Why — and how — student journalists are using digital cameras now more than ever

By Jordan Thomas, West Brunswick High School

In the past, digital cameras were the standard. Everyone had one, but didn’t realize that tens of years later it would be a new trend.

Gen Z students are loving digital cameras, they are very affordable and offer a quick and easy way to capture a moment with their friends and peers.

“The perspective of the article changes with what the reader is seeing,” Riverside High School Advisor Bryan Christopher said. “The digital camera brings a different view and is different from the traditional camera in the angle and quality.”

“I think the quality is nicer oftentimes,” Maela Bazemore, a senior at East Mecklenburg High School, said. “It’s a way better feeling of having an actual camera in my hand rather than using the phone I use all the time for every little thing, it’s kind of like a getaway.”

According to CBC Canada, the hashtag #digitalcamera has over 287,000 posts as of December 2014. Another NPR article from 2014 chronicled the rise of digital cameras for Gen Z-ers, stating the rise of nostalgia and a longing for “realness.”

Those sentiments praising digital cameras were echoed by students at the 2025 NCSMA Summer Institute, bringing together hundreds of student journalists from across North Carolina. At the Kenan Stadium alone, these journalists could be seen capturing the moment both to preserve their memories and to document the camp.

“I’ve seen the comeback of these cameras a lot recently, especially with people my age,” Mary-Payton Pendergrass, a junior at West Brunswick High School, said. “The pictures seem so much more authentic, they are like a keepsake for you and gather so many forgotten memories.”

Why digital cameras are on the rise

According to Pew Research Center, 91% of Americans own a smartphone as of November 2024. So why are student journalists gravitating towards digital cameras?

Recently, there has been a new trend in buying old cameras and using the vintage look to dive into their memories that either share a story or are just good vibes.

“When I take pictures, it just helps me relive the moment,” Enloe High School student Cami Gruzman said. “Looking back, it makes me think, wow, I do remember that day and I remember every part of it.”

Preserving the memories isn’t the only draw — multiple students said they were inspired by the aesthetic of the digital cameras.

In recent years, certain fashions, movies, and even slang have been resurrected from the past. According to theamag, we tend to romanticize the past and love the feeling of nostalgia. When you see a picture of your parents or grandparents, it evokes that old reminiscing feeling for everyone who sees it.

“My family has always been big on picture taking; no matter where we go, they have always loved documenting our experiences,” Pendergrass said. “My grandpa let me borrow his digital camera before a trip, and ever since then, I have taken over thousands of pictures. It has also led me to take journalism classes and photography with sports.”

Alongside the rise of digital cameras being purchased on TikTok, Amazon, and other shopping sites, students are also inheriting these cameras from their grandparents or relatives. Students said that they were encouraged by seeing ads for digital cameras on TikTok and by seeing their friends with these cameras.

Old digital cameras produce images with a distinct vibe, slightly grainy and slightly blurry, that screams the early 2000s. You can always slap an Instagram filter on a cellphone picture, but that defeats the purpose and aesthetic the consumer is striving for.

“When I use the digital camera, I always use my flash,” said Gruzman. “It captures very tiny details that most won’t notice and gives that old look to it that everyone wants.”

How student journalists are bringing their flash to the world

Taking pictures with a camera can hold a lot of memories for people and tell the story of the subject. A lot of cellphone pictures are candid and don’t capture the moment that is happening in front of you. Digital cameras can be as small as a phone, which is very handy because you have lifetime memories right in your pocket. You can capture the moment in a vintage look that serves as a flashback for you. On phones, you have to endlessly scroll to find that one picture hidden under the memes and all the other things in your camera roll. So no apps, no filters, just the moment as it is.

“I think that people that are Gen-Z are shifting more towards the small digital cameras because of the convenience, NCSMA photography teacher Isaiah Dickerson said. “It is cool seeing more people capture moments with a camera because it captures the moment in a quick and easy way.”

Now

Writing a story about a subject you are passionate about is journalism, but also involves picture-taking. Pictures are a story with no words; they capture the emotions and raw feelings of others. Without pictures, we would forget all of the good and bad times of our lives and the sense of who we are.

“Of course, I don’t want someone to just walk up and take a picture of me,” Leyla Bonilla-Forgacs, a senior at East Mecklenburg High School, said. “When I am prepared for the picture and it’s with my friends, it gives me a good feeling and it is something I can look back on when I am grown up.”