By age 23, Emma MacTaggart was already noticing how rare her free time was — and how it was seldom screen-free.

She was working long hours in investment banking and once she was finally able to log off after work, she would turn to her phone. Along with her roommates, she decided to hunt for a hobby that would replace that habit. They became “hooked” on needlepoint, she said, a practice she had briefly learned from relatives as a child, but one that she hadn’t picked up in years. And she hasn’t turned back since.

“It was a really therapeutic way to kind of distract yourself from either work or stress, but also just do something with your hands instead of doomscrolling,” she said. “We became completely obsessed.”

MacTaggart is part of a throng of young people who are turning to analog hobbies and activities as a means of escaping technology and reconnecting with childlike creativity and exploration. Somewhat ironically, this analog movement has been galvanized by its trendiness on social media.

Some of these hobbies — knitting, gardening and, of course, needlepoint — have been ascribed the term “grandma hobbies” online, referring to the older demographic that’s often been associated with them. But many other offline, tactile hobbies, like pottery, origami and even blacksmithing, have gained traction online with Gen-Z and millennials recently.

A younger crowd embraced such hobbies in 2020 when the pandemic left many with more free time. But “grandma hobbies” have persisted beyond a pandemic fad and some seem to be picking up steam in their popularity online.

“It is such a historically buttoned up craft, so it’s fun to put a young spin on it,” she said.

Like a video game, but in real life’

Jaime Kurtz, a professor of psychology at James Madison University whose research focuses on happiness, said many of these activities can also help to reduce anxiety and stress, and provide a sense of accomplishment since they require focus and can be challenging.

“Hobbies are really important, and a lot of us have lost them, or we just don’t prioritize them enough, or we think we’re too busy,” Kurtz said. “But just finding little bits of time to carve out to do these kinds of things is a really wise use of time.”

Clara Sherman, who co-founded the company So Bam Fun to “reinvigorate” the game of mahjong with a younger generation, said when she plays the game with friends, she’s able to reach a “zen state.”

“You kind of feel like you’re existing in this little bubble of just myself, my friends and this game we’re all enjoying together,” she said. “It just really does allow you to shut off the rest of the world.”