Late last year, Oxford University Press announced their 2024 word of the year: Brain rot. 

“‘Brain rot’ speaks to one of the perceived dangers of virtual life, and how we are using our free time,” said Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Languages, in a statement. “It feels like a rightful next chapter in the cultural conversation about humanity and technology.”

And apparently, “brain rot” is real. Studies have shown that excess screen use is shortening our attention spans and negatively affecting our executive functioning. But despite all this “brain rot,” some researchers have a different, and more positive, projection.

“Despite all this ‘brain rot,’ some researchers have a different, and more positive, projection.”

In-person clubs for activities like birdwatching, running, knitting, or roller skating are popping up left and right. Analog technologies like vinyl records are soaring in popularity, and there are more apps than ever to help you control social media use. 

In late January, the Global Wellness Summit released its 2025 trends report detailing the top ten wellness trends of 2025. And the number one item on their list? “Analog wellness.”

What is analog wellness?

According to the research experts at the Global Wellness Summit, the analog wellness trend is twofold: They predict that this year, more and more people will start to finally get serious about logging off — leaving social media, reducing screen time, or keeping work at work — while, simultaneously, we’ll continue to see the rise of all sorts of in-person hobby clubs and analog tech like film cameras. 

Beth McGroarty, VP of research at the Global Wellness Institute, wrote the analog wellness section of the trend report, and says 2025 will be the year of a “great logging off” — and, maybe more significantly, a great “analog-ing on.”

“2025 will be the year of a ‘great logging off’ — and, maybe more significantly, a great ‘analog-ing on.'”

“I just think it’s a tipping point,” says McGroarty. “I feel this sense of manipulation … this sense of junkiness with the Internet, the fact that the Internet has taken over our lives,” she says. “There’s a much more powerful rebellion against it.”

The average person takes in up to a whopping 74 gigabytes in information every day, and that number continues to grow by around 5% every year. Those 74 gigabytes are the amount of info one highly educated person would’ve consumed in their entire lifetime 500 years ago. “We’re taking in millions of pieces of information within the first hour that we wake up,” says McGroarty. “This is not what our brains were designed for.”

So, how is analog wellness different from the concept of digital detoxing? Unlike the term “digital detox,” analog wellness is less about simply getting offline. It’s more about the second part of the trend — the “analog-ing on.” Analog wellness goes beyond reducing your screen time, diving into the intentionality behind the more tactile, creative, social, non-digital pastimes that you’re filling that time with.

The great logging off

Before you can find that extra time with which to pick up more analog pastimes comes the “great logging off.” According to a 2023 US Harris poll, 77% of people aged 35 to 54 would prefer to live in a previous era before everyone was “plugged in” with the Internet and smartphones, and that percentage only decreased to 63% of young people, ages 18 to 34, most of whom have never known anything but a “plugged in” world.

Today, our screen times have continued to increase even in a post-pandemic world. This connectivity leaves us with less separation of work and life than ever before, but people, apps, and policy are pushing back.

“This connectivity leaves us with less separation of work and life than ever before, but people, apps, and policy are pushing back.”

“Calm tech” apps, designed to help us control our screen time, work with our attention rather than against it and continue to grow in popularity. “ScreenZen” will have you pause before opening an app you’ve deemed distracting, and set time limits so you’re only sucked in for so long each time. “Forest” prompts you to “grow” a digital tree by not looking at your phone, and rewards you with tokens to unlock new kinds of trees.

“People think it’s ironic when technology solves technology’s problems, but it’s not,” says McGroarty. “It has to be this way.”

Shifts are happening at the policy level, too, and Australia has some of the toughest new regulations. Late last year, they passed a law banning anyone under the age of 16 from having a social media account. And a different 2024 law now gives Australian workers the “right to disconnect,” meaning they can refuse to respond to work emails or calls outside of work hours.

The great analog-ing on

The rise of analog tech, like vinyl records, in recent years is undeniable. But even tech that was considered as good as dead a few years ago is making a comeback. Flip phone sales have been on the rise for the last couple years. Even tech like CDs and cassette tapes are making comebacks, largely spurred by Gen Z.

“The new luxury is flip phones and vinyl LPs,” wrote Zoë Bernard for Vox last year, noting that we just might have reached “peak digital saturation.”

Phone-Free February now follows Dry January. And this “analog-ing on” goes beyond actual analog technology, too. In-person clubs that focus on tech-free, hands-on activities are sky-rocketing in popularity, too. According to Yelp’s 2024 trend data, searches for chess clubs are up by 47%, sewing classes by 76%, run clubs by 82%, dance classes by 197%, pasta-making classes by 515%, and even blacksmithing classes by 516% percent. These activities often take participants back to a time that’s not just pre-technology, but pre-industrial.

“[these activities are] grassroots, they’re super inclusive. There might be a $9 or $10 charge but they’re not expensive, they’re social, and they’re analog.”

– Beth McGroarty, VP of research at the Global Wellness Institute

“It’s interesting because [these activities are] grassroots, they’re super inclusive,” says McGroarty. “There might be a $9 or $10 charge but they’re not expensive, they’re social, and they’re analog.”

And some clubs are getting explicit with their anti-tech ethos. The Amsterdam-based Offline Club organizes phone-free events and has expanded their reach to other cities like Barcelona, Milan, and Dubai. A group of Brooklyn high school students founded the Luddite Club a couple years ago, and now the club has student-led chapters in cities across the country. 

McGroarty explains that one of the new pillars she sees emerging in the wellness space is pleasure. “Digital detox, it was never about pleasure,” she says. But analog wellness is — it’s centered around community, around creativity, around a more intentional use of the one precious life we all have here on Earth.

“Everyone talks about longevity, biohacking,” says McGroarty, “but this is the opposite of that.” Analog wellness is the opposite of optimizing your performance with fitness trackers like Oura Rings — it’s a more gentle, caring form of wellness. 

The future of analog wellness

Despite the name of the Brooklyn-based anti-tech club, McGroarty emphasizes that she doesn’t see this as a luddite trend. In fact, she hardly sees it as an anti-tech one. “We’re never gonna be able to disconnect completely,” she says. “[It’s not about] sticking your head in the sand and trying to pretend the world doesn’t exist. It’s attempting to reclaim a real world.”

What it boils down to is this: it’s becoming undeniable that some folks are fed up with our increasingly digitized world, especially one in which AI is seemingly everywhere. And 2025 is poised to be the year that people actually do something about it. 

“What it boils down to is this: it’s becoming undeniable that some folks are fed up with our increasingly digitized world, especially one in which AI is seemingly everywhere.”

You don’t have to have a black-and-white, all-tech-is-bad mindset to bring more intentionality into how you interact with technology and the digital world. The analog wellness trend doesn’t mean regressing into a pre-digital world. Rather, it means progressing into a space where we get better at utilizing the benefits of tech while leaving behind the negatives — reduced attention spans, less in-person interactions, and hours spent doom scrolling. 

“I call it retro-futuristic,” says McGroarty of analog wellness. “This is an attempt to imagine a world beyond the digital that restores everything we’ve lost.”

Natalie Gale is a Boston-based freelance journalist. Since 2022, she has been reviewing the top sustainable home, wellness, fashion, and beauty products, sharing her honest opinion on the best finds. When she’s not writing about art, food, or sustainability, you can find her biking to the farmers’ market, baking, sewing, or planning her next Halloween costume. Say hi on Instagram!