Four Retro Devices to Ease Your Digital Burnout

It seems like every few days they appear—a myriad of little red alerts, seemingly ever present on your phone, tablet, or laptop reminding you that an app or program you rely on is tragically out of date.

Try this exercise: take a survey of your devices right now. How many update alerts do you currently see? If you think it’s just you, it’s not. A recent report noted that a majority of device applications are updated one to four times a month. Add this to social media overload (which is engineered to encourage endless scrolling), Zoom meeting fatigue, dating app exhaustion, and now AI, and the digital world we occupy can seem more than a little overwhelming.

This dreadful feeling even has a burgeoning classification, digital burnout, and it appears to be affecting younger generations, like Gen Z, most directly (and most negatively as well). Some individuals suffering from burnout are responding with an increasing interest in mechanical technologies from bygone eras—ones that don’t require constant updates and being tethered to the cloud. Cassette tapes are all the rage. DVDs are returning. Even handwritten letters and traditional pen pals are having a renaissance.

Luckily, the Getty Museum has a robust collection of these types of retro devices that go all the way back to the 18th century—objects that were cutting edge for their time and practical tools that people used to accomplish important tasks well before smartphones had ever been dreamt up. Let’s compare some of them to the digital tools we use today.

Amazon Kindle vs. this Reading and Writing Stand from about 1760–65

Long before PDFs or e-readers, this simple but multifunctional reading and writing stand could be adjusted for more comfortable reading positions and unfolded to open multiple drawers for housing notes and additional writings.

“You have the upper part that you can lift and sit up straight and these fantastic drawers that open to double drawers,” says Miriam Schefzyk, the Museum’s curator of sculpture and decorative arts. Even the small half-moon drawers seemingly everywhere allow for many tiny hiding spots.

Samsung Galaxy or Apple Watch vs. this Long Case Musical Clock from 1786

Just like your Samsung Galaxy or Apple Watch, this clock was one of the most popular models in its day. Produced in the German workshop run by David Roentgen (the son of the cabinetmaker who created the writing desk above) in collaboration with the clockmaker Peter Kinzing, they were all the rage in manors and estates across Europe. While not nearly as mobile as a watch (it’s taller than the average person was in the 18th century), it has a longer “battery” life. Clocks like this needed to be wound on average once a week (by using a key to tighten a mainspring or lift hanging weights to store energy for the gears), while a Samsung Galaxy or Apple Watch can only make it about a day before it needs to charge.

“Most of our clocks are still in such good condition that we can make them run and chime, which is fantastic,” Schefzyk says. This clock even had a type of music box upgrade (an OG version of Spotify) that would play the owner’s favorite song at a selected time.

Microsoft Office suite vs. this sweet office Rolltop Desk from 1787–88

Another piece, attributed to David Roentgen, was much larger than his father’s writing stand, with more functionality and more hidden compartments. Its ability to conceal was an important selling point for powerful clients with a great many secrets to keep. “One of his most important patrons was Catherine the Great of Russia in Saint Petersburg,” says Schefzyk. The rolltop also pioneered a function you see reengineered in modern office furniture. “When you put a key in the side, the gold plaque at the top actually comes out and unfolds, so you have another standing reading table”—similar to modern standing desks.

A digital camera and Instagram account vs. this Compound Microscope and Case from about 1751

If you enjoy looking at things through multiple lenses and filters—like you might find on Instagram or TikTok nowadays—you will probably appreciate this 18th-century microscope, complete with a case and dozens of slides of petals, hair, fly wings, and even fleas. Some of the slides were created well into the 19th century, which shows just how long this microscope was in continual use. It is also the rarest and most complex item on the list.

Mechanical maintenance vs. digital updates

While it is true that many of these items have stood the test of time, they still required careful maintenance on their different elements to keep them in like-new condition. For example, the marquetry—small pieces of wood assembled to form decorative patterns or pictures—could start to fade within six months, requiring the top layers to be refinished to bring back the color. So even three centuries ago, one couldn’t completely escape the need for regular updates.

In the mid-18th century, when many of these items were in their heyday, a legion of very specialized craftspeople was needed to create just one item. In a French workshop that made desks, for example, “one would just cut the marquetry, one was only doing drawers,” says Schefzyk. But over time, the artisans in workshops like these developed a manufacturing base to craft similar products on a regular basis, little by little making them more cost-effective.

These processes were perfected over the years and across industries to create our current manufacturing environment so that everyone everywhere can acquire the exact same product en masse, but perhaps at the expense of long-term, multigenerational functionality and craftsmanship.

In the end, it can be comforting to listen to a clock chime exactly how it did centuries after it was first wound, or to unlock a desk with the same key your great-great-great-great grandmother did—especially when you don’t even have the same smartphone in your pocket that you did five years ago.