2026: The Year We Start Touching Things Again

Last week, I sat at my desk with a small stack of 4x6 prints fresh from my Canon Selphy. I held them. Shuffled through them.

It struck me: I have thousands of photos on hard drives and cloud storage. But these twenty prints? They felt more real than all of them combined.

We're living through an explosion of AI and digital tools. I use them myself, I wrote an article about how my entire portfolio site was built with AI assistance, without writing a single line of code. Technology has given me incredible creative freedom.

And yet, something is shifting. I'm printing more. I'm slowing down, gearing toward manual focus lenses. And I don't think I'm alone.

2026 might be the year we start touching things again.

The digital paradox

The more powerful our digital tools become, the more I seem to want the physical thing.

I spent 2025 printing more photos than ever before. My Canon Selphy CP1500 and Instax Mini Link became as essential as my camera. What started as an experiment became a core part of my photography experience.

Why? Because a printed photo does something a digital file can't. When I gift a print to a friend, it lands differently than a WhatsApp share. It has weight. It says: I thought about you enough to make this real.

Digital files disappear into the notification flood. A print stays on a fridge, a desk, a wall.

What the numbers say

The data backs up more than my own intuition.

Instant photography is booming. Fujifilm's Instax cameras (the Mini, Mini Evo, and others) ranked among the best-selling cameras in Japan last year. Global cumulative sales exceeded 100 million units since 1998, with 90% of those outside Japan.

Fujifilm noticed. They've invested 5 billion yen (around $32 million) to expand Instax film production by 10%, aiming for a 50% increase since 2022 by the end of 2026.

Film photography is back, and mostly for the experience rather than for any superiority in quality. Kodak reported a 30% jump in film sales from 2019 to 2023, driven largely by 18-35 year olds.

The costs keep rising. And yet, people keep shooting.

Beyond photography

This analog revival extends far beyond cameras.

Vinyl records outsold CDs for the fifth consecutive year in 2025, with global sales projected at 46-48 million units. Some people are ditching Spotify entirely (I've ended my own subscription around july last year), hunting for old iPods on eBay or dusting off Walkmans. Refurbished iPod sales have grown over 15% annually since 2022.

Handwritten letters and postcards are quietly returning. A postcard takes effort: thought, a stamp, a walk to the mailbox. I suspect that friction is most of the appeal.

Physical books still have a magic that is hard to replicate. The smell of pages, the texture, the visible progress of a bookmark moving forward.

Though I'll admit: as someone who travels often, I love my Kindle. And it might be the only modern tech device designed without distraction. Black and white screen, intentionally slow, no notifications, no dopamine loops. Just reading. I would like more technology to work that way.

What this means

I'm not anti-technology. I built my website with AI tools. I store my photos on the cloud. I share online.

But speed isn't always progress. We're surrounded by tools that optimize for more, faster, now, and somewhere along the way we started feeling emptier. More connected, yet more alone.

The analog revival is about balance, about choosing experiences that engage the senses: touch, smell, the weight of something in your hands. A printed photo, a vinyl record, a handwritten note to someone you love. They all slow you down, and that slowness is most of what they give back.

Looking ahead

I think 2026 will amplify this shift, mostly because a lot of people are hungry for something that feels like it means anything.

If you're a photographer, print something this week. Not for a client or a gallery, just for yourself. Hold it. Give it away.

If you're drowning in streaming services, try buying one album you actually love.

If someone crosses your mind, send them a postcard instead of a text.

None of this changes the world. But it does change how the week feels.

Bonus

If you want to start really small, I built a free tool that lets you easily layout an 8-photo mini-zine on a single A4 sheet. Give it a try!