She gave a beautiful crochet rose for my granddaughter’s birthday. When I asked my domestic help where she had bought it, she told me that her college going daughter is fond of crocheting in her free time. Apparently, a few of them in her college had formed a crochet group and now they spent their free time making such trinkets.

It’s not an isolated instance. If you go on any event aggregator app you will come across many workshops on weekends for a few hours – pottery, baking, painting, knitting, origami and the like. Reels on Instagram promote groups that are into activities that have been traditionally associated with grandmas or older people. Gen Z today is actively seeking out such pursuits in their free time. Rather than spending it immersed in some device, they prefer to do things in groups that their grandparents enjoyed.

The trend is global. Pottery cafes are packed. Supper clubs are replacing Saturday nights out. Mahjong nights are full.. Knitting and crochet clubs are sprouting everywhere. And they are packed with the young. Gen Z, the ‘native digital generation” is switching voluntarily from scrolling to slower pursuits that involve doing something with their hands. Activities that help improve attention span, concentration and also provide a slice of pure human connect.

While some researchers say that it is a way of embracing nostalgia by Gen Z. An attempt to look with rose tinted glasses at clicking knitting needles. Others are clear that it is a coping mechanism. A way to take a break from the online connected world, which often makes one feel depleted and exhausted. While still other experts link it to a post pandemic shift towards creativity.

Craft and such ‘older’ activities provide a much needed reset to the body and the mind. As the body engages in a repetitive activity of the hands like knitting or shaping on a potter’s wheel, it relaxes and regulates. This relaxation then

moves to the mind. Such activities calm the mind and give the over stimulated nervous system a break. They are immersive, use the hands and are deliberately slow.

Having an analogue hobby that gives the joy of making something in a group does not mean that Gen Z is moving away from the online world. My domestic help’s daughters group has put their wares online for sale; they also try and reach out to other such online groups.

While there is legitimate worry about the ill-effects on mental health of excessive digital usage in the lives of our young, they are making their own efforts to find a balance. Through embracing grandma hobbies they are for a while taking themselves away from doom scrolling and trying to savour and enjoy meeting people in person.

Whether this trend will emerge as a part of life or disappear when something newer and more engaging arrives only time will tell. However, rediscovering some joys of an analogue life is surely a step in the right direction.

Published in Lokmat Times in April 2026