About once a month I like to dedicate this column in the Pioneer Press to a particular constellation. Most of the time, I stick with major constellations like Orion, Gemini or the Big Bear, but this month I want to do a bit of deep-tracking on a much lesser-known star pattern.

All winter long, we dedicated stargazers willing to bundle up have been rewarded by the bright stars and constellations. There’s a particular collection that has several nicknames, like the winter hexagon, winter circle, winter oval and more. I like to call it “Orion’s gang” because the bright constellations surround the great hunter. There’s Gemini the Twins, Auriga the Chariot Driver, Taurus the Bull, and Canis Major and Minor, the Big and Little Dogs of the winter celestial theater. Orion’s calling card is his belt, made up of three bright stars in a nearly perfect row. This time of year, Orion’s gang holds court over a wide area of the early evening southwestern sky.

(Mike Lynch)

One member of Orion’s gang that lacks celestial luster is just under the foot of the Hunter, the constellation Lepus the Rabbit. As you can see in the diagram, you would be hard-pressed to see how this little disjointed collection of faint stars makes up a heavenly hare. If you’re ever out stargazing with me and you can honestly tell me you see a bunny below Orion’s feet in the southwestern sky, I want whatever you’re drinking!

The truth of the matter is that to see even half of the faint stars of Lepus, you have to be out in the countryside, and even then it’s stretching your eyesight and even more, your imagination to see it as a rabbit. One thing is for sure though, whoever came up with the name Lepus (pronounced Leepus) for the celestial rabbit had a sense of humor.

In Greek mythology, Lepus the Rabbit is a fun little tale. It reminds me of the old Bugs Bunny-Elmer Fudd cartoons. Just like Elmer, Orion was a pretty good hunter. Orion could hunt down any beast on his island, no matter how large or ferocious they were. But, just like Elmer Fudd, there was one beast that constantly eluded the mighty hermit hunter and actually took great pleasure in harassing him. It’s Orion’s version of Bugs Bunny, Lepus the Rabbit.

Not only was Lepus a normal pesky rabbit that ate everything out of Orion’s garden, he would constantly taunt and tease Orion during his hunting adventures, jumping on his head or biting the mighty hunter’s butt just as he was about to launch a spear at a wild boar. Lepus also made a point of, should we say, soiling Orion’s sleeping bag. Orion wanted desperately to exterminate this nasty little hare, but just like Bugs Bunny, Lepus was just too clever and fast.

Orion never got to realize his dream of eliminating Lepus because Orion himself was done in by Zeus, the king of the gods of Mount Olympus. Zeus found out that Orion was fooling around with his daughter Artemis, the goddess of the moon. Actually it was Artemis who pursued Orion as she deserted her task of guiding the moon across the night sky. It was her duty to guide a team of flying horses that towed a giant flatbed chariot with the moon strapped on to it. She kept seeing this nocturnal hunk of hunter pursuing his prey night after night and had to meet him. So on a nightly basis she woah-ed the horses in mid-flight so she could have her clandestine meeting with Orion. Artemis enjoyed her nightly hunting adventures, and let’s just say that they were having quite a time!

Zeus did not approve of his daughter fooling around with this mortal roughneck hunter and put out a hit on Orion. He sent a giant scorpion who attacked Orion during his daytime slumber. There was a tumultuous battle between the combatants but alas, the giant scorpion fatally bit Artemis’ boyfriend.

When Artemis discovered her dead boyfriend, she lifted his body into the heavens and magically transfigured it into the constellation we see in the winter heavens. She wanted to be able to see him every night as she guided the moon across the sky. She also placed his hunting dogs Canis Major and Canis Minor up there with him, along with, yes, that pesky rabbit Lepus. So as Bugs Bunny would kind of say … “That’s what’s up in the sky, Doc!”

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and retired broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul. He is the author of “Stars: a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations,” published by Adventure Publications and available at bookstores and adventurepublications.net. Mike is available for private star parties. You can contact him at mikewlynch@comcast.net.

Words will be flying in competition Wednesday during the Five Buck Finals of BuckSlam MN’s third annual poetry slam season at Indeed Brewing, 711 NE 15th Ave., Mpls.

(Courtesy of the author)

The evening will be hosted by Neil Hilborn, former Twin Citian and poet who was acclaimed for the performance of his poem “OCD” on YouTube and other social media sites. He has published books including “Our Numbered Days,” “The Future” and “About Time,” and toured the country with his poetry. A graduate of Macalester College, he has performed in 41 states and eight countries. He and his wife live in North Carolina.

Tanesha Nicole Kozler, co-founder of the literary and performing arts collective BuckSlam MN, says the organization is the region’s only regular poetry slam, featuring a monthly competitive poetry reading. At Wednesday’s finals the five top scoring performers from the past eight months will compete for cash prizes and a spot on the 2026 BuckSlam poetry team. They will showcase their talents at various venues throughout the spring and will represent the Twin Cities at regional poetry slam tournaments including the Midwest Poetry Mash-up in April.

