I lived like it was the ’90s for a week. It was lonely, but not in the way you’d expect
A Gen Z writer attempts to live a week in 1996 without modern technology to escape digital burnout. The experiment highlights the social friction and logistical challenges of returning to an analog lifestyle in a hyper-connected world.
Why it matters
It reflects the growing cultural conversation regarding digital detoxing and the psychological impact of constant connectivity on younger generations.
- 9.37pm . First published at 8.00pm
Share article As a member of the undefined facet of Gen Z wedged between 1997 and 2003, I can’t lay claim to the “90s kid’ label . But it hasn’t stopped me from daydreaming about life in that era, long before smartphones and algorithms took over.
Was the grass really greener in those analogue, largely unplugged days? I decided to rewind the clock to 1996 and spend a week offline to find out.
I initiated a factory reset, and wound back the clock to 1996. Charlotte Thieme
If I could tell 2008 Charlotte she’d one day long for an era where the 6pm news was taped over her Bridge to Terabithia VHS, I just know she’d punch me in the boob.
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