There were no zombies.no crazy theories filling up social media.just an awkward pause.like when you keep scrolling without knowing what you’re looking for.
and in that pause, what we thought was dead —the analog, the slow, the simple— began to breathe again.Battery-powered radios —those relics you still find at gas stations— became oracles.People gathered around them like modern campfires.For a few minutes, we all listened to the same thing.No filters. no stories. No pretending.And then we noticed it.We had forgotten what it felt like to do something without interruptions.To wait without anxiety. to talk without data. to exist without an audience.We’re connected to everything… except ourselves.And in the midst of so much signal, we live in airplane mode.
We try to fill the silence with endless playlists, unfinished series, split screens.But still, we keep searching for something to calm us.Going back to manual isn’t retro. it’s survival. with style.Like during the pandemic, my handmade hobbies saved me again.I know how to be alone. i know how to use my hands.
and that —amidst the noise— is a superpower.It’s not about returning to the past.It’s remembering that we have a body, not just a head connected to wi-fiTo write with a pen. to paint without posting. to fix something without a tutorial.To turn down the volume of the world, even if just for a while.
Going back to manual isn’t nostalgia.It’s saying: i don’t know what’s going on, but i’m here.It’s moving through chaos with a slow step. without a map. but with intention.More human. more real. more you.
And maybe the most important thing:to listen again.To others. To ourselves.To that strange silence left when everything goes dark… and finally, something inside lights up.
It was 12 hours without power and when it came back, the tension returned too.The theories. the anxiety dressed up as information.An electrical current that not only reactivated outlets, but also fear.As if we couldn’t handle calm.As if disconnecting for a while was more dangerous than any blackout.
