Join the Movement to Unplug from Your Phone
▼ Summary
– A small movement is rebelling against smartphones, with groups gathering for phone-free activities like reading and drawing to focus on real life instead of screens.
– Organizers describe this as “attention activism,” criticizing tech products as exploitative and aiming to start a revolution against Big Tech.
– Some participants use basic “dumb phones” as an alternative, which lack features like social media and browsers to reduce anxiety.
– The movement has spread internationally, with chapters in several countries hosting events designed to help people slow down and connect offline.
– Academic and literary works support this backlash, framing it as an “attention liberation movement” necessary to reclaim focus from time-sucking apps.
A quiet but determined rebellion is taking shape in living rooms and repurposed spaces, where people are choosing to disconnect from their smartphones. In a Brooklyn brownstone earlier this year, a group of millennials surrendered their devices to a metal colander for two hours of reading and conversation. Not far away, in a converted factory, another group performed a simple exercise, staring first at their phones and then at their own empty hands. These acts are foundational to a growing cultural pushback against the constant digital engagement that defines modern life.
This movement, emerging two decades after the iPhone’s debut, represents a form of attention activism. Participants are challenging what organizer Dan Fox calls the “insidious and extractive” nature of contemporary tech products. Fox, a 38-year-old comedian who works for the dumb phone company Light, believes members “want to start a revolution” against the corporate harvesting of human focus, a practice some critics label human fracking.
While tech giants like Apple have introduced features such as usage tracking and grayscale modes to curb screen time, activists argue these measures are insufficient. The alternative they champion is a return to simpler devices. Companies like Light Phone explicitly market their products on what they lack: social media, email, web browsers, and other sources of infinite scrolling. Fox’s own commitment to the cause crystallized at a 2015 concert, where he observed a sea of phones recording the performance. “I realized the phones are literally getting in the way of the things I love,” he said.
The philosophical underpinnings of this shift are explored in works like historian D. Graham Burnett’s “Attensity! A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement.” Burnett, a key figure in the backlash, advocates for people to “rewild their attention,” framing it as the core of their relationship with the world. This sentiment resonates deeply at gatherings like Fox’s, which often begin with personal admissions. “I don’t feel good about my relationship with my phone. I feel like an addict,” shared Riley Soloner, a theater professional who arrived with a backpack of physical books.
The movement is not confined to New York. In Amsterdam, the Offline Club hosts events in a neo-Gothic cathedral, encouraging activities that promote slowing down and self-reflection. Similar groups have formed across the United States, Canada, and several European nations. The principles are also being tested in institutional settings. At Oberlin College earlier this year, a student housing co-op enacted a month-long experiment, banning organizational emails and technology in common areas. Participant Ozzie Frazier, 21, noted a widespread “feeling of relief” that led to more conversation, library CD borrowing, and communal game nights.
For individuals like Wilhelm Tupy, a former judo champion, the pursuit of focused “flow” in sports aligns perfectly with the goals of attention liberation. After discovering Burnett’s manifesto, he visited the School of Radical Attention in Brooklyn, seeking strategies to combat the increasing difficulty of maintaining focus in a distracted world. “Discipline is not enough nowadays,” he observed. As these small, intentional communities continue to form, they collectively pose a poignant question about the cost of our connectedness and the value of reclaiming our mental space.
(Source: Associated Press)
