News outlets can’t seem to stop asking, “What’s with the resurgence of point-and-shoot digital cameras?” Nowhere is the trend more visible than among Gen Z. These press agencies come to more or less the same answer: nostalgia.
For the last few years, many have discussed the popularity of point- and-shoot digital cameras, as well as Polaroid and film. In 2024, CBC reported that #digitalcamera on TikTok had over 287,000 posts. This hashtag has now amounted to over 669,000 posts. In an interview with BBC, Scott Ewart, a TikToker who has gained a following for his digital camera centered content, said: “A lot of folk find [digital cameras] quite comforting. It reminds them of their childhood, it reminds them of simpler times.”
To me, it seems like the digital camera trend is one component of a larger counter-culture movement against the pervasiveness of social media, with the digital camera itself being a mode of accessing the techno-optimist 90s and 2000s. Similarly, when interviewed by CBC, Sofia Lee, a co-founder of @digicam.love, said: “I think it’s ironic that Gen Z is stereotyped as being the most logged-on generation, when a lot of their countercultural tech practices indicate the need to break away and create a space that is separate from the internet.”
But these nostalgic narratives are not the whole story.
How can the digital camera be an act of resistance against Big Tech if, after all, digital camera photos are trending on social media? And, how can Gen Z be nostalgic for a time that many of us did not live through?
Two potential explanations could justify the claim that Gen Z are resisting Big Tech by posting digital camera photos on social media: either Gen Z is not actually trying to resist social media, or they’re just not very good at it. In a video, Eugene Healy (@eugbrandstrat on Instagram), an educator and brand strategy consultant, has developed a theory of “the fear of becoming an NPC,” (or, if you don’t know the Gen Z slang, the fear of not having any unique opinions or interests) an explanation that can be applied to the case of digital cameras. Healy argues that social media users share a deep-seated fear that we are losing control over our identities to social media algorithms. This has been partially the result of often hearing experts lecture us on how companies use behavioural science to maximize profits. Gen Z are especially vulnerable to this because most use social media; according to a 2024 report, 84 per cent of Canadians ages 16 to 24 use Instagram, not to mention that we don’t know a world without it. The idea that by using social media we are essentially being controlled by it, undermines our understanding of ourselves as individuals. The idea that we may not be able to truly know ourselves because the algorithms are doing it for us is frightening. So, out of fear that social media will replace our unique tastes with whatever is trending, many of us try to reclaim control by engaging in what Healy calls “active, albeit algorithmic- friendly [forms] of resistance to that notion of being manipulated.”
For example, the “propaganda I’m not falling for trend” includes a list of phenomena that social media users think are false, overrated, or ridiculous. In this way, users equate social media trends with “propaganda:” a trend which has increasingly gone viral. Healy’s theory seems to fit well with this next student’s account of their relationship with their digital camera. A student at Toronto Metropolitan University told the Daily that digital camera photos were a feature of certain alternative subcultures a few years ago. By participating in this kind of photography, he separated himself from mainstream culture. He stated that “[digital camera photos] make photos [on Instagram posts] stand out far more compared to the photos that ‘normies’ were taking [on iPhones].” While digital camera photos could set us apart from others, people from both mainstream and alternative cultures are still united by posting on social media.
Therefore, to say that Gen Z is resisting Big Tech by using old technology isn’t quite right.
However, it’s also not true that Gen Z isn’t trying to resist Big Tech. In my experience, it’s just hard to say no to social media because of FOMO.
Many journalists covering the resurgence of digital cameras have argued that the trend is part of the call back to nostalgia. But how can this be true for Gen Z if so many of us grew up after the period from 1990 to the early 2000s when digital cameras were the most popular?
One answer is that digital cameras are reemerging as a result of diminishing cultural cycles. Based on historical patterns, the fashion industry came up with what they called the “20-year rule” in which trends repeat because of the renewal of a 20 to 30-year cultural cycle: the previous generation that grew up with certain cultural items now has the income and influence to shape the market. In short, what’s in style will go out of style but come back a few decades later. Nonetheless, National Public Radio (NPR) noticed that culture doesn’t really cycle so much anymore, but has exploded on social media. Rebecca Jennings, a senior correspondent for Vox who covers internet culture, told NPR that “TikTok has a weird way of making every single thing in style at once.” By this explanation, everything that was once popular is trending again on social media, including digital cameras. As Gen Z are some of social media’s most regular users, this has mostly been documented through our generation.
If any of these explanations resonate with you, I’m very glad. At the same time, it’s hard to say I can imagine all of them being applied universally. After all, a digital camera is a digital camera, and people have all sorts of reasons for taking pictures with them. Many who were interviewed insist that they simply love the way the camera captures light, creating stunning faded colours, or the way it inconveniences them just enough to slow them down and make the photo-taking process more intentional. Whatever your reason, it’s worth thinking about how your context might influence your relationship with the point-and-shoot digital camera.