Has anyone gone more analogue and loved it?

[Consideringparttime]

Ironically inspired by a tiktok video someone showed me about living like the 90s, I've really scaled back lots of the 'noise' of modern life and I'm liking it so far

Has anyone else done this? Or just want to chat about it. I mean, it's not rocket science, it's just having a simpler life but I'm interested in it
Here's what I've done so far

1. Got my cd player out for the kitchen instead of listening through phone
2. Got my DvDs out again

Started waking up to the radio on a timer, not a phone alarm.

1. No reading news on phone, just put telly on if I want news
2. Started a Christmas list, rather than just buying whatever I want. It's made me look forward to Christmas

I'd love to chat if anyone has done the Same sort of thing

Yes, trying to in some ways! I downgraded my phone to something that technically is a smart phone but in practice isn't great so it puts me off using it!

Phone stays in the kitchen evening and overnight.

I was actually looking at streaming a film last night and it was going to cost 10quid, so I'll seek out second hand dvds instead.

I got rid of most of my CDs though and don't really have storage for a new collection, so will need to stick with radio and spotify.

OP, you need to go a bit further back if you're going to go properly analogue: vinyl records and VHS tapes. CDs and DVDs are the early digital stuff.

There's plenty vinyl still around (try going to a record fair), not so much VHS though!

I do still read paper books rather than digital ones, and shop in actual shops in preference to online. 😀

Yes, this.

Although technically we do still own CDs they are all sealed up in a box on the garage. DH ripped them all on to the laptop. Same with the vinyl we own. I got him a turntable that can play the records and record them to a memory stick at the same time. Trouble with using them directly is the space they take up.

I don't think we have any VHS still and if we did god knows where we would get a player. We still have quite a few DVDs but play them through an external CD/DVD player connected to the laptop which is then connected to the TV.

However I will never compromise on books. We have hundreds and yes they do take up space but that's just how it is meant to be. Books just smell right. We still buy a newspaper and the occasional magazine too.

Really considering getting a landline and telling everyone to change my number to that. I never get calls now though so don’t know why people would switch from messaging to calling my landline!

Weve recently got a record player, play them through the Sonos speakers but they sound sooooo much richer than Spotify!

Really considering getting a landline and telling everyone to change my number to that. I never get calls now though so don’t know why people would switch from messaging to calling my landline!

Weve recently got a record player, play them through the Sonos speakers but they sound sooooo much richer than Spotify!

I never stopped with some things! Have always used an alarm clock, normal watch, paper diary, actual books and my camera occasionally.

DD has a record player and building up a collection of vinyls.

I’m interested in this and genuinely thinking of downgrading my phone to just a phone with no internet on it.
However I need the apps for the schools to contact me, I suppose in theory I could just not go online only phone. That’s would save me a lot of time and money!

I've got 2 turntables and never got rid of my records. I had one up in our summer house but one of the feral cats didn't like me playing music. He passed away recently and I cranked the stereo up and put some old 90s stuff on. Fabulous.

I have another one in my downstairs study which I am using to do pottery in, and that's where most of the vinyl is kept. So listen to that whilst I'm potting.

I have a journal style diary which I am using, and as I am learning French I am doing it in French and making myself write what I did that day in French as part of my learning. I go to classes in person not online, and watch French quizzes every evening. I do all my homework long hand, and am a bit miffed to have to type this week's out to hand it in.

Definitely re. the alarm clock. I’m trying to banish my phone from my bedside.

My weakness is audiobooks, and scrolling. I think I don’t have time to read actual books, so I listen to audiobooks and posdcasts all the time. This is wrong! I would do far better to read books and newspapers instead of scrolling on my phone, and I could do with switching off the constant noise and getting used to a bit of mental silence again.

This is my new year resolution and I’m going to start it now to ease into the habit!

I do still have a landline but I'm thinking of getting rid of it as most of the calls I get on it are from dodgy scammers.
Yes to analogue clocks and having to remember to change them twice a year.

This would include

Writing letters
Sending birthday cards & Xmas cards in the post or making your own

Playing board games

Meet people physically to socialise

Go to cinema

Buy paper road map or paper map or book if on holiday

Join library

Use a typewriter, tippex in a bottle or tippex paper

I found my old Filofax recently and what a beautiful piece of stationery it is, too! Brown leather, still pristine. I’m going back to that as I hate the iPhone rolling calendar. I’d also love to go back to my old Nokia or Samsung phone. Basic. I bloody hate these all these group chats that someone’s have generated. I also listen to my Roberts radio all day, every day, but it is DAB 2😊

I was just using analogue as a synonym for simpler

I love the ideas here
I already use a paper diary but am definitely going to reinstate my library use.
Also I love letter writing so will try to do more of that too

I think I need a pen pal

Yes!! I have CDs in my car now instead of the radio, and I have a rapidly building dvd collection! I’m really working on my phone addiction though :,) starting colouring and draw to try to combat this

Oh the irony of someone 'living like the 90s' making a big show of it on TikTok.

