, a sketchbook, an actual book (he stopped reading for funsies in high school), pencils, a pen, a vintage Polaroid camera, and his Nintendo DS. There are still electronic devices, but said electronic devices can’t access the internet. The camera can only snap photos. The MP3 player only plays music. The DS only allows playing solo games.
The trend is popular among many Gen Z’ers. I’m hopeful the trend will trickle down and gain popularity among middle and high schoolers. I’ve gotta give my boy credit, along with everyone else doing this, for recognizing the need to slow down. I believe people are at a breaking point with the negative effects of device and social media overuse. People are exhausted from noticing how much time is spent online.
Gone are the days of surfing the net. We’re now drowning in the abyss of information and misinformation and short form video and endless subscriptions to everything we could ever want and everything we don’t need.
I’ve noticed many social media accounts run by those who became accidental influencers become silent, change, or disappear altogether. Some people behind said accounts announce they either stepped away or will be closing them in favor of getting back in touch with themselves. It must be exhausting putting your life online all day every day.
I may have laughed at the idea of an analog bag because it seems so logical. Grab a bag, put your favorite stuff in it and take it with you. However, Gen Z is accustomed to taking everything in one tiny pocket sized device. Seeing someone reading a book, knitting a scarf, writing in a journal, playing solitaire, or doing anything other than being on a phone is a great conversation starter. People are wanting more in-person connection.
If it’s analog bags that get us there, then I’m all for it. I hope it isn’t a short-lived trend.
Nerds Beget Nerds 
Alice, it is a hopeful trend. Interesting that so many of the objects aren’t actually analog, but it does make sense that there’s a big difference between single purpose electronic devices and our connected-to-everything phones.
These days my always in my backpack and/or panniers: a composition book, pencil bag with pens and reading glasses, my kindle and/or a physical library book, my binoculars for birdwatching, sunscreen, an emergency protein bar.
What’s in your analog bag?
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I always have a “slicer party” and analog bags are what my guests will be bringing to the virutal party! I jsut started creating mine this week! I love this trend.
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You seized my attention with “analog bag,” a term I had never heard. (I guess I am doomscrolling in all the wrong places.) I never stopped having an analog bag, and what I carry can be a slice for another day. However, your description of what your son carries in his analog bag made me laugh and think of my 9th grade son. He does not carry a bag, but always wears his jacket with deep zippered pockets so he can have all he needs. This evening I picked up his jacket and told him that he did not need to carry 20 lbs. of things in his pockets. A cursory glance showed me at least 18 pencils, colored, normal, drawing, and mechanical, a selection of good erasers, a deck of cards (you never know, Mom!), and some drawings. He probably has his small sketchbook in there and he almost always has interesting rocks, sticks, feathers, random nails, screws, and bolts that he has found, two or three fidget devices, and sometimes a car or a model that he built. I like the idea that your son and mine and all those like them can carry the fate of the future in their bulging analog bags and pockets.
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