During the past five years, the most popular trends were dated trends. From scrunchies to flared jeans to digital cameras, the hottest trends are the ones that—at one point—went out of style.
“I really like my digital camera because I feel like it matches my aesthetic,” Lily Klapper (‘25) said. “I like bringing it around to events and hangouts with my friends because we can all take cute pictures, and it’s a fun way to bond—and it’s a good incentive to dress cute.”
In the past year, there was a massive increase in teenagers taking photos using digital cameras. Even though their phones have a built-in camera, many teens prefer to take photos on physical cameras, as digital cameras offer a different quality that—depending on the settings—can appear vintage, nostalgic, or even higher quality.
“I like the filter of [the camera],” Jenelle Guey-Mock (‘26) said. “I think it makes everything look so much better.”
Usually people associate older cameras with older photo quality. But, teenagers today disagree, or have grown to prefer the manual options that can affect the aesthetic of the final image.
“I choose digital photos because I think they’re better quality,” Ella Snyder (‘25) said. “It’s super easy to upload them onto my phone.”
While some teenagers love the photo quality, others prefer these cameras for their nostalgic associations.
“My first camera was my mom’s old camera, and my mom used to bring around her old digital camera when she was younger—a teenager like me,” Klapper said. “And now she has all these photos to show me. So, it makes me want to bring around my digital camera, so I’m going to have all these photos for posterity where I can show my friends [and] my kids in the future.”
The smartphone’s convenience consolidates devices—such as a phone, camera, and GPS. But, in an increasingly digital world, some teenagers yearn for ways to get off their phones.
“I like to keep memories of fun events, and [my digital camera] is fun to take along because it’s different from my phone and all it does is take pictures,” Snyder said. “So, I don’t get distracted by it like I do [with] my phone.”
Digital cameras can help teenagers focus on the moment, instead of on their phones.
“I feel like a big problem with teenagers today is they’re always on their phones, especially in group settings,” Klapper said. “So having the pictures taken on a digital camera makes [the event] more about the photos and being together and taking photos as opposed to being on your phone.”
The basic, unfiltered photographs are a huge draw for teenagers, especially when they face a constant stream of doctored photos on social media.
“Social media is very overwhelming, and I feel like the simplicity of old technology is what’s so appealing,” Snyder said.
Additionally, photos taken on a digital camera have a clearly different quality and style than smartphone photos.
“People want to be different,” Snyder said. “They want their pictures to look different than everyone else’s, and I think that that’s the appeal of a digital camera.”
Although the digital camera may not stay trendy as its uniqueness wears off, it represents new generations recycling old trends, which is a tale as old as time.
“Everything kind of comes back around,” Snyder said. “Trends come back, they go out of style, and they come back around.”
