A new “anti-doomscrolling” trend has been going viral on social media and catching the attention of many OSU students: the analog bag. The analog bag trend is a creative trend in which people are filling bags they carry throughout their day with non-digital items and activities that they could reach for instead of their phone when they’re bored. 

Here’s what some OSU students say they would put in their analog bag to reduce screen time.

Spencer Kowash, third year bioengineering major

Spencer Kowash, a third year bioengineering major, was already carrying two books in his backpack, “The Color of Magic” by Terry Bratchett, and “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams. He said that he would like to pack his analog bag with more books, as well as patchwork sewing projects. 

“I have a lot of smaller books, like little novels that I pick up at thrift stores and The Book Bin downtown,” he said. “I mostly do patchwork and just fixing stuff with sewing. It’s been more useful than I thought it was gonna be when I started out.” 

Carson Dougall, third year chemical engineering major

Carson Dougall, a third year chemical engineering major, was already ahead of the game, claiming that he’s not on social media and doesn’t like to spend much time on his phone outside of using the Kindle book app. 

“I actually don’t have any social media, so I have Kindle on my phone. I read from Kindle apps, and I listen to a lot of music. So if I didn’t have my phone, I’d probably have physical hard copy books, a Kindle, or an MP3 player and earbuds,” he said. 

Melissa Nduwayezu, first year pre-med biology major

Melissa Nduwayezu, a first year pre-med biology major, said that she already had an analog bag that she crocheted herself! 

“I would bring crochet, and then my watercolors, because I do have a traveling kit. And then just my sketchbook, and so I will just draw whenever I feel like it. And then make whatever I felt like making that day, and then give it to someone because I usually don’t keep the things I make. ‘Cause if I make them just for myself, I won’t finish them. I think about a random person, and then I’ll give it to them at the end,” she said. 

When asked what she usually likes to paint, she said that she was very inspired by the ocean. 

“I usually paint sea animals, because I love blue, even though I’m wearing pink right now. But blue is my main color. Yeah, so it’s mostly more whimsical. . .I could paint a mushroom, but instead of it just being a regular red or white mushroom, it’s more of blue, green, more space-like and water-like.”

Cooper Bailey, first year physics major

Cooper Bailey, a first year physics major, listed quite a few items he’d want to pack in his analog bag for a day out on campus. 

“Maybe I’d bring a card game or a board game, or some sort of game like that. Maybe a fidget almost. Because I feel like a large part of, like, going on my phone is just kind of like a personal habit. So I feel like I could replace that by fidgeting with something else, maybe. And I used to try to do that, so, yeah, that would probably be something. And maybe just a notebook just to write down or draw something.” 

Lillian Mclellan, third year forestry major

Lillian Mclellan, a third year forestry major, said that she would want her analog bag to have games to play with friends. 

“Definitely a deck of playing cards or Uno playing cards. If I run into my friends, I love playing card games with them. That’s one of my favorite activities.”

Tatiana Garzon, second year music education major

Tatiana Garzon, a second year music education major, expressed that she’d want her analog bag to be arts-and-craftsy. 

“I really like arts and crafts. I like paper crafts like scrapbooking,” she said. 

She also said that she would like to bring a little camera. 

Amélie Lindeberg, second year music major 

Amélie Lindeberg, a second year music major, said that she would want her analog bag to be full of different mediums of art supplies. 

“I like doing things with my hands, so a clay or an air-dry clay would be cool,” she said. “A while back there was that trend for a lighter, you make, like, a case for a lighter. I’ve made some of those, and some figures. I also think I have a bunch of cassettes and a Walkman– they have to be in there. And I’m a photography minor, so all of my cameras, I guess.”

Isabella Roldan, first year BioHealth sciences major

Isabella Roldan, a first year BioHealth sciences major said that she’d like to have a few different kinds of activities in her bag. 

“I’d put a digital camera and some yarn. I started crocheting recently. Also a book, probably,” she said. 

When asked what her favorite books she likes to read were, she said that fantasy was her favorite genre.  

Sandra Castillo, fourth year computer science and economics major 

Sandra Castillo, a fourth year computer science and economics major, said that her analog bag would need paper-based puzzles like a crossword puzzle or a word search book. 

“I think they’re pretty entertaining.” 

Izzy Yeung, first year biology major

Izzy Yeung, a first year biology major, said that she would want to bring her sketchbook and a book that she brought back from home called “Heavenly Tyrant” by Shiran J. Jao. She also stated that she would want some more short term activities. 

“For some short term activities, I just might bring some makeup, like some of my eyeshadow palettes. I would go and bring some, like, dry lip clay, too. Just play around.” 

A new “anti-doomscrolling” trend has been going viral on social media and catching the attention of many OSU students: the analog bag. The analog bag trend is a creative trend in which people are filling bags they carry throughout their day with non-digital items and activities that they could reach for instead of their phone when they’re bored. 

Here’s what some OSU students say they would put in their analog bag to reduce screentime.