The More Digital We Become, The More We Crave The Analogue

Just a thought.

The more digital our lives become, the more we sometimes find ourselves enjoying things that are wonderfully simple and analogue. And perhaps that isn’t so strange.

Try calling your energy company, insurance company or a government department these days and actually speaking to a human being. First we explain our problem to a chatbot. Then we are directed to an app. The app tells us to visit the website. The website asks us to log in. We have forgotten the password. A code is sent to our phone. And somewhere along the way we begin to wonder whether there are any actual human beings left in the building.

We scan QR codes to read a menu. We need an app to park the car. Another app for the thermostat. We stream films we never finish and have millions of songs available to us, while somehow spending more time looking for something to play than actually listening to it.

Don’t get us wrong. Digital technology has its benefits. It can make many things easier and it has given us access to an almost unimaginable amount of music. But perhaps that is exactly why something as simple as putting on a record can feel so good.

The Simple Pleasure of Listening to Vinyl

We walk over to the turntable. Take an album from the shelf. Remove the record from its sleeve. Put it on the platter and lower the stylus. That’s it. No password. No update. No algorithm suggesting what we should listen to next. We chose the record. And now we listen to it.

The same goes for a CD, really. Yes, we know, technically it is a digital medium. But there is still something very satisfying about choosing a physical disc from the shelf, opening the case, putting it into the player and pressing play. We actually did something with our own hands.

Music Listening Is Even Better Together

And then there is another thing we may be missing in our increasingly digital lives: doing it together.

During our time off, some of us regularly organise small private music evenings ourselves. Nothing fancy. We invite a few friends, everyone brings some music they would like the others to hear, we put some food on the table, pour a few drinks, switch on the PrimaLuna system and start listening.

Bring your own music.

It might be an LP, a CD or something else entirely. It might be an album someone has owned for forty years or something they discovered last week. That doesn’t really matter.

What matters is what happens next.

Someone puts on a record and tells us why they brought it. Somebody else suddenly remembers another album. A discussion starts. Another bottle is opened. Someone hears an artist for the first time. And occasionally everyone just falls silent for a few minutes because the music is simply too good to talk through.

Those are often the best moments of the evening.

Hi-Fi Equipment Is About More Than Technology

We love tubes, amplifiers, turntables, CD players, DACs and all the wonderful equipment that comes with this hobby. Of course we do. But sometimes it is good to remember what all those boxes, cables and glowing tubes are actually there for.

To play music.

Preferably with people we enjoy being around.

The Analogue Revival: Vinyl, Listening Bars and Jazz Kissa

Maybe that is also part of the reason why vinyl is still thriving, and why listening bars, hi-fi cafés and the old Japanese jazz kissa idea seem to appeal to so many people again.

Perhaps we are not becoming anti-digital at all.

Perhaps we simply miss doing real things, with real people, every now and then.