The finals program begins at 7 p.m. and to add to the fun, audience members are encouraged to vocally respond to poems and scores to create an atmosphere of excitement and community. Admission is $5. For information go to BuckSlamMN.com.

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At the dawn of 2026, social media influencers at home and abroad proclaimed it the year of the “analog lifestyle,” a call to reduce digital connectivity as smart tech and screen time dominate a person’s attention span.

Selly Tan, an influencer from California, said people are “craving something real again,” and vowed to print her photos, read more books and magazines and take up hobbies that don’t need Wi-Fi.

Rosie Okatcha, an influencer from the U.K., proclaimed the year would be “The Age of Analog” with consumers swapping music streaming for iPods and vinyl records, and choosing crafting over doomscrolling.

Sanchi Oswal, an influencer from Germany, said in a post she felt going analog would reduce her “exposure and reliance on digital stimuli” and, in particular, to her phone.

For a generation that grew up in an entirely digital world, dependence on technology is a familiar habit that some are trying to break.

“From noon to 5 p.m., I’m looking at screens all day and then I’m going home and I’m just looking at my phone, scrolling on social media,” said Lillie Beacope, a senior at USC enrolled in a class on entertainment, marketing and culture. “I just feel like there’s not a chance for us within our day-to-day lives, to really get a break from technology.”

Spend any time outside, and you’ll see people of all ages are constantly on their smartphone or other digital devices for day-to-day tasks including communication, translation, navigation, delivery services, planning and entertainment. According to Pew Research Center data released in 2025, an estimated 91% of U.S. adults own a smartphone, up from 35% when the center first surveyed smartphone ownership in 2011.

The goal of the “analog lifestyle” trend is to wean people off constant digital connectivity by doing tangible activities that help a person reclaim their time.

But the smartphone isn’t the villain in this story, it’s a tool, said Natalia Khodayari, a postdoctoral researcher in the UC Davis Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

“It’s a handy tool, but this tool can be challenging to manage,” she said.

Why now?

Smartphone dependence has existed for years, but experts say it was compounded for people when the COVID-19 pandemic forced people indoors for weeks and months on end.

“People were upset, depressed and scared,” and all they had were their phones, Zoom and immediate family, said Karen North, a professor of digital social media and psychology at USC.

But years removed from the lockdowns, people are starting to notice how compelled they still are to look at their phones for information, to shop, or for nothing at all.

“It’s almost like biting your nails or another nervous habit,” North said.

Not only can the device itself be addictive, but many phone apps are designed to capture and keep a person’s attention, though people are becoming increasingly aware of this, said Dr. Anna Lembke, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford.

“There are enormous opportunity costs to engagement on these platforms that suck [people] in, where they end up spending way more time than they plan to or want to,” Lembke said. “It’s very clear from survey studies that people are less happy now than they were 15 to 20 years ago.”

This, however, won’t be the first time people have tried to exit the online world, even if just temporarily.

In 2010, Mintel, a global market intelligence and research agency, promoted a “switching off” trend because it anticipated consumers would want to take significant breaks from their digital devices because modern technology had created “inescapable levels of connectivity.”

But the fear of missing out, or “FOMO,” that comes with disconnecting can be equally daunting, some say.

“It kind of sucks to be accessible all the time and having to reply to everything, but at the same time I think in the digital age where you are so readily accessible, to not respond is then to not be a part of a community,” said USC senior Maya Din.

Experts say these feelings are coinciding with the advent of the internet, digital media and this concept of 24/7 access.

People are trying to make sense of their unhappiness, which is leading them to “making a valid connection between their online lives and their overall psychological state of being, which is not good,” Lembke said.

Studies have shown a correlation between heavy digital dependence and mental health challenges including depression, anxiety and stress.

Even though the concept of stepping away from our digital lives isn’t new, North said TikTok challenges and social media trends “tell us, ‘It’s not just you, it’s everybody,’” and here’s what you can do about it.

How is the ‘analog lifestyle’ trend different?

The analog trend is a different way to kick the digital habit because by embracing old technology and spending time on crafting projects experts say people are trying to be entertained or relax in ways that don’t involve being online.

The goal of this trend “is a desire to rebalance time and energy and reduce distractability and related stress,” said Khodayari, whose research focuses on the mechanisms of attention and emotion.

Generally, it’s really easy to get distracted given the diversity and convenience modern-day life offers.

“Imagine when there exists one space which houses your work, relaxation, communication, music, daily planner and food services, it can be quite challenging for individuals to really stay present towards one activity or one goal on a day-to-day basis,” she said.

In 2018, a study published in the National Library of Medicine observed how many times 216 participants checked their smartphones over the course of 56 days. The study led by Dr. Larry Rosen, professor emeritus and past chair of the psychology department at Cal State Dominguez Hills, found that participants unlocked their phones more than 60 times a day for three to four minutes each time, which equaled a total of 220 daily minutes of use.

Not surprisingly, the analog lifestyle is being adopted by young adults and younger generations as a way to be more mindful, more intentional.

“I think that’s a really big theme here, is creating boundaries,” Khodayari said.

