XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics, alt.politics.republicans   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.life.sucks   
   From: leroysoetoro@americans-first.com   
      
   https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/18/business/crafting-soars-ai-analog-   
   wellness   
      
   With our homes and lives swarming with AI-powered devices, assistants and   
   chatbots, a backlash is brewing.   
      
   Pitched as “analog lifestyles,” it’s different than a short-term digital   
   detox. Instead, it’s an effort to slow down and find tangible ways to   
   complete daily tasks and find entertainment, especially as generative AI   
   platforms increasingly do the thinking and doing for us.   
      
   It’s hard to quantify just how widespread the phenomenon is, but certain   
   notably offline hobbies are exploding in popularity. Arts and crafts   
   company Michael’s has seen the effects: Searches for “analog hobbies” on   
   its site increased by 136% in the past six months, according to the   
   company, which operates over 1,300 stores in North America. Sales for   
   guided craft kits increased 86% in 2025, and it expects that number to go   
   up another 30% to 40% this year.   
      
   Searches for yarn kits, one of the most popular “grandma hobbies,”   
   increased 1,200 % in 2025. Michael’s chief merchandising officer, Stacey   
   Shively, told CNN that the company plans to dedicate more store space for   
   knitting materials.   
      
   More people are using crafting as a mental health break to get away from   
   doomscrolling, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, Shively said.   
      
   “I do think it’s this really big cultural shift happening right now,” she   
   added.   
      
   For CNN Business reporter Ramishah Maruf, logging off meant ditching her   
   three iPhones, one MacBook, two even bigger desktop monitors, a Kindle and   
   an Alexa.   
      
   For CNN Business reporter Ramishah Maruf, logging off meant ditching her   
   three iPhones, one MacBook, two even bigger desktop monitors, a Kindle and   
   an Alexa. Ramishah Maruf/CNN   
      
   Spurred on by the trend, I wanted to try it for myself. For 48 hours, I   
   lived like it was the ‘90s.   
      
   Logging off for just two days sounds easy. For most, it probably is. For   
   me, it meant ditching my three iPhones, one MacBook, two even bigger   
   desktop monitors, a Kindle, an Alexa — and the primal Gen-Z urge to swipe   
   between all of them.   
      
   ‘AI hater to my core’   
   Before embarking on my journey, I spoke to regular analog-ers to get some   
   inspiration. If you want to reach Shaughnessy Barker, a 25-year-old in   
   Penticton, British Columbia, you’ll have to ring her landline.   
      
   Like many preteens in the 2010s, Barker’s introduction to the internet was   
   through “stan Twitter” for British boy band One Direction. But she says   
   that as she’s gotten older, “everything is meant for profit (on the   
   internet) and nothing is meant to just be for enjoyment anymore.”   
      
   The transition to an analog lifestyle wasn’t difficult for Barker, who   
   describes herself as an “AI hater to my core.” She grew up listening to   
   the radio and vinyl records, and she has an extensive collection of   
   cassettes, DVDs, VHS and records. She hosts tech-free craft nights and   
   wine nights, writes notes, and sets limits on her computer time.   
      
   Barker's Landline   
   Barker's partner works on one of his paper crafts rather than   
   doomscrolling in the mornings Shaughnessy Barker/@notshaughnessy/TikTok   
   The biggest jump came when Barker bought an adapter to use a landline at   
   home and a “dumb phone” app when she’s out.   
      
   If you want to get a hold of me, Barker told her friends, call me or write   
   me a letter.   
      
   But even for Barker, it’s become increasingly difficult to go completely   
   offline. For example, the only way she can do outreach for the vintage   
   shop she works at or her “snail mail club” is the internet.   
      
   “I’m a walking oxymoron being like, ‘I want to get off my phone and I’m   
   going to make TikToks about it,’” Barker said.   
      
   What ‘going analog’ means   
   Analogers are tired of doomscrolling and AI slop, or just frustrated that   
   ChatGPT and other generative AI services are doing the thinking and   
   creating for us.   
      
   “AI slop is quite fatiguing both in the actual action of viewing the   
   content and the fact that it’s so repetitive, so unoriginal,” Avriel Epps,   
   an AI researcher and assistant professor at the University of California   
   Riverside, said.   
      
   CNN's Ramishah Maruf made pictures with an analog camera during her   
   offline challenge.   
      
   It doesn’t mean swearing off all technology, and analog participants don’t   
   say they’re anti-technology. Some people have simply picked up parts of   
   the lifestyle: For example, replace Spotify and the AI-powered shuffle   
   with an iPod. Instead of snapping a million photos in the same pose   
   (guilty), slow down and take a film photo you can hold in your hand. Even   
   small acts like buying a physical alarm clock can feel liberating.   
      
   “Going analog is not necessarily about cutting myself off from the   
   information on the internet, but it’s more so about cutting the internet   
   off from the information about me,” Epps said. She recently got off the   
   Google suite and does screen-free Sundays.   
      
   Is it all for show?   
   The morning was easy enough on my first day offline. I woke up naturally   
   with the sun, cosplaying a lifestyle influencer: I journaled, opened up an   
   old copy of “Wuthering Heights” and got ready in half the time I usually   
   do. I didn’t have time to find an old iPod or VHS player, so I depended on   
   crafting and reading to get through the days.   
      
   My biggest issue was the feeling that I was putting on a performance.   
      
   I was writing about this for a digital media publication and speaking to   
   people I found on social media. I also chose the easiest replacements for   
   digital life; I knew writing out my grocery lists would be way easier than   
   choosing to never FaceTime my family again.   
      
   Still, on my tech-free walk into the office, I noticed how many other   
   people were screen-free. Usually, I would sidestep the tourists gawking at   
   skyscrapers, but this time I followed their gaze. On this clear day, the   
   Empire State Building truly did look glorious.   
      
   CNN's Ramishah Maruf attended a weekly knitting circle at a Brooklyn   
   library.   
      
   When I attended a weekly knitting circle at a Brooklyn library during my   
   two-day challenge, women of all ages were swapping stitch tips and color   
   ideas — screen-free. In the warm room of roughly 20 people, everyone   
   remarked how they used their knitting time as a way to decompress.   
      
   “Knitting gives you something to do with your hands so you’re not on your   
   phone,” Tanya Nguyen, a regular knitter at the event, said.   
      
   My own day freed up so many minutes to finally get through “Wuthering   
   Heights,” send my 8-year-old cousin a postcard and perhaps, after about a   
   dozen more knitting lessons, make that scarf. I felt like I accomplished   
   something outside of work and a bright blue screen.   
      
   Like so many people in my generation, I just needed a TikTok trend to tell   
   me to do it.   
      
      
   --   
   November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump.  We look   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)