Digital cameras had taken over nearly all areas of photographic production. Film industry titans like Polaroid<\/a> and Kodak<\/a> had shrunk dramatically from their heyday, becoming shells of their former selves. Darkrooms<\/a>, where students learned how to manually develop and print film, shuttered<\/a> at high schools<\/a> and college campuses across the country, replaced by digital labs. For most people, the spirit of analog photography was mainly channeled through Instagram filters. <\/p>\n But within the past five years, younger people have been increasingly drawn to the old way of doing photography<\/a>. <\/p>\n In 2025, 35% of the 42 million active film camera users<\/a> worldwide were reported to be between the ages of 18 and 30. The year prior, online searches for analog photography saw a 41% rise.<\/p>\n Disposable camera sales have been steadily increasing<\/a> since 2023. The photography journal PetaPixel went a step further and announced<\/a> 2024 as \u201cfilm\u2019s best year in decades,\u201d as major brands have introduced new cameras in response to renewed demand and revived classic models<\/a>. More than 30% of respondents<\/a> to a 2024 Ilford Photo survey on film photography were in the 25-34 age group.<\/p>\n As I\u2019ve witnessed more and more of my undergraduate art and design students embrace analog photography, I\u2019m not seeing this as a trend rooted in a nostalgic yearning for the past. Instead, I\u2019m seeing it as young people rejecting algorithms, breaking free from the alienation of social media and reacting to childhoods spent on Zoom and TikTok \u2013 a deliberate move to redefine the future of art, social connection and engagement with the world.<\/p>\n Pining for a \u2018third place\u2019<\/p>\n In my work as a historian of photography<\/a> and lecturer at the University of Southern California, I\u2019ll often ask my students about how they take photos \u2013 whether they\u2019re using digital cameras their smartphones or analog devices. <\/p>\n This year, for the first time, some of my students discussed images they\u2019d printed and the physical photography albums they\u2019d put together of their friends and family. They talked about how they\u2019d also been sending postcards, writing letters and tacking photographs to their bedroom walls. <\/p>\n New York Knicks forward OG Anunoby snaps a photo with a disposable film camera during the team\u2019s victory rally on June 18, 2026, after winning the NBA Finals. I couldn\u2019t help but think about how so much of the language tied to early social media<\/a> seemed to refashion physical gestures for a virtual world<\/a> \u2013 \u201cposting\u201d on a \u201cwall,\u201d \u201cpoking,\u201d \u201ctagging\u201d and \u201cbookmarking,\u201d not to mention \u201cfriending.\u201d <\/p>\n This was a rhetorical move by social media companies, likely designed to help people feel as though they were in a familiar terrain of social connection. Yet the underlying business model of these platforms depended more on maximizing engagement and advertising revenue<\/a> than on nurturing authentic relationships.<\/p>\n Everyone knows what happened next: The more connected young people became online, the more isolated and detached they started to feel<\/a>. The COVID-19 lockdown pushed social life online even further, and researchers are only now starting to see how the combination of increased screen time and isolation negatively affected adolescents\u2019 mental health<\/a>. By 2023, 51% of American teenagers reported they spend at least four hours a day<\/a> on social media.<\/p>\n I see the attraction of analog photography as a response to life lived through screens, a pathway toward community engagement and the desire for what sociologists call \u201ca third place.\u201d<\/p>\n Coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg in his 1989 book \u201cThe Great Good Place<\/a>,\u201d third places are meant as a space separate from home and work. They offer a reprieve for the in-between, generating the conditions needed for creative cross-pollination. They might include a local cafe, a neighborhood writing group, a weekly Magic: The Gathering game or a college fraternity \u2013 any space that allows for social interaction and personal growth.<\/p>\n These spaces also combat loneliness. They get people out of their heads and into a community. Oldenburg also referred to them as \u201chavens of sociability<\/a>,\u201d places or gatherings where people can arrive alone to join others, and the atmosphere is \u201cdemocratic and festive.\u201d<\/p>\n Analog communities IRL<\/p>\n In April 2026, the inaugural AnalogCon<\/a> took place in Los Angeles. Organized by the Los Angeles Center of Photography, where I serve as executive director and chief curator, it was a festival for all things analog photography. It didn\u2019t just serve as a third place for photography enthusiasts; it also showed how analog photography \u2013 as a practice, ritual and community \u2013 is flourishing.<\/p>\n Vendors, industry leaders, artists and teachers participated in the two-day event, which included exhibitions, panels, demonstrations and guided photography tours around Little Tokyo. The excitement and thirst for similar events was palpable. <\/p>\n Photography now joins a broader trend of a generational preoccupation with physical cultural objects and media. Although music streaming represents 82% of revenues<\/a> generated in the music industry, vinyl records sales have been rising for over a decade, crossing the US$1 billion threshold<\/a> in the U.S. in 2025. <\/p>\n Customers peruse vintage film cameras at a stall on Brick Lane in London\u2019s East End on June 14, 2026. Nearly 60% of Gen Z<\/a> are now purchasing records. VHS tapes and VCR players are also making a strange comeback<\/a>, with stores like Be Kind Video<\/a> and Videotheque<\/a> in California offering VHS, DVDs and Blu-ray rentals. <\/p>\n But beyond that, record stores and video rental shops have become third places in their own right. There\u2019s a big difference between selecting a film to stream from your bed and getting out of the house, going to a store and talking about movies with a clerk and fellow film enthusiasts.<\/p>\n Think about the sound a tape cassette makes when you open and close it, or the vibrant graphics on the covers of DVDs or VHS tapes. Think about rewinding or making a mixtape for your recent crush. These are objects of belonging that signal specific cultural moments, rituals and aesthetics, and many young people today are starting to experience them for the first time. <\/p>\n Now, think about gently inserting a roll of film into a camera. Think about choosing an angle carefully when snapping a photo, because the number of frames is limited and you want to make them count. Think about the thrill of discovery when the pictures finally emerge as objects on paper.<\/p>\n To me, these are more than fleeting trends. They signal a push against a digital culture that is designed to cultivate envy and reward outrage, insults and humiliation. <\/p>\n Instead, armed with rolls of film, more and more Gen Zers appear to be opting out of their algorithmic feeds in favor of experiencing life in ways that feel more deliberate, personal and tangible.<\/p>\n ![\"Young](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/file-20260624-57-4s08zk.jpg\")
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\n Craig T. Fruchtman\/Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/file-20260624-3928-5a2rjr.jpg\")
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\n Richard Baker\/In Pictures via Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n