We’re Logging Off In 2026. So… Is Journalism Cool Again?

Right before our new-age 2016 began, I remember my Instagram Explore feed suddenly flooding with reels predicting that 2026 would be the year we go analogue and physical media takes over. Little did I know the internet would instead time-travel straight back to the Rio de Janeiro filter, Justin Bieber bangers, and peak LA Tumblr aesthetics dominating my feed. Amid the chaos that Instagram is right now, where the masses are fully embracing their chaotic but cute era, the journalist in me screamed. For a moment, it felt like the girl who grew up obsessing over magazines finally saw her Confessions of a Shopaholic dream flicker to life, a tiny but very real ray of hope.

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The Dream We Grew Up Romanticising

We all grew up romanticising the so-called “communication girlies” fed to us through media and pop culture. Almost every protagonist we idealised seemed to be a journalist at some glossy fashion magazine, navigating her twenties with a designer bag on her arm and a sharp opinion piece under her byline. That was the dream I grew up with, too. Then came social media, reels, and apps like Inshorts, shrinking attention spans and quietly declaring long-form writing boring. Suddenly, the idea of unpacking an entire industry through a 1,000-word essay on glossy paper felt almost indulgent.

When Journalism Was the Cool Girl Job

Journalism was not just another dead job with pay that you couldn’t survive on; it was something that every girl wanted. Interviews weren’t just coming through the PR; the media quite literally was chasing people, and press conferences weren’t just political; lifestyle journalists were the influencers before TikTok stepped in. The 4th pillar that journalists really stood for was a defining line between the masses and what was fed to them through global happenings.

Analogue is as Trending as Lush Life 

I thought that dream had died when I began my journey. But then the internet decided to crown 2026 as the new 2016, a year that gave us pop culture bangers and peak Page 3 media. Nostalgia is in, analogue is cool again, and suddenly I find myself wondering if I am, in fact, the cool girl now. A journalist, thriving in the city that never sleeps, just in India. Now analogue is cool again.

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There is something telling about the renewed love for grainy images from the iPhone 6 era. In a landscape dominated by AI-enhanced clarity, these softer imperfections feel grounding, even intimate. It is the same instinct that keeps Gilmore Girls relevant years after it first aired.

Every magazine’s Instagram seems to be throwing it back to its 2016 cover shoots, and thanks to Pinterest, magazines are once again accessories that cool people are buying, collecting, and investing in. Physical media has to make a comeback if nostalgia is the biggest “in” of 2026, and honestly, I’m loving the throwback Snapchat filters on celebrities. Times were simpler, and so was the internet. Our lives didn’t revolve around getting the perfect digicam picture; we were just individuals experimenting with selfie sticks, leaning into neon colours, and ditching browns and nudes without overthinking it. This analogue theme that we’re obsessed with makes my job look cool, and maybe it’s time that journalism finally starts to feel a lot like new media.

Maybe the cool girl dream was never gone. It just got buried under algorithms and urgency. Now that the world has slowed down, journalism in 2026 feels unexpectedly close to the future I once imagined.

Also Read:

A Love Letter To Analogue Hobbies

Is 2026 The New 2016? The Internet Seems To Thinks So