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During one of my bachelor’s courses about technology augmented behaviour, we discussed the role of the smartphone as an adult ‘pacifier’. In the research article by Melumad & Pham (2020), the smartphone is proposed to act as as tool that can provide users with emotional comfort, reassurance, and even stress relief. Whenever we feel an unwanted emotion, such as boredom, insecurity, or sadness, this device is a pocket-reach away from distracting us. 

Nowadays, whenever I am confronted with the choice, ‘Do I use generative AI or not?’, I cannot help but view AI as a similar sort of pacifying technology. There have already been instances in which people are frequently using Chatgpt as their personal therapist (Collins et al., 2025), turning to tech for emotional support. But genAI can also take away many (frustrating) obstacles we may face when doing academic and/or corporate work. 

Personally, I first started using AI about a year before I took the bachelor course. When I was unsure of my own writing, I let Chatgpt improve it. When I was overwhelmed with the content of a scientific article I had to read, I uploaded it to PopAi and the platform summarised it for me. When I couldn’t come up with a good idea for an assignment, or I was frustrated finding relevant sources, genAI was just a search away to help me out. It is incredible that our technology has developed to such an extent that this is even possible, and yet, there came a point at which I began to question my own technologically augmented behaviour. 

As time went on, I did not become a better writer by using AI. I did not become more creative in generating my own ideas, at doing research, or at grasping scientific articles. Because whenever I was faced with any obstacle, AI let me walk around it. Just like the smartphone offers continuous distraction, genAI provides the continuous outsourcing of work. The essential question is: where do we draw a line? Should we be teaching students to use one genAI platform (e.g., Chatgpt) to generate input for another genAI platform (e.g., Lovable, Gamma, v0) because ‘the output tends to be better that way’, like in our prototyping guest lecture? 

Of course, genAI can also be a great tool in the process of creating one’s own work output. And yet, I wonder whether our overall compulsive genAI use will have significant consequences for our near-future ability to create and think critically for ourselves. 

By allowing ourselves to always walk around the obstacle in front of us, we are deriving ourselves from any sort of challenge that is worth facing. 

References

Collins, A. C., Lekkas, D., Heinz, M. V., Annor, J., Ruan, F., & Jacobson, N. C. (2025). ChatGPT as therapy: A qualitative and network-based thematic profiling of shared experiences, attitudes, and beliefs on Reddit. PubMed, 191, 277–284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2025.09.057

Melumad, S., & Pham, M. T. (2020). The Smartphone as a Pacifying Technology. Journal Of Consumer Research, 47(2), 237–255. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucaa005

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In only a few decades, there have been some major disruptions in the technological devices we use for recreation. Over the years, vinyl records, cassettes, CDs, and mp3-players have all been replaced by collective streaming on music platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music. VHS tapes and DVDs became obsolete when online streaming providers, such as Netflix, came around. App store games could replace the Game Boy, and the flip phone evolved into a smartphone. 

Every single one of these physical products was suddenly available in just one digital device that could fit inside a pocket. 

The shift from physical to digital media has been transformative for the way we navigate our society. Digital often means better, faster, more convenient, and sometimes even cheaper. However, society seems to be reverting back to these obsolete analog devices, especially Gen Z (Vega, 2025; Peppin, 2023). According to Muratore (2024), there has been a 300% increase in vinyl sales between 2016 and 2023. The producer of Nokia phones, HDM Global, has reported that their market share of flip phones has doubled between 2021 and 2022 (HDM.com, 2023). Data also shows a case of revival on the market of retro games (marketreportanalytics.com, 2025). 

 But what are the causes of this resurgence of retro devices among the younger generation, some of which we have never even used before their digital disruptors came into our lives? 

First, there seems to be a lack of physicality (Vega, 2025). Even though a smartphone itself is a tactile device, the media and applications on it are not. Many retro tech proponents appear to find the physical action of, for example, putting a DVD in a DVD player, part of their overall consuming experience, something a touchscreen and digital apps cannot give (Baraniuk, 2024). 

Additionally, we also seem to want ownership over our media, something our digital devices often do not provide (Tracy, 2025). When listening to a song on Spotify, or watching a movie on Netflix, we have access to said song or movie, but we own nothing. A platform can decide to remove any of its content without users’ permission, even though they are paying for their access. Just like the vision of Web 3.0, we are aiming to revive our sense of ownership. However, instead of sinking further into digital innovation like Web 3.0 is doing with Metaverse, we are turning back to what already was. 

Lastly, we desire to move further away from our ever digitizing world. It can be hard to feel like one can ever “turn off” from the digital noise of constant notifications (Pinsker, 2022) and ads when everything is captured in one smart device. Retro tech offers us a moment to truly unplug, while still being able to be entertained.

Personally, I have been experimenting with doing the same: dusting off the old cd and dvd player at home, looking through the DVD sections in second hand stores and borrowing from the library. However, I would also find it hard to completely give up on the incredible possibilities that the digital world inside my smartphone has to offer. Perhaps our generation has the privilege to choose the best of both worlds. 

References

Baraniuk, C. (2024, 4 juli). Obsolete, but not gone: The people who won’t give up floppy disks. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240510-floppy-disks-why-some-people-are-still-in-love-with-this-obsolete-computer-storage-technology

HDM.com. (2023, 30 mei). Gen Z and Millennials are flipping out over Flip phones. HMD – Human Mobile Devices. https://www.hmd.com/en_ie/press/nokia-2660-flip-new-edition?srsltid=AfmBOooPOOMbN61ed_Z1-Pr0IjMEjHyMlb28H8ICOjOFnxZsFaPHZN4V

Muratore, C. (2024, 19 november). The Growth of Vinyl and the Impact of Independent Record Stores on Vinyl Sales. Luminate. https://luminatedata.com/blog/the-growth-of-vinyl-and-the-impact-of-independent-record-stores-on-vinyl-sales/

Marketreportanalytics.com. (2025, 10 april). Retro Video Games Report 2025: Growth Driven by Government Incentives and Partnerships. https://www.marketreportanalytics.com/reports/retro-video-games-76465#summary

Peppin, H. (2023, 1 februari). Why is retro technology coming back? Harper’s Bazaar Australia. https://harpersbazaar.com.au/vintage-technology-is-back-in-fashion/

Pinsker, J. (2022, 14 januari). I’m Not Sorry for My Delay. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/01/not-sorry-for-my-delay/621264/

Tracy, M. (2025, 13 juli). When Streaming Won’t Cut It and You Need the DVD. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/13/movies/dvds-blurays-physical-media.html

Vega, N. (2025, 18 maart). From Polaroid to vinyl, Gen Z is making retro tech one of 2025’s biggest trends: ‘These things just have more value’. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/15/from-polaroid-to-vinyl-gen-z-is-embracing-retro-tech.html