2026 the Year of the Horse, or the Year of the Analog Bag?

As we enter a new year with exciting expectations and goals, it lately seems we are organizing our bucket lists and wish lists in a different way. Instead of our classic “New Year’s resolutions,” it seems social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok have coined this new and classy concept of “Ins and Outs” lists. A collection of what’s hot and what’s not, to serve as a blueprint and setlist of how we picture our year to go. A visual list of the person we want to be and the things we want to engage with, beside a list of all we hope to avoid. 

This year, there is a common theme that seems to populate everyone’s 2026 “in” category, and it’s all things analog. Even magazines like Style Magazine and The Guardian are seeking to discuss and analyze the seemingly sudden crave for less technology. In a world polluted by AI and constant screen time, there is now a collective desire to pull away from the digital world. People are instead focused on packing “analog” bags as an everyday purse, which include necessities that can help assist us in our journey of being as offline as possible. Essentials like word search packets, a deck of cards, coloring books, jigsaw puzzles, and brain games are the perfect starter pack of items to keep in our daily bags or backpacks we carry.

While the sentiment is important it’s almost ironic in the way it’s advertised. This desire to live less digitally is actually being populated and posted all over social media, where influencers vlog a “day in the life of living less digitally,” but then post it to the public. There is something to be said about seeking to chase your goals silently, and less publicly, keeping it something sacred and personal with yourself and only yourself. When every step of your goals are broadcasted to the public, does it ever lose that level of personal sacredness? 

The concept of Tik Tokers making videos like “pack my analog back with me!” almost seems to defeat the entire purpose of the bag itself. In a way, maybe it’s helpful and motivating, assisting people in brainstorming ideas of what to include in their bags. If anything, at least it’s better than the concept of asking Chat GPT to create an analog bag for you. 

Recently, I watched in horror as a classmate sitting in front of me pulled up Chat GPT to create a running playlist for her. Although Chat GPT comes with its perks like answering questions in seconds, creating helpful templates, and acting as an editor or reviser, the loss of autonomy and the newfound ability to hand over simple and creative tasks to our computers is frightening to say the least. Which is why as crazy as the analog bag sounded at first, it almost makes sense. Maybe we should truly all try to steer away from our digital desires and engage with tangible and physical hobbies that are equally as exciting, which generate the same amount of dopamine we get from our daily scrolling. 

With all this in mind, here is my very own personal 2026 ins and outs list, to purposefully challenge myself to get comfortable with the uncomfortable, and of course the viral “analog bag” being at the very top:

Instead of a “New Years Resolutions” list, this year let’s challenge ourselves to make a list of ins and outs to deeply consider what we’re looking for this year and what we’re avoiding. I personally have found myself appreciating lists like this as opposed to resolutions, because this is something I could come back to and rewrite every month. There is always something that will be in and something that will be out, but it’s up to us to search through our lives and see what we’d like to exchange and trade as a habit we can drop or pick up. Let’s be in control of our lives this year and every year, by revisiting and rewriting our hopes and avoidances. 

Autumn Valdes is a Junior Journalism and Religious Studies double major who believes we could all do with living less digitally. She can be reached at avaldes@ithaca.edu.