The iPod Shuffle ad that shocked its own inventor
Tony Fadell, the engineer who helped create the iPod, stood in a New York subway station and saw something he never expected: a giant ad for the iPod Shuffle, a device he designed over 20 years ago. The ad’s tagline, “zero screen time,” felt like a time capsule in an era where people stream endless music on their phones. Yet, the ad was new, placed by Back Market, a company selling refurbished tech. It worked—sales for these old devices are rising. The surprise isn’t just nostalgia. Younger generations, who’ve never known a world without smartphones, are buying wired headphones, retro gaming consoles, and point-and-shoot cameras. These devices don’t demand constant attention. They don’t upload photos to social media or push algorithm-driven music. That’s the appeal. Joy Howard, Back Market’s CMO, calls this trend “slowtech,” a pushback against the exhaustion of always being connected. Austin Murray, who once built mobile games, now creates an app to reduce screen time. He ...