One of the great ironies of our age may be that the generation raised entirely in the digital world is beginning to rebel against it. Reports suggest that increasing numbers of Generation Z are rediscovering physical media: vinyl records, CDs, DVDs, printed books and other tangible possessions, as an antidote to lives dominated by screens, algorithms and endless scrolling. Many younger people describe social media as exhausting rather than liberating, with some using it largely out of habit rather than enjoyment.
If this trend continues, it carries a lesson not just for young people but for all of us. For decades we have been told that digital technology represents inevitable progress. Every new device, every online service and every app is assumed to be superior simply because it is newer. Yet human beings did not evolve to spend every waking hour interacting with glowing rectangles.
Physical media offers something the digital world struggles to replicate: permanence and ownership. A book on your shelf cannot disappear because a licence expires. A vinyl record cannot suddenly be removed because a streaming platform changes its catalogue. A DVD remains yours regardless of whether the internet is working or a corporation decides to alter or withdraw its content. This desire for ownership rather than temporary access is one reason younger consumers are rediscovering physical formats.
There is also a psychological dimension. The digital world is built around constant interruption. Notifications compete for attention. Algorithms encourage endless consumption. Every spare moment becomes another opportunity to scroll. Physical objects encourage the opposite. Reading a printed book, placing a record on a turntable or watching a DVD is generally a deliberate activity rather than one continually interrupted by messages, advertisements and recommendations. It demands concentration rather than distraction.
Perhaps the greatest irony is that older generations have often been dragged kicking and screaming into this digital transformation, me included. Many Australians grew up perfectly capable of managing their finances, communicating with government and shopping without smartphones or online accounts. Increasingly, however, they have little choice. Banks continue closing branches while many of those that remain offer reduced counter services. Customers are encouraged, or pressured, to conduct routine banking through mobile apps, websites or automated machines instead of dealing with another human being.
The same pattern appears throughout society. Government agencies encourage digital identities. Businesses replace customer service staff with chatbots. Restaurants ask customers to scan QR codes to order meals. Medical appointments, travel bookings and utility accounts increasingly assume that everyone owns a smartphone and possesses the digital skills to navigate an ever-changing online world.
For younger Australians who have never known anything else, the attraction of physical media may represent a quiet rebellion against this relentless digitisation. For older Australians, it confirms something they have long suspected: not everything that becomes digital is automatically better.
None of this is an argument against technology itself. The internet has transformed access to knowledge. Smartphones provide extraordinary convenience. Digital communication has brought enormous benefits to education, commerce and medicine. But convenience should never become compulsion. Society functions best when people retain genuine choice between digital and physical alternatives. Like cash.
A healthy civilisation should preserve both worlds. Those who enjoy streaming should continue streaming. Those who prefer printed books should still be able to buy them. Bank customers who wish to speak to a teller should not find every branch disappearing. Citizens who value privacy should not be compelled to carry an internet-connected tracking device merely to participate fully in modern society.
Perhaps Generation Z is beginning to recognise what every previous generation eventually learns: technology is a tool, not a way of life. When the tool begins to dominate the user rather than serve the user, it is time to step back. The renewed interest in physical media may therefore represent more than nostalgia. It may be an early sign that, after decades of digitising everything, people are rediscovering the enduring value of the tangible, the personal and the real.
https://spectator.com/article/gen-z-going-back-physical-media/