Digital Cameras: The Aesthetics of Presence and Nostalgia

You are at a typical college party. LED lights glare as someone pulls out a ’90s-style digital camera and asks, “Do you want a photo?” A bright light flashes across the semi-dark room, followed by voices of excited people complimenting the vintage-esque photograph.

Digital cameras first gained popularity in the 1990s. Between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s, digital cameras decreased in size and price, while increasing in resolution that only fueled their popularity. They provided great convenience and novel gratification for users by allowing them to capture precious moments in an instant — as opposed to waiting for the photos to develop. However, by the mid-2000s, the development of smartphones with conveniently integrated cameras of high resolution gradually replaced the prevalence of digital cameras.

After a two-decade long hiatus, digital cameras seem to have made a comeback among Gen Z users. Hashtags like #digicam and #digitalcamera are trending on TikTok, with each boasting hundreds of millions of posts. In a time where high-end smartphones are developing higher-resolution cameras each year, digital camera’s pixelated photos are a trendy aesthetic among Gen Z users.

The reemergence of the digital camera is arguably connected to a larger trend of being conscious of phone usage and staying present. In 2016, Cal Newport, a computer science professor at Georgetown University, coined the term “digital minimalism.” He advocated for the idea of being conscious about one’s usage of digital tools and choosing to lead a focused life amid the chaos of rapidly developing technology. Limiting screen time and avoiding phone usage at various events is a way to honor this increasingly prevalent concept of “digital minimalism.”

So, instead of pulling out phones to take pictures, people now turn to digital cameras. On Sept. 13, Harvard’s Electronic Music Collective, Harvard Reverb, collaborated with the screen-time control app Opal. All attendees were required to block apps on their phones for an hour, encouraging the use of disposable or digital cameras. Advancing technology has brought forth a virtual world that dominates all aspects of life, so much so that living in the present moment has become a challenge, a goal, and even a trend that people want to follow. Instead of the newest iPhone, a vintage digital camera has become the trendiest and coolest tool.

However, “digital minimalism” is not the only incentive for people to give up the high-resolution smartphone cameras for the digital cameras. Smartphone cameras allow one to relive a moment by capturing details with high-resolution live photos or videos. They can effortlessly make a past moment as lively as a present one. Digital cameras, on the other hand, instantly age a moment by adding a retro quality to its photos. For a generation whose childhood photos were taken with digital cameras in the early 2000s, the grainy, pixelated, and overly saturated photos evoke a sense of nostalgia and vintage charm that is lost with smartphone cameras.

Similarly, in the world of fashion, Y2K-inspired style has also made its comeback through low-rise jeans, ballet flats, and bold colors. Depop — a clothing resale app specializing on vintage Y2K clothing — has gained exploding popularity among Gen Z, with 90% of its users under 26.

With this in mind, it should be no surprise that digital cameras are making a comeback. Whether by buying vintage clothing or taking retro photos, Gen Z members are now living through the aesthetics of the past. They are nostalgic of a time that they have never experienced, and they are trying to recreate a sense of the past that they can look back to in the future.

This is a world where technological developments revolve around planning for the future and appearing futuristic. Digital cameras, however, provide a homely stability that removes one from the fast-developing world of technology. The return of digital cameras is a break from the constant focus on the future. Their rising prevalence is a statement on living in the present and reminiscing on the past.

—Staff writer Xinran (Olivia) Ma can be reached at xinran.ma@thecrimson.com.