By Stacy Turner

In a world of constant notifications, digital overload can be mentally exhausting. For many people, 2026 has meant a return to analog activities. Instead of doomscrolling to pass the time in waiting rooms, at school pickups or whenever they have a few spare minutes, they’re pulling out a book, craft project or journal and pen instead.

With endless scrolling, that sense of limitlessness can be unsettling. There’s always another post to see, another video to watch or another level to reach. By contrast, analog activities have a natural stopping point: You can finish a chapter, complete a puzzle, win or lose a game and move on. They provide boundaries and limits — something children especially need to learn.

As a Gen X, it feels like growing up without the internet has become something of a superpower. As kids, we had to figure out what to do during those long, unstructured stretches of time. Without devices, streaming platforms, AI and social media, we learned to make our own fun. We could ride our bikes or roller-skate. If we could round up enough kids, we’d play ball in the yard. If the weather didn’t cooperate, we could play a board game, read a book or make up a new game to occupy our time.

We also had chores that helped family life run more smoothly — laundry, dishes, cooking or cleaning — and gave us a head start on adulting. And we could read and write cursive, which seems almost like a secret code to those who don’t know it today.

Research suggests that as kids learn to handle boredom and frustration without a digital fix, they build resilience and strengthen their ability to focus. Spending more time face-to-face with parents, siblings and friends also gives kids — and adults — more opportunities to build social skills.

Maybe that’s why some parents today are returning to those same activities with their children, a trend sometimes called “analog parenting.” It’s something we started with our kids before we knew it had a name.

According to our kids, no one they knew had chores, and absolutely everyone in the world had a smartphone before they did. They complained when we set limits on phone use. But they survived — thrived, even. Instead of relying on a device to entertain them, they found countless (and sometimes pointless) ways to entertain themselves.

They enjoyed being outside, whatever the weather: jumping in puddles, having water wars, taking turns on the tire swing and leaping into piles of leaves. When the weather was bad, they built blanket forts inside. They read books, drew pictures and made countless crafts.

We also took regular camping trips each summer and early fall. Without electricity or devices, we had time to swim in lakes, notice lizards, find fossil rocks and pick out shapes in the clouds overhead. On one trip, my youngest found clay near a stream and tried to “fire” it in the campfire that night. On another, a tent pole broke as we were setting up camp, and my eldest and husband engineered a solution that allowed us to put up the tent anyway rather than end our trip before it had really begun.

Problem-solving, simple pleasures, s’mores and stargazing — those have become some of our favorite family memories.

Don’t misunderstand: We haven’t stuck our heads in the sand and sworn off technology. Instead, we try to be more intentional about balancing when and how we use it. It isn’t always easy, and we don’t always get it right, but we keep at it.

The results have been worth the effort. And if you’re on this journey, too, maybe you’ve found the same thing.