JL Insight02.10.26
Nostalgia as a raw material
Never have we been so connected, yet never so eager to switch off.
Sitting at the kitchen table sipping a piping-hot coffee, waiting on a tube platform, in the car, in the shower, out walking, running, sometimes even at the office.
In short, at home or out and about, standing still or on the move, anywhere and at any time. Amid profoundly different routines, there is one thing that unites us all besides the October haze: podcasts, our ever-faithful companions in our daily life. The question today is not why we have become addicted to stories told by other people, but what other story this phenomenon might be trying to tell us.
LIFE IS A STORY WE LISTEN TO THROUGH OUR HEADPHONES
No one is quite sure when it happened, but one thing is universally acknowledged: our relationship with podcasts is now more stable than the situationships fuelling modern romance – aka (for the lucky few still unfamiliar with the term) those grey areas between friendship and an official relationship that have proliferated with the rise of dating apps. The real novelty, however, is that today we are embracing the medium faster and more enthusiastically than any other source of information or entertainment. FM-world tells us as much: the number of regular podcast listeners is well on its way to doubling, while advertising investment in 2026 is up 4.3%, leaving TV and print trailing behind. Perhaps it is because modern life demands that we multitask. Perhaps we need an understandable distraction when we embark on the age-old chore of the seasonal wardrobe change. Or perhaps we simply find it reassuring to choose which conversations we listen to before plunging into the confused chatter of our cities and offices. And yet, if we listen a little more closely, we might wonder whether the exponential growth in our consumption of iPod broadcasts – the term from which the word podcast derives – is actually masking another signal: a deep-seated need to reconnect the digital and physical worlds.
If you listen closely, you might wonder whether the exponential increase in the consumption of iPod broadcasts (the acronym for “podcast”) might actually be masking another signal: the deep-seated need to reconnect the digital and real worlds.
PLAY & REWIND: THE TWO BUTTONS OF CONTEMPORARY LIFE
The thought first started buzzing around my head a few months ago, when I saw paparazzi shots of stars such as Zoë Kravitz and Harry Styles wearing wired headphones. Gen Z quickly followed suit, making the retro accessory one of the coolest trends of the summer. Together with Millennials, Gen Z also ranks among the most avid podcast listeners: more than 50% of 13- to 25-year-olds tune in monthly, weekly or even daily. Could this be more than just another flash of Berlin hipster aesthetics? The resurgence of vinyl collecting and the success of remixes of iconic tracks from years gone by – now so widespread that they have become one of contemporary music’s hottest trends – should already have made us suspicious. And then came further evidence that this was more than just a fashion trend: younger generations also count good old 35mm film among their obsessions, alongside an unwavering devotion to the Y2K aesthetic – the cultural and visual movement inspired by the fashion, design and technology of the late 1990s and early 2000s. My hunch was beginning to take shape: could it be that we are trying to stitch back together the fabric of something tangible that we have lost?
Beyond the filter of nostalgia, the real urgency lies in reclaiming a tactile sensation that acts as a buffer against the anxiety caused by flat screens and the immateriality of a Bluetooth connection.
FORGET BLUETOOTH: WE’RE NOSTALGIC FOR PHYSICAL CONNECTIONS
The fact that we are listening to more and more stories told by people without ever truly seeing their faces might, “at first listen”, sound like yet another victory for technology over the real world. But popping your earbuds back in is actually a lazy little gesture that, once unravelled, tells us a very different story: while the world races towards its next update, we continue to seek out things that are pleasant to listen to, touch and even wear. Beyond the nostalgic filter lies a more pressing need: to recover a sense of tactility that can act as a buffer against screen fatigue and the intangibility of a Bluetooth connection. We want the visible wires of a slower, long-lost time back. Sometimes they take the form of wired headphones; at others, a fabric such as Jersey Lomellina’s Renew Wave, capable of weaving advanced properties together with a three-dimensional, vintage-look surface – perfectly balanced between technological innovation and the familiar sensations we crave. Contemporary creations that look ahead without forgetting to glance back.
Perhaps that is the answer to the question posed by this episode: today, those who keep riding the wave are the ones who remember to make nostalgia a raw material too.