I'm a pretty modern person. I work remotely for a tech company, I've lost count of the number of computers in my home (laptops, old towers, Raspberry Pi's, etc), I even have Tux tattooed on my arm.
And yet I find myself falling into the hipster trappings of my generation; I have a turntable, I vape, and I just bought a french press. And I wonder to myself, why am I doing this? I'm a scarf and v-neck shirt away from hipster bingo!
I think part of the answer is in the manual process. Vinyl might not be the superior audio format (or it might, I don't wanna go there), but when you have to take out a record, lay it down and place a needle, you're gonna really listen to what you're playing.
When you use a french press, you're spending about 10 minutes, from boiling to drinking, just making coffee. You're manually pushing the plunger to separate the grounds. You're going to taste that coffee, because you put effort into it.
Even vaping has these trappings. Mind you, I vape in attempt to not smoke. But there's also satisfaction in rolling a new coil, wrapping a wick, etc.
And that's what my generation is missing, the feeling of satisfaction you get from doing something with your hands. These little trappings are like the gamification of handiwork; you get the satisfaction of completing a task with your hands, without the effort of any hard work.
What does all this mean? Is this a good or a bad thing? I don't know, I'm only on my first cup of freshly pressed coffee.