A Gen Zer used only tech from the 1990s for a week. Here’s how he felt at the end.

Those of us who are old enough to remember the ’90s can recall how quickly it seemed like technology was moving at the time. Now that era seems quaint and slow in comparison, which has many people, even those who weren’t alive then, yearning for those simpler times. As convenient as modern smartphones, computers, and the like are, they’ve added layers of complexity and noise to our lives, prompting some people to question whether it’s worth it. Even young people who have grown up immersed in digital screens are taking a step back and wondering what life would be like without modern tech. One Gen Zer, who goes by Lucky Boy, even went so far as to experiment with ditching all of his devices and only using technology from the 1990s for a week. No laptop, no iPad, no smartphone, no Kindle. No Spotify, no online gaming, no streaming movies. Just a Tamagotchi, an iMac computer (that ended up not working, forcing him to use pad of paper for his writing), a Sony Discman and CDs, books from the library, a TV/VCR combo (that also ended up not working), and a flip phone that was as close as he could get to a phone from the 90s that would still function. Two young adults enjoying some music on vinyl. Photo credit: Curated Lifestyle/Unsplash The goal? Living more life “One of my goals this week has been to live more life,” Lucky Boy said. “I feel like people in the ’90s experienced more of life, whereas me, in 2024, I spend most of my day staring at a screen. The library, for example, is an experience of life that we’ve sort of eliminated because now we can just go online and order a new book or download it straight to our Kindle. We lose that real-world experience of searching through shelves of books, trying to find the one you’re looking for, and so if everything we do becomes digital, we’re no longer living life in the real world. And so I just want to disconnect from the modern internet world and try to live more in the real world.” Lucky Boy saved one piece of ’90s tech for the end of the week, knowing he’d overuse it if he brought it out earlier: The Nintendo 64 with a Super Mario Bros. game included. Video games are video games, as anyone who spent hours playing Space Invaders on an Atari can attest, and Lucky Boy had a blast reliving his childhood with a lower-tech game. So, how did going a week with only ’90s tech affect him? “It’s honestly been a pretty good week,” he said. “The lack of stimulation made the little things in life much more enjoyable. I could sit down for a meal with friends without feeling the urge to check my phone, and just sitting on a bench in nature, I was able to fully embrace the beautiful world we live in. Life has just felt simpler…I want to step back into the digital world with a little mindfulness so I can control technology before it controls me.” It’s good for all of us to take breaks from our screens sometimes, but most of us probably don’t consider going back to a previous era’s technology to do a digital detox. Millennials and Gen Zers seem to be turning that direction, however, with a collective affinity for all things analog. Record players, Polaroid cameras, AM/FM radios, cassette players, and “dumb phones” are all the rage with younger adults, and it’s rather amusing to their Gen X and boomer parents. On the one hand, the desire for slower tech and less digital overwhelm is great. On the other hand, anyone who trades in Spotify for a cassette player clearly never had to make a mixed tape from the radio while they were growing up. However, the sentiment is admirable, and it’s refreshing to see young people recognizing the need to unplug and, as Lucky Boy says, “live more life” in the real world. Gen Z is giving us real hope Gen Z gets a bad rap for being glued to their phones, but it’s worth giving them real credit here. They grew up fully immersed in digital life, with no memory of anything else, and yet they’re the ones actively choosing to step back from it. That takes a level of self-awareness older generations, who at least had an analog childhood to fall back on, never really had to develop. If anyone’s going to figure out how to live well alongside technology instead of being ruled by it, it might just be them. This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.