The 90s was my young adult decade, there's lots of things I did then that I still do, because I don't see the digital/online version as an improvement.

We still use our landline, in that, if one of us is working away, we ring the landline phone to call home.

I still buy a newspaper at the weekend and have a paper map in my car, that I use regularly.

I pay by card not my phone and use cash for small amounts, because in the 1990s, everyone hated those who used cards (or more likely cheques) to pay for anything under about a fiver, and a lot of shops/buses etc wouldn't accept anything except cash.

I use paper for shopping and to do lists not apps and I always use a paper boarding pass where possible, far easier than faffing with a phone.

I drive a 2014 Acura tsx with 203,000 miles on it and will until it won’t run anymore because i love listening to books on dvd and it has a cd player.

im about to change 3 analog clocks to “fall back” daylight savings time. I rarely use my phone for time.
i love to read and only use library books or used books
im pretty tech savvy but i just held on to these lifetime habits primarily because of costs.

lifetime list maker. What to do where to go chores projects things to buy. I actually don’t like to have my phone out in stores.

We have vinyl, cd, dvd & vhs.
We still buy paper books and use paper maps. I write in a journal and we have a notice board in our kitchen.
We don't have Alexa or ring or modern kitchen gadgets.
I only got my first smartphone last Christmas when we decided to get rid of the landline, but I hardly use it. I don't use it for music or games or shopping, it's more or less just for taking photos of the dog and making an occasional call.

If it wasn't for my partner having work computers in the back bedroom and me having this tatty old laptop, our house would appear stuck in a 1980s time warp. Rather like us, truth be told.

Yes I neeeeeed school to go back to paper notes! So many apps and none of them fit for purpose.

We never had vinyl in the first place - too young - so we’re building up our collection now. It’s shockingly expensive though! Any CDs of mine that survived to today would be scratched to shit and things like B*Witched and The Cartoons. When I was a teen, mp3s were already around.

Things I do love about technology and wouldn’t be without:
• google calendar - I was a Filofax girl until this time last year but Google calendar is soooo much easier with a husband and 3 kids!
• Apple Pay/pay by phone - I rarely take my wallet out anymore

I still have a working VHS player, but the problem is that the tapes degrade with age and are unwatchable. DVDs are more reliable.

I have a bit! I've deleted all my social media (except mumsnet, which isn't exactly social media but I'm thinking of leaving here too). I play records on my record player for me and the children, and that has actually massively increased my musical literacy. I've gone back to a paper newspaper subscription instead of news on my phone.

It is good for my mental health to be a lot less online, I find, and to engage more consciously and physically with what I read / listen to etc.

Some things we've never stopped and others we've gone back to, some more we're thinking of because we want to set good habits as DD is going up to secondary in Sept and thinking about a phone.

We all read paperbacks and magazines.

We use the library very regularly.

We recently got our old DVDs out of the loft and the kids have been enjoying having something physical to choose! They now love Mary Poppins and back to the future!

I've stopped recording my swims because I just thought, what am I doing with this information?! It just goes onto the cloud where it's stored forever, what a waste of carbon!

I'm going to ask for an analogue watch for Christmas. A radio alarm is a good idea.

I've locked a lot of my apps 9-5 and been putting phone in a different room when we're watching a TV show as a family.

I seem to be the odd one out here, but I don't see the appeal of going back to a time where things were more time-consuming, expensive and complicated.

Ha! I don’t feel such a dinosaur now! Still use a ‘book’ diary. Still use CDs mainly audiobooks, as my car is old and only has cd player and radio….non of this Bluetooth stuff! Still have a landline, as mobile signal is terrible. Still meet up with friends / family , never do ‘digital’ meets ups, as I hated it during covid. Still carry cash around, which has been very useful this week, as one of the towns we visited had a problem with the WI-FI / phone signal and non of the parking apps or card readers on the machines were working….glad I could pay in cash!

So true, I’ve been reading way more actual books and doing more crochet and just sitting watching the kids etc since I quit instagram. I feel more serene. I never had TikTok and only use FB for my kids’ school class pages. I need to crack Mumsnet as am here too much! But it’s handy and amusing and sometimes I do need a way to be LESS in the real world, ie I need to dissociate from the kids sometimes ha. It’s a balance I guess!