As internet scrolls swell more and more with artificial intelligence generated content known as “AI slop,” all the cool Gen Z kids are embracing retro tech. That includes “dumb” phones, discontinued iPods, vintage game consoles, vinyl albums and more.
“The trend is really exciting to me. And then we’ll get into the numbers, which is big business by the way,” said Paul Hochman, president of Humongous Media, in an interview this week with Rob Hart on WBBM Newsradio’s Noon Business Hour. “But, but the trend is towards devices and technology that I can actually operate.”
He noted that vinyl records – which were also trendy for millennials – have maintained their cool status despite the rise of streaming platforms where music is available. They are, in fact, so in demand that annual sales for vinyl surpassed $1 billion this year. Film photography is also on the rise – Hochman said sales grew 127% over the past year.
“Gen Z is really flocking to what we older people consider to be retro or sort of backward looking… 40%, roughly, of new film photography customers are under the age of 25,” he told Hart.
Younger consumers are also gravitating toward printed books, Hochman added. Previously, Audacy has reported on Gen Z fueling a renaissance for MP3 players and Gen Alpha helping popularize a comeback of hacky sack, a digital-free pastime.
“What it also means it is a bit of a kickback against the what is an obvious surge in digital technology in everyday life – whether it’s AI or other – a concern for things that are not seeming to be real,” said Hochman. He noted that his own 18-year-old son is concerned about how using AI could waste water.
Hart said this reaction to out increasing reliance on digital technology has even shown up as a disinterest in social media from younger generations. Hochman said this disinterest is connected to that concern about things being real and frustration with algorithms determining what they do and don’t see online.
“So, in a nutshell, it’s not so much about the medium as it is about the content,” Hochman said. “Is it real or not? Authenticity really is the word of the day. You wanna sell a product these days? Authenticity is the byword if you’re gonna be successful.”
