👋 Hello friends! We’re The Z Link, a global Gen Z-led social media agency that helps brands reach our generation. The Digital Native, written by our Trends Reporter, Shaurya, takes a deep dive into niche internet micro-trends and subcultures, and analyzes them so you don’t have to. For any feedback, questions or suggestions, just reply to this email! <3

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"Ugh, I was born in the wrong generation 🙄" That sound familiar to you, besties? Don't be shy; I know we've all said it or at least thought about it once. I know I have, and it was very pick-me of me, but I have no shame about it. We all have our moments, and besides, I don't think we're entirely wrong for thinking that. The '90s and the early 2000s did seem pretty cool in terms of pop culture. There's nothing wrong with wanting some of the cooler stuff back. This is precisely what we did; we brought back trends and made them ours. Obviously, 2020 is the year everything turned around. It was an end and a new beginning, and we saw it all happen on social media. What I saw and how I interpret it now is that trends usually come back every 20 years, like that is the typical trend cycle. But when we were in lockdown, we spent a lot of time with ourselves and our families, which made us learn more about ourselves and our families — stories, recipes and family photos. We dug into the past, found our favourite relics, and gave them a harder comeback than Backstreet Boys (I think they'll be massive again sooner or later). I'm talking mini skirts, low-rise jeans… and film photography.

Now don't get me wrong, hear me out first. I'm not saying film or analogue photography died, but digital was much more prominent as the years went by. But when Instagram came to the scene, everyone couldn't get enough of the vintage filters. If you think about it, we've come full circle. Instagram started with people posting whatever they wanted with the sepia-toned filters slapped on like there was no tomorrow; the concept of a curated theme did not exist. People loved these filters so much, and I know how: because Retrica. Yeah, remember that app? It had so many vintage-inspired and sepia-toned filters; it was amazing. Eventually, we saw themed and curated accounts which meant no more random, skewed and awfully composited pizza pictures with hashtags like #OliveYou or #PizzaIsBae (do people still use bae? it's vital for me to know for science). And the curated feeds obviously led to heavily edited pictures and not in a coloured filter way but in a changed-their-features way which was obviously detrimental to society and people's mental health, so again, in the year 2020, we started to see people post themselves unedited and social media was once again revolutionised.

The recent trend of unedited pictures and authenticity on social media paved the way for film and analogue photography. Although traditional photography was a trend for a couple of years, from around 2013 to 2017; the Tumblr era, basically. SO MANY POLAROIDS. I LOVED IT. We've got BeReal now as well, which allows people to post unedited pictures, they may not be as authentic as we'd like to believe, but they're unedited, which is a step in the right direction (see, me? personally? I always forget to post on my BeReal so don't expect a lot from me on that app).

Film photography was also popularised by the rise of finstas. No, not fake Instagrams, but film Instagrams, such as Gigi Hadid's @gisposable and David Dobrik's disposable camera app called 'Dispo'. The app mimicked the look of a disposable camera. It even showed the photos taken only a day later, mimicking disposables without waste. The app and film account are still popular, and one of the reasons, despite the ones I've already mentioned, is nostalgia and delayed gratification. Gen Z is taking part in delayed gratification because of how slowly things happened in 2020. Nostalgia became a massive part of our lives, even if it was for how things were a year ago, so naturally, we reminisced about the good old days.

Nostalgia became a huge selling point for many things, and people started letting go of the old notions and adopting new ones. We live in a capitalistic world, and the corporate world knows how important nostalgia is and uses that as a selling point; and look at how well it works! The 2000s are coming back, and they’re coming back fast; just look at TikTok and runways (Miu Miu, please hire me).

So, while Gen Z is super used to instant gratification through social media and the endless supply of content available at our fingertips, it seems we’re also turning to delayed gratification in other aspects of our lives. While film photography may seem like a blast from the past, Gen Z has latched onto this art form and found joy in the process of developing film and waiting for the final product. We’re taking a step back from the instant gratification of digital photography and embracing the delay of waiting to see how our shots turned out, while embracing a more authentic, unfiltered look too, to break free from the heavily edited and curated world of social media around us.

And it's not just photography that's got our generation hooked on the nostalgia train: old movies are also making a comeback in the Gen Z world. From classic black and white films to '90s cult classics, Gen Z is relishing in the experience of watching something that's not from their own time. It's a way for us to escape the constant barrage of current events and immerse ourselves in a different world. We may not have lived through the eras of these films, but we appreciate the sentimentality and the slower pace of life that they depict. It's a refreshing change. So, while it may seem like Gen Z is all about the now, we see that our generation is also looking back to the past and embracing the joy of having to slow down.

Any questions/suggestions as to what we should cover next? Reach out to us and we’re always here to chat!

— Written by Shaurya, Trends Reporter at The Z Link

Connect with Shaurya on Instagram where she shares great content and lives her best influencer life as a fashion student in Paris. And she writes all of these great issues too. What can’t she do??? 🧐 Thank you for reading!

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The Digital Native

Nostalgia, Gen Z, and film cameras