ABOUT THIS EPISODE
I dare you to go offline: 7 Analog Hobbies Your Brain Craves
Your phone is not the bad guy, my friend.
But if your days have quietly gone all screen and with very little offline time, this one is for you. 🎃
In Episode 149 of Create Today, Beth Buffington talks analog creativity: the paper, yarn, glue stick, flour-on-the-counter kind.
If you have been feeling the pull toward some crafty hobbies, an knitting, puzzles, painting, baking bread, or anything that gets you off your phone and out of the doomscroll, pull up a chair.
In this episode:
• How a chili cook-off and a glow-in-the-dark pumpkin, are good for your brain
• What an analog clock can teach you about balancing screen time and hands-on time
• A no-guilt check-in: what does your digital vs. analog pie chart look like this week?
• Why so many people are calling 2026 the year of analog, and what the craft store data says
• The science of hands-on hobbies: effort-driven rewards
• What handwriting does in your brain Crafting and the relaxation response
• A study linking arts and crafts to feeling life is worthwhile 7 screen-free hobby ideas (some free, some small spend):
- Visible mending with sashiko (plus the quilt a puppy named Raspberry thought was a snack)
- Become a backyard botanist with pressed flowers and leaves
- Make a birthday zine starring your friend
- Give your purse a mascot with an air dry clay bag charm
- Shoot a roll on a disposable film camera
- Make a fall simmer pot (kitchen witch vibes, pointy hat optional)
- Start a handwritten recipe box
• Why conversation gets easier when your hands are busy
• How analog time fits the Revive stage of the Going FourWords™ framework
Your one small thing: make a date with one analog activity this week, written on paper Links
Try the Going FourWords™ Clubhouse for $1 your first month (pen pals, Recipe Exchange, Beth's Best Books Club, quarterly creative challenges, monthly meetups):
www.bdi-create.today/going-fourwords-membership
Grab the free Going FourWords™ Guide:
www.bdi-create.today
Missed last week? Catch Episode 148 with poetry therapist Bree McLaughlin:
www.bdi-create.today/podcasts/create-today-with-beth-buffington/episodes/2149267564
Connect with Beth
Instagram:
@b.b.buffington_celebratetoday
Facebook:
BDIcreatetoday
LinkedIn:
bbbuffington Pinterest: bdiboss
Because in Beth's world, everyone is creative.
Chapters
0:00 Welcome to analog creativity
0:30 Chili cook-off and a many-eyed pumpkin
2:45 What an analog clock teaches us
5:20 Your digital vs. analog pie chart
10:15 Why 2026 is the year of analog
13:10 Inside the Going FourWords™ Clubhouse
16:45 The science of hands-on creativity
19:50 7 analog hobbies to try
20:55 Mend something with sashiko
23:25 Become a backyard botanist
24:25 Make a birthday zine
25:40 Clay bag charms
26:55 Shoot a roll of film
27:55 Fall simmer pot
29:10 Handwritten recipe box
30:40 Better together
31:40 Analog and the Revive stage
33:15 Your one small thing
#AnalogHobbies #CreativeWellness #GoingFourWords #GrandmaHobbies #AnalogBag #Doomscrolling #ScreenFree #CozyHobbies #Sashiko #SelfCare
