While instant digital snapshots posted on social media quickly replaced developed photographs in the late 2000s, today’s young generation is taking a step back in time. Many have embraced the disposable camera, reviving an iconic object from their parents’ era.
Launched in the 1980s by Fujifilm, this rectangular device that captured life’s moments cheaply and instantly quickly took off, boosted by other brands like Kodak. Over the years, the disposable camera evolved to suit everyday environments: with or without flash, fitted with a telephoto lens, able to shoot in different formats… At weddings, in holiday backpacks, and on buffet tables at home, these nearly indestructible devices—available in supermarkets, stores, and gas stations—were at their peak in the 1990s and early 2000s. Gradually replaced by digital cameras and then smartphones, they have recently enjoyed a revival, propelled by Gen Z.
A Generation in Search of Authenticity, Away from the Digital World
Nostalgia is in the air. After reviving Walkmans, Game Boys, Tamagotchis, and MP3 players, Gen Z has once again embraced a vintage icon from the ’90s and early 2000s. Riding the Y2K trend, the disposable camera attracts young people for what it represents—a time when friends took the time to photograph each other.
In a gentle rebellion against social media’s culture of instant sharing and perfectly “Instagrammable” lives, Gen Z seems eager to return to a more authentic way of preserving memories: capturing the moment as it truly is and documenting real life with a tangible object that carries history, left out on a table for everyone to enjoy.
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