Every time I board a plane and the person sitting next to me is a stranger, I notice them clock the noughties relic in my palm: my iPod Classic. Yes, I still have the same one from over 15 years ago, and I still have my even older Nano too. They both work and they both house a collection of my favourite music from way back when. Some songs are cringeworthy to scroll past using the click-wheel (does anyone remember watching “Britannia High”? Well, I have the soundtrack), others are a nice trip down memory lane, and some are surprises — apparently I was already into Oasis and The xx while still listening to Hilary Duff and Jamelia. Who knew?
It’s not just me; there’s a lot of people with an appetite to press rewind when it comes to our tech. Gen Z has brought back the digi camera from my youth; brick phones are cool; and there’s increasingly been discourse around owning media again instead of renting or streaming it, so DVDs are no longer defunct. As for iPods, my colleague Esther Newman has purchased a secondhand one so she doesn’t have to worry about seeing texts or emails come in while connecting with nature on walks and listening to The Last Dinner Party. Gadgets like iPods gave us freedom to carry lots of the music we loved around with us. The iPod is the perfect spot in history: not so far back that you have to carry bulky CDs and a Walkman, but just far enough that texts, calls and emails won’t interrupt your listening. Years’ worth of bangers (and memories) all on one small device — magic. Old tech is helping us disconnect from the always-on bombardment of the present, while reconnecting with our younger selves and less overwhelming pasts.
I love my iPod for this reason too. It doesn’t rely on the internet, I don’t need to frantically download stuff for a long flight, and the cool feeling of the stainless steel in my hand is oddly comforting. Essentially it gives me a deep sense of who I was as a child. It’s a reminder of a time when my biggest concern was which albums to spend my pocket money on; building a wishlist on iTunes I slowly worked through. Lady Gaga’s Telephone music video? Bought it. Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun? A gateway to the dad rock I’d be hooked on for the next decade. None of the jazz-adjacent genres I listen to now feature, but my iPod is a sweet reminder of how much my tastes have evolved with my personality.
When there’s so much to digest and absorb constantly — be it through social media, search engines, news alerts and seemingly endless notifications — it’s a luxury to be able to turn it all off for a moment. Maybe old devices are an antidote to some of the mental health problems connected with modern tech. The BBC reported that people had turned to dumbphones to lower their screentime and be more present, which contributes to improved mental health, relationships, sleep quality, and general wellbeing. Having written about how hard reducing your screen time can be with a smartphone, I can only imagine how much less stressed and time-rich I would be if I made the switch to an old-school phone. On Reddit, people have discussed how swapping has helped them enjoy activities more, like going on a hike without the internet featuring.
Nostalgia helps with our wellbeing. Research from 2023, conducted by the Human Flourishing Lab at the Archbridge Institute, found that 84% of people use nostalgia to help them remember what’s important in their lives, and 60% said nostalgic memories offer guidance when they feel stuck in life. “After studying this topic for more than 20 years, I’ve discovered that nostalgia actually helps people move forward,” said social psychologist Clay Routledge, PhD, vice president of research and director of the Human Flourishing Lab, to the American Psychological Association. “It makes people more optimistic about the future, it boosts wellbeing, it reduces anxiety, it increases positive mood and self-esteem and meaning in life. But more than that, it makes people thankful, and it energises them.”
Using old tech isn’t a meaningless decision, or a trend for trend’s sake. Whether we realise it or not, we can benefit from both the nostalgia it brings and the remedy it delivers when modern tech feels too much. When I use my iPod, I get to have the decisions about what to listen to made by my younger self for present day me. I can hit “shuffle” and avoid incoming notifications on other devices. It’s just me, the music, and the inevitable memories that appear as each song begins to play. It’s the soundtrack of my early teens.
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