AI anxiety is spiking. The internet is pining for the simpler days of iPods and retro phones.

"With doomsayers predicting that AI could bring about the apocalypse, this January marking the highest number of layoffs to kick off a year since 2009, and ongoing political unrest, people are harking back to simpler times. Rather than looking forward to the year ahead, many people hailed in 2026 by reminiscing about 2016 - posting throwback pictures and declaring that 2026 will be the new 2016, set to songs releasedaround that time, such as Zara Larsson's "Lush Life.""

"Many have thrown it back even further - think pieces and experts have dubbed 2026 the "year of analog." This trend is less about trying to live like it's 2016, but more 2006 - or 1996. The tech-induced nostalgia is shining through in recent Reddit posts that ask: "What is a luxury item from 20 years ago that is basically worthless trash today?" This question has been posted on Reddit in several threads over the last few months."

"Among the items people are discussing are portable GPS devices, digital cameras, iPods, and paying for novelty ringtones. "I paid $700 for one of those in... 2003?" one Reddit user says of a portable GPS device. "Best purchase ever because I'm directionally challenged and relied on MapQuest (!) printouts on the passenger seat." "Ringtones. Oh you want one of your ringtones to be a 5 seconds snippets from Lose yourself. That'll be 8.50$. People would flex about their ringtones," another Redditor wrote."

Nostalgia for obsolete technology has surged online as Gen Z and millennials increasingly embrace analog habits and throwback culture. Economic anxiety, widespread layoffs, political unrest, and growing disillusionment with AI drive a retreat to simpler technologies and memories. Social platforms feature posts reviving earlier decades, with users reposting 2016-era media and even earlier 2006 or 1996-era references. Reddit threads catalog once-luxurious gadgets now worthless, including portable GPS units, digital cameras, iPods, novelty ringtones, and small flash drives. The trend reflects a cultural preference for tangible, familiar items and a skepticism toward rapid technological change.

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