My residual love for analogue
16.4.2025
Translation: machine translated
Pictures: Reto Hunziker
Yes, digitalisation has made many things easier and faster. But some analogue classics remain unbeaten. Which things I still prefer to digital gadgets today.
I'm at an age where my parents think I'm a tech wizard, but the teenagers think I'm already thinking about how I want to be buried (neither is true). I grew up in a way that I still know what it's like to be bored sometimes and have experienced all the major steps that consumer electronics has gone through.
In other words, I'm neither a boomer nor a digital native, but somewhere in between. I see both the advantages of the old analogue school and those of the digital modern age. I certainly don't belong to the «Everything used to be better» faction. And yet I'm happy not only to know what's new, but also to know what a VHS is and to have listened to music from vinyl, tape, mini-disc, CD, MP3 and Spotify.
So - here it comes - here are the things that I still prefer to listen to in analogue rather than digital:
Books, newspapers, magazines - so decorative and clearly organised
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I grew up with it, but I like paper. I like smelling books and holding them in my hand. I've also had a Kindle in my hand, but the only benefit I see is not having to carry ten books with me when I go somewhere where I want to read ten books. But because I don't read that quickly or that much, I prefer to carry a paperback (my favourite) or hardback around with me rather than an e-book. I also find books decorative: cover design, font choice, that's art.
I also still prefer to read newspaper and magazine articles on paper. As simple as it sounds, you simply have a better overview of how long it will take to finish reading. An enormously important function, if you ask me.
One of my favourite books that isn't even really a book: Icon Poet. 36 cubes with six icons each, which can always be used when it comes to storytelling, ideas, stories, associations or similar. Fantastic!
Musical instruments - only «the real deal»
Of course, it's amazing what's possible today and what you can do with a computer - if you know how to do it. But this hurdle is too high for me. I did buy a mini keyboard controller years ago in the hope of avoiding having to muddle through software controls, but then I never had the nerve to properly familiarise myself with it.
No, I want to be able to pick up an instrument and play it straight away without having to read the instruction manual first. Just like when I used to play computer games and always clicked on «Quick Race» without having customised or tuned my car first. Of course, this assumes that you can play an instrument - but I would rather invest time in learning a new instrument than in a programme. Call me old fashioned!
Photos - physically worth much more
Hand on heart: isn't photos similar to music? With free accessibility and the ability to take endless photos at «» (the word is likely to disappear soon in relation to photos), the exclusivity and value of photos has completely diminished. In any case, I listen to less music than I used to when I still had CDs, and although I have gigabytes of folders with photos, I rarely look at them.
Also: Photos were much more valuable when they weren't so perfect. Printing them out or having them bound into an album (that's a book!) is easier than ever thanks to digitalisation. It's nice when the new helps the old to survive.
Also decorative: photos in a frame.
Watches - not smart, please
I don't have a watch, but I think if I did, it would be one with real hands and movement, certainly not a smartwatch.
Wristwatches
−17%
EUR56,28 was EUR67,90
Casio MTP-1302PD-3AVEF Collection 39mm 5ATM
Analogue wristwatch, 38.50 mm
Simple and timeless (sic!), I would always (sic!) prefer it to a smartwatch.
Notes - preferably by hand
I used the Evernote app for notes for a while and also Trello, but nothing beats a nice notebook. Or a notepad. Or post-its. The main thing is handwritten. I come back to it again and again. Also because I imagine - not entirely without scientific foundation - that I remember my notes better if I write them down by hand. Hand-eye coordination and all that. And somehow I also find it a little embarrassing when you slowly forget your own handwriting, let alone never develop any in the first place.
And yes, it's also a great feeling to be able to use a really good pen on paper. And what's more, my organised chaos of notes wouldn't be possible digitally. It would be more efficient, but somehow also a shame.
The classic: a Moleskine notebook. Simple, beautiful, stylish.
Pocket calculator - tap, tap, tap
Yes, it's stupid. And I'm a bit embarrassed too, but no, I don't know Excel. And if I have the choice between a plastic calculator and a calculator app, I'll take the haptic one.
Okay, okay, even the simplest calculator is basically a digital device. But it's so simple and only has one basic function that you can almost consider it an analogue thing, right? And I can't really advertise an Abacus here because I'm too young to have learnt to calculate with it myself.
Has a function, fulfils that function - great! Or as it is always said in our reviews: does what it is supposed to do.
Society and card games - the genius of simplicity
Nothing against computer games, as a teenager I also spent a few hours on the Atari (don't you know? Ask your parents!), but the older I got, the more I realised: computer games turn me on and excite me. And I already have enough things that upset me.
That's why I prefer a game of Uno, for example, to digital gaming (which doesn't necessarily mean that I don't get a little upset). By the way: Is it just me or was there only one Uno variant for decades and suddenly there are dozens of them?
Simple but ingenious: Uno, the game.
What I definitely wouldn't want back
There are more examples: I still like letters and postcards, for example, and I often prefer mechanical buttons to a touchscreen.
On the other hand, there are some things that I would like to keep in the past: Phone books, maps, DVDs and analogue TV, typewriters (although they are nice, but then too tiring to write on) or cable phones. And so I will continue to seek out the best of these two worlds - analogue and digital.
What must be analogue for you? And where is digital the ultimate for you?
Header image: Galaxus
I'm a freelance journalist, communications manager and versatile writer. I prefer to write about topics that fall somewhere between drivel and social relevance.
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