How to reduce your digital connectivity

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to reducing or creating a boundary with your digital life. But as it happens, sometimes suggestions on how to go about it have to be spread online.

Influencers are posting about their “analog bag,” a canvas bag filled with craft supplies or purchasing a refurbished iPod to participate in this trend.

The recommendation has increased the search for “iPods” on EBay more than 1,200 times an hour globally between January and October 2025, according to the company. The iPod third-generation models saw a 50% increase in average sales price from global EBay users in 2025 compared with 2023. The iPod Nano third generation saw a 60% increase, while the iPod Classic sixth generation had a 40% increase.

In terms of crafting, Market Research Future, a global market research company, is projecting the craft supplies market to steadily grow from $42.83 billion globally in 2025 to $64.95 billion by 2035 that’s due in part to “individuals seeking creative outlets.”

You don’t have to spend money to participate in the analog lifestyle trend because making a drastic change or taking up a trendy hobby might not be helpful because it’s not something you’ll stick with long term, Khodayari said.

If you want to really stick with reducing your overall digital use, start with small adjustments to your habits, she said.

“Do something that makes a change that you really feel you can be consistent with,” she said.

Here are some common small adjustments people make to their routines to live the analog lifestyle:

•Remove your phone from view when you’re working on another task. Put it in a drawer or in another room entirely.

•Remove an app from your phone’s home screen or delete it entirely.

•Mute or stop unnecessary notifications.

•Swap your doomscrolling time on social media with another activity such as a walk, a craft, reading or cooking.

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America is having a collective freakout about jobs — specifically, that soon AI will do everything and leave everyone unemployable. This concern is not necessarily misplaced, but it is better understood as part of a larger worry: that one of the country’s most critical resources, human capital, is eroding.

A large, diverse and highly skilled labor force is what made the U.S. an economic powerhouse. Now both the stock and value of its human capital is degrading, and almost no one is doing anything to stop it.

The biggest threat to America’s human capital is fewer humans. As the population ages and migration declines, the size of the labor force is shrinking. More broadly, a shrinking population means fewer workers and consumers — and, in many rich countries, more young people working to pay for the costs of older workers’ retirements and the government’s debts. This is a big threat to economic prosperity that the U.S. has usually mitigated though immigration, which is not a likely solution this time.

There is another way a country can get by with a shrinking population: if its workers become more productive. If a young worker is so smart and skilled he can produce the output of three workers, then an aging workforce is less of a problem. In the 20th century, as technology made workers more efficient and people became more educated, human capital in America became much more valuable.

There are some preliminary signs that productivity is rising now. After years of middling numbers, labor productivity increased in 2025. But these encouraging numbers aren’t providing much comfort, because people are worried that AI will be so productive that the need for human workers will decline anyway. If technology displaces workers, then the value of their human capital can be wiped out entirely.

Again, I am not saying this isn’t a valid worry — only that it is as old as time.

In the past, technology not only made labor more productive, it also increased the demand for labor. Some jobs were lost, but new and better ones were created; wages and employment went up. Some people who work in technology argue that this time is different, but it is way too early to know for sure.

First, widespread AI-induced job loss, or even a lack of hiring, can’t yet be seen in the data. Many industries that use AI are the same ones doing the hiring. It is true there is less job growth overall, but much of that can be explained by cyclical changes to the economy and a fall in migration.

Second, a lot of the speculation about the end of jobs is coming from people who’ve never worked in the jobs they presume will disappear. You never know what a job entails and what it takes to be good at it unless you’ve done it. A wealth manager, for example — one of the jobs said to be on borrowed time — doesn’t just write reports and pick stocks. They (the successful ones, at least) cultivate relationships and function almost as therapists. Those softer skills may become even more valuable as AI becomes more prevalent, freeing up time to spend on deeper relationships and more clients. In that case, AI could make human labor more valuable, and people will still have jobs.

As in the past, the most important question may be how we manage the transition to a new technology, which is often long and difficult. A mismatch between skills and technology could mean a short-term decline in human capital, even if productivity numbers increase.

Historically, the mismatch was addressed through education, which improved with each generation, enabling workers to work with new innovation. But education may no longer be serving the same purpose — as more of the population goes to college, it may be reaching a point of diminishing returns. Even more concerning is that educational standards are weakening at both the secondary and post-secondary level. Too many graduates have weak critical thinking skills and are facing technology that is getting smarter faster than they are.

Paul Krugman famously said, “Productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run it is almost everything.” That “almost” is crucial: Even if U.S. productivity increases, if its human capital degrades, it will be in trouble. Even high productivity numbers may not be enough to pay the government’s debts, and there will be many people unhappily and under-employed.

That scenario is not inevitable. AI cannot by itself improve America’s economic and demographic growth. That will require better education that trains students to think rigorously, as well as immigration that prioritizes highly skilled migrants. What’s required, in other words, is a strategy to improve our human capital.

Allison Schrager is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering economics. A senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, she is author of “An Economist Walks Into a Brothel: And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk.”

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