Young adults are turning to iPods and retro tech over iPhones

Young adults are eschewing all-in-one devices like the iPhone and moving more toward purpose-built technology, reviving interest in “vintage technology” like the classic iPod. Here’s why.

At one point, I think everyone collectively thought that smartphones were pretty cool. However, in the past few years, younger generations have started to ditch their glowing pocket squares in favor of older technology.

This is nothing new. I know that when I was in my early 20s, I felt a strange, inexorable urge to start collecting vinyl, even though I had nothing to play it on.

My younger cousin has a wall of classic video games at home. It’s mostly a collection of large plastic cartridges almost too young to remember my first time playing.

Mike Wuerthele has some silly walls here. One is Ikea shelves full of starships and fighters from various sci-fi series from the 70s to 90s, and the other is mostly lightsabers and 3D prints of weapons from some of the shows his ships come from. Nostalgia can be expensive.

Anyway, trying to collect ephemera from a time you’ve described as “better than your current lot” seems to be a side effect of growing up in a consumerist culture. Plus, vintage things just look cool.

I don’t think Gen Z and Gen Alpha are immune to this urge. I will say that it reminds me that I’m officially “old” to see reels and TikToks of things that were popular in my 20s described as “vintage” and “retro”.

The time is coming for all of us, I suppose.

Back to iPods. I have to give credit to my juniors where credit is due: this all-in-one tech thing is for the birds.

Overstimulated

I remember not too long ago – though probably longer than I’d like to admit – laughing at the idea that someone might want a standalone MP3 player or camera. Your phone can already do these things.

Are you telling me you want to carry more things in your pockets? Yeah, why don’t you just log into MapQuest so you can print out your directions that always get lost on the floor or fly out the window when you’re on the highway.

I couldn’t believe it. It seemed silly.

My iPhone is not my friend. In fact, I’ve noticed that when it buzzes or the screen lights up, my first reaction is more often than not angry – if not downright angry.

What on earth could this stupid piece of metal and glass need from me now? It always is something.

I’m far from the only one who feels this way. One of my favorite YouTubers, Eddy Burback, made a whole video where he locked his iPhone in a safe for a month.

Spoilers: he learns that he prefers a life without the influence of a smartphone.

And some people have mockingly asked me why I don’t just get rid of it. It’s always a bad faith argument given that life demands it these days, between banking and groceries and so on, so I won’t go into it.

That’s the last thing I’ll say about it. If you are a working adult in 2026, you do not have the option to opt out. Also, have you seen where I work?

I have taken steps to reduce the effects of the iPhone on my life. I’ve tailored my notifications to the bare essentials.

If I’m at home and not actively on the phone, I hide my phone on the Qi charger so I can’t see it. If someone needs me badly enough, they call and I hear the ring.

I deleted all my social networks from my phone. Scrolling through Instagram on desktop is extremely cumbersome, so I don’t get stuck in doomscrolling.

But that doesn’t change the fact that almost all of my life is filtered through my iPhone in one way or another.

All of my doctor appointments are via app-specific video calls. All my groceries come from the app. I don’t drive so I have to use Lyft when I need to travel around town in the winter.

Heck, my mortgage company currently only allows you to see your mortgage through an app. There is literally no other option.

It’s apps at the very bottom and it makes me sick. So I get it, Gen Z. I get it.

Sometimes you just want one thing that does one thing

Do you ever walk into a room and forget why you walked in? This is what it feels like to use a smartphone for many people.

Sure, you wanted to start listening to music while doing the dishes, but then you saw that you had a notification on TikTok and decided to check it out. Twenty minutes later and you’ve completely forgotten what you wanted to do.

Wouldn’t it be great if he existed some subject that just played music? Oh wait, it was.

The latest iPod craze doesn’t just represent a time that young adults have convinced themselves is “better” than now. For as hackneyed as it sounds, it honors the idea that the subject does not need all you have to do is do one thing well.

I mean, I’d have my own refurbished iPod if the one I wanted wasn’t a cool $350.

And it’s not just iPods. Point-and-shoot digital cameras, both old and new, are also having a renaissance moment.

And if you have an old iPod, there’s nothing stopping you from jumping on this trend.

In 2020, we published an article that showed you how to revive an old iPod using a hard drive. If you’re tech-savvy, you can pick this up as a rainy day project and then enjoy your own piece of vintage tech – but be aware that some of the links and prices are a bit out of date six years later.

That, or you can sell it at a premium to someone born in 2004. Really, either way you’re on top

Different moves

There is no shortage of people who reject the idea that others shun the new for the old. If you watch any Instagram video of someone showing off vintage technology, you’ll inevitably see the same words over and over again.

Performative. Cringe. Stupid.

“You recorded it all on your iPhone and shared it on social media,” reads almost every post. It’s the ultimate example of all-or-nothing thinking, and can be singled out as a shining example of the state of the Internet in general.

Yes, your iPhone has a better camera than the old Sony Powershot. And yes, Apple Music can have a catalog of 100 million songs that you can access relatively cheaply.

And if these things work for you, that’s fine. No one will stop you from taking photos or listening to music on your iPhone.

And anyone with vintage tech still has a modern equivalent. And they probably use it just as much, if not more.

But everyone who owns a vintage car also has a car for everyday use – that’s how collecting stuff works.

If I owned a Shelby AC 427 Cobra, I would want to show it off. You wouldn’t catch me getting rid of any “I’m going to the store in a snowstorm” tractor I’ve owned.

So, ultimately, I’m not saying that buying an iPod will solve all your problems. I’m not saying that every technology should be purpose-built for one specific task.

What I am saying is that I appreciate why someone would want an iPod or a digital camera. Besides, I think it’s pretty hard to deny that even if you don’t want someone to listen to music, the iPod classic still looks cool.