Shootin' It Straight - Dial It Back

While the battle is being fought over data centers and artificial intelligence, there is another movement quietly treading alongside it. While we are undoubtedly throttling forward with all things modern, there is a growing subset of people who have simply had their fill of the latest innovation. For years, we've been sold microwaves, mobile phones, cooled seats, streaming devices, tracking applications, remote thermostats, grills with Wi-Fi, and much more.

While much of society gobbles up the newest “thing” at record rates, there is a large swath of people who are beginning to desire simplicity. Old school has made a comeback.

Case knives are having a bit of a revival as collectors and everyday users alike seek out the old standard. In a world of space age metal compositions and a dizzying array of handle options, sometimes an old school, stag handled Canoe is all that's needed. Square body Chevy trucks from forty years ago are bringing a premium as people grow tired of needing a bachelor's degree to change the brakes on newer models. Sometimes FM radio and a set of Flowmasters are as high-tech as you need.

In the firearms world, the decades long trend toward polymer and all things tactical seems to be giving way, at least in some circles, as fine walnut and steel are storming back into popularity. Music always circles back in trends, but the wave of '90s nostalgia is having its moment. Whether it's because of cookie cutter, pasted together modern sounds or simply a longing for a time gone by, the old is new again.

Maybe it's just reminiscing. Perhaps we truly miss what's gone. There is also the possibility that we've gone so far past simple that we've made simplicity itself a hindrance. Advances that were once packaged and sold to us under the guise of easing life's burdens have sometimes become the millstone tied around our necks.

I don't plan on turning in my cellphone anytime soon, but I do thoroughly enjoy it when that thing stays silent for a few hours. I'm both the problem and the solution in this conundrum. I partake in more than my share of modern niceties, yet I find myself increasingly leaning toward old school choices.

Maybe a day of riding the backroads with a knob on a radio dial, an old man with a jaw full of Beechnut, and a wood-stocked 700 filling up the back rack isn't going to solve every problem in the world. But it might just remind us that we don't need an app, a subscription, a touchscreen, or a Wi-Fi connection for everything.

Sometimes the cure for all that ails us is a little less innovation and a little more old school.