In Gen-Z fashion, the ’90s are coming back, but lately, it's digital cameras instead of scrunchies and neon latex. Many college students’ first memory of a digital camera is a family member fumbling with the buttons of a point-and-shoot camera, probably at a sporting event or dance recital. However, with the rapid improvement of smartphone cameras and their widespread usage, digital cameras faded out of mainstream culture for several decades. That was until the summer of 2023, when digital cameras skyrocketed to relevance in the span of just a few weeks. Suddenly, every listing for a used digital camera doubled in price, with many used cameras retailing for between $100 to $200. Its rapid rise to fame is in conjunction with several forces: nostalgia, social media marketing, and peer influence.

The most common explanation for the digital camera revival is nostalgia. Movies, music, and fashion are all industries that draw inspiration from the ’90s. The 2020s have been filled to the brim with ’90s inspired media. For one, the bright neon lights and backdrop of Leitch’s Bullet Train pay homage to the aesthetic of ’90s action movies, and just one year before, Netflix released the Fear Street Trilogy, which drew heavily from ’90s slasher excellence. With the increasing presence of nostalgia on the big screen, the revival of the technology and trends of the decade seemed almost inevitable. From vinyl and Polaroids to CDs, digital cameras were destined to come back into popular culture; however, this resurgence goes deeper than a typical trend cycle. 

Social media’s role in perpetuating trends is a major force in determining how consumers allocate their disposable income. For one, TikTok had several trends that led to a renaissance in young adults' usage of digital cameras. One specific TikTok trend that launched the camera into the mainstream was one where the user would say, “I bought a digital camera for the summer, and here's how it went,” followed by tens, if not hundreds, of snapshots into the user’s life. These photos were aesthetic, with many of them shot at beaches, parties, and vacations, picturing people hugging and smiling. The trend created an idealized version of the user’s life, displaying the highlights of their summer as the season wraps up. The trend itself was an ad at its core, as it created an idealized vision and credited it to a product — the digital camera. These compilations took over quickly, with many users running to sites like eBay or Amazon. The main draw to the digital camera is not the camera itself but the flourishing social life that can be captured with it. 

Seemingly overnight, it was not just people on social media with digital cameras; friends would bring these cameras everywhere. It would start with a friend taking a photo of you at a gathering, and maybe you would never see it again, quickly forgetting a snapshot of your life, but which is now immortalized. But then, the dissemination of the photos became systematic. After going out to an event, you would wake up the next day with ten different links to a Google Drive, and you would search through hundreds of photos, landing on maybe two or three good photos of you and your friends. After weeks, maybe months of this, you would start to feel inspired, maybe even pressured, to buy one of your own. The biggest difference that digital cameras have from other nostalgic technologies is the peer marketing on Instagram. 

It started very slowly; old finsta — fake Instagram — accounts would post photo dumps, including a few digital camera photos. But surely, owners of digital cameras realized the quickest way to spread the photos they took was social media itself. Some created Instagram accounts only intended to post the photos they took while at social gatherings. The accounts would then be promoted by those in the photos, often reposting or tagging the accounts on their own accounts. Quickly, it seemed like you couldn’t open social media without seeing a photo from a digital camera. The constant sharing of content served as free marketing for digital camera companies, as other people wanted to emulate a similar online presence as their peers. The following on these accounts are cult-like, as it is an Instagram account almost entirely dedicated to other people. The face behind the camera is often not in any of the photos; if they are, they are in a large group. Some followers may be close friends with the account owner, but others may have no connection to them at all.

The unfiltered and undeniably public nature of these accounts begs the question of privacy. The “finsta” itself has been an ongoing phenomenon, with many young people evading the prying eyes of parents or fearing that jobs and universities will find their accounts. However, to quicken the spread of the photos, the accounts are public and often not run by the people in the photos, consequently giving an extremely raw and unfiltered look into young adult life. The very nature of the digital camera is to illuminate what was previously in the dark: whether at parties, bars, or concerts, behavior that a cloak of darkness previously hid can now be revealed with a single click. Even when scrolling down the rabbit hole of these accounts, it’s possible to make assumptions about the relationships between people in the photos. If someone who was once a regular suddenly disappears, or perhaps two people have been repeatedly photographed together, you can understand the underlying dynamics between people you have never even met.

Young people are addicted to revealing parts of themselves, and this digital photography trend perfectly aligns with that notion. From the beginning, the fascination with the digital camera was never really about the camera or the photos. It was about projecting something casual, idyllic, and, overall, something raw. It brings what was once dark to light, subsequently encouraging young people to abandon fears regarding their digital footprint. Though many people chalk up the resurgence of the digital camera to another victim of nostalgia, its longevity in mainstream media suggests that this trend works in tandem with peer marketing and pressure. Next time you find yourself out and about with a camera pointed at you, make sure to smile — you never know who will end up seeing it.