Are We Collectively Obsessed With Anachronistic Tech?
- Konnor Killoran
- Mar 31, 2024
- 3 min read
The driving forces behind the revival of retro tech in fashion.
Prior to the pandemic, antiquated digital cameras were a dime a dozen—considered e-waste more than anything else. Flip phones were only found in forgotten junk drawers amongst paperclips and broken pencils and alongside shitty wired headphones that do nothing but tangle and crackle.
Fast forward to last year, it was impossible to go out in Toronto without being blinded by a sea of flashes on the dance floor, emanating from tiny digicams. Prices for secondhand, aughts-era point and shoots and other tech gadgets presumed to be obsolete, have soared in the last year. One would be hard pressed to thrift an old camera for less than $30. According to research by the Record Industry Association of America, in 2021 CD sales increased for the first time since 2004.
This resurgence of retro tech isn’t entirely new. Polaroid cameras, film photography, and vinyl records have been making a strong comeback for around a decade. The little orange date stamp in the bottom of your Instagram photos that signaled they were taken on a disposable camera photos used to be a signifier of ‘cool’. However, it seems the 90s and 2000s are now distinctly our decades of choice—with Gen Z reviving everything from flip phones, digital cameras, CD players, discmans, iPods and camcorders as their latest fashion accessories.
Why reject the convenience of modernity? The answer of course—nostalgia. Brent Maribojoc, a fashion content creator and Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) student, poses with flip phones in fit pics and posts blurry camcorder footage for the nostalgic appeal, “It’s kind of a weird illusion. “Your mind tricks you, sending you back to a good time where [you’ve seen it before.]” says Maribojoc. “When people see it, it brings them [back] to a time within that time capsule of the accessory.”
For those like Maribojoc, perhaps this slice of the past is providing escapism from the current cultural hellscape. For others, the novelty of making something old continue to work may bring them joy or engage them in a way that is otherwise not possible in their immensely digital lives.
“I could imagine people missing the times when you only had a flip phone. You would get two text messages a day and not be online when you’re outside, kind of the same longing for ‘when everything was better‘ or the ‘good old times,’” says fashion influencer Laura Schulte (@HolyLora), known for her videos analyzing style trends.
Another possibility is people are being drawn to the unique design of these gadgets out of boredom from the minimalistic design of our devices nowadays. Robert Ott, professor and Associate Dean at the Creative School of TMU argues, “There was something tactile, organic [about older tech]. “But it was more a limitation of the technology rather than an intentional design.”
Intentional or not, these funky silhouettes are part of the draw. Individuals like Maribojoc are rediscovering the ‘novel’ designs of dated tech and bringing them back into the mainstream, as an extension of popular Y2K aesthetics.
“It is a very oversaturated type of style,” says Maribojoc. “It's just a matter of trying to find what else [existed] in that time. Because it's really hard to think deep down into the past and find small moments that were very aesthetically pleasing that could be brought back today.”
The cycle continues. Digital camera use appears to be on the decline. Now that everyone has grainy digicam photos with their friends on Instagram, it no longer feels as special. Once flip phones and wired headphones are oversaturated, what’s next? Beepers and boomboxes?
Schulte casts doubt on the lastingness of this phenomenon, “I think people are using the items as accessories for the aesthetic, rather than [thinking] these items are better for their daily life. I dont think these technologies came back to stay. It is a nice visit from the past though.”
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