7 Old-Fashioned Habits Making a Comeback

Ask my wife and she’ll say I’m always talking about the past.

It’s not that I hate change, or wish I was born in a different period. Of course, I have my critiques of the current age, like anyone else.

I’m just fascinated by how quickly the world has changed, and I often muse on how those changes have shaped our culture, our patterns of thinking, and our beliefs.

But one thing you can count on in this world: for every action, there is a reaction.

And as the world changes, you can be sure that it will push us to reach backwards for habits and customs that ground us in simpler times.

It therefore comes as no surprise to me that a number of old-fashioned habits are making a comeback.

I think this is just the beginning of a wave of nostalgia that will sweep over our country.

Don’t get me wrong: this nostalgia will always be a fringe activity.

The world will march forward at breakneck speed. But these small acts of reaching backward will help us to make sense of our place in this world.

In fact, I think it’s important, that each of us find tangible ways to connect ourselves to the world that came before us.

Perhaps everyone should adopt 1 habit from this list, and invest 30 minutes a week indulging it.

I think the yin and yang of looking backward and forward would be good for our collective soul.

Here are 7 old-school habits that are already gaining momentum.

Baking artisan-style breads & making yogurt.

I can’t be the only one enjoying sourdough bread and greek yogurt so thick you can cut it with a knife.

In the past few years I’ve tried so many more homemade breads that I ever remember as a kid.

Reading books written hundreds of years ago.

If you spend much time online, you’ll probably have seen the growing interest in classic literature.

My generation, the millennials, seem to be discovering the great English-written novels in earnest, and we can’t stop talking about it.

Shopping at farmer’s markets and co-ops.

This trend has been growing for a while, but it still carries momentum.

As a child, a farmers market was a rarity, but now every decent town seems to have one.

Science has given us cheap food, and I’m grateful for it, but our wealth enables us to now choose food grown closer to home.

Using analog tools in place of digital ones.

Whether it’s listening to music on records, taking pictures with real film, or buying real, physical books (yes, they’re making a comeback)… there’s something about the analog world we can’t seem to let go of.

Digital is more convenient, and usually cheaper, so why go back?

There is a solidity and lack of distraction built into these objects that feels like the antidote we need today.

Listening to long-form conversations.

Everyone has bad things to say about social media. I’m a bit more on the fence myself.

It’s the phones I’m most worried about.

But if I had to pick on one type media for condementation, it would probably be short form videos. You know the type– instagram reels, Tik Tok, YouTube shorts– the ones where the goal is the keep you scrolling for hours.

But even while our attention span ad ability to focus seems to be shrinking, there’s one big ol’ trend point in the opposite direction: long-form podcasts.

Everyone is listening nowadays. And if you look, they aren’t just short episodes; 2 and even 3 hour episodes are not uncommon among the most popular creators.

Adopting the virtues of simplicity & frugality.

While the term virtue isn’t something you hear very often, they haven’t gone away, they’ve just been repackaged for a new generation.

Blogs and social media influencers on simplicity and frugal living abound and they attract a massive audience of people looking for inspiration in this counter-cultural way of life.

Of course, in the past, these lifestyle weren’t a choice, but there’s a certain quaint beauty in seeing so many of us trying on these old ways as a means of recapturing something desirable we see in the past.

Practicing an ancient faith.

Since covid, sales of Bibles are exploding, and it appears to be fueled by first-time buyers.

What does a book over two-thousand years old have to say to our current techno-saturated world? Apparently, quite a lot.