"Analogue" Named Hawaiʻi's 2025 Word of the Year by UH Mānoa

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Department of English selected "analogue" as Hawaiʻi's 2025 Word of the Year on December 28, 2025. The department said the term gained traction across the islands as residents, practitioners and community leaders debated the role of non-digital practices alongside expanding digital systems. The selection reflects linguistic trends observed during 2025 and points to broader cultural conversations about how people in Hawaiʻi balance technology with continuity of place-based and intergenerational knowledge.

Editors and linguists who reviewed trends framed "analogue" not simply as a technical descriptor but as a social touchstone. In local contexts, analogue has been used to describe everyday actions such as handwritten record keeping, in-person clinic visits, oral storytelling, and craft practices, all of which intersect with how communities preserve cultural knowledge and access essential services. For many Big Island residents, these analogue practices are linked to identity, resilience and the transmission of cultural responsibility across generations.

That connection has direct public health implications. As healthcare systems expand telehealth, electronic records and app-based services, relying solely on digital models risks widening gaps for residents who face limited broadband, lower digital literacy or cultural preferences for face-to-face interaction. Rural and remote parts of the Big Island already confront barriers in internet connectivity and transportation; the renewed attention to analogue practices underscores the need for hybrid service models that honor both technological progress and equitable access. Policymakers and health providers can interpret the word choice as a prompt to sustain in-person clinics, maintain paper-based alternatives and invest in culturally responsive outreach that reaches kupuna and other digitally marginalized groups.

The selection also raises questions about how institutions document and preserve community knowledge. Analogue methods, from oral histories to analogue maps and physical archives, remain crucial for cultural continuity and research that centers Indigenous perspectives. As digitization continues, advocates argue for policies that protect community control over records and ensure that technological transitions do not erase or commodify traditional practices.

For Big Island residents, the 2025 Word of the Year is more than linguistic novelty. It signals a community-level negotiation about how to move forward with technology while retaining practices that support health, social cohesion and cultural equity. Local health systems, schools and government agencies can use that conversation to design policies and programs that bridge digital innovation with accessible, respectful analogue options.