The case for slower tech in a connected world

As smartphones grow more intrusive, young Indians are turning to older and near-analogue devices that simply do less

- Anoushka Madan

flip phone snapping shut after a call. A slightly blown-out photograph from a digital camera that predates Instagram. An instant print sliding out of an Instax Mini at a party. Across India, people are rethinking the kind of technology they want to live with.

From iPods and feature phones to digital cameras and instant film, a growing number of Gen Z and millennials are turning to older—or deliberately old-feeling tech to counter the constant pull of the smartphone.

This shift is not simply about nostalgia. It is about fatigue: with endless notifications, algorithmic feeds, and increasingly intrusive digital features that demand attention—technology can often feel overwhelming today.

The change is visible in small but telling ways. Feature phones are being used as secondary devices or “weekend phones”, limiting users to calls and texts. Old iPods are being dusted off, repaired and modded so music can exist separately from social media and messaging apps. Instant cameras have become a staple at weddings, house parties and college campuses, producing physical photographs that bypass editing apps and online validation. Even older digital cameras—Canon Powershots, Sony Cybershots, Nikon Coolpix models—are back in circulation, prized for their flash-heavy, imperfect images and finite storage.