Is the social media age running out of bandwidth? Are we about to put our smartphones on hold? Rachel Kelly sees signs of a widespread digital detox emerging

Smartphone haters of the world unite! It’s time to return to a more analogue world. And hooray! There are new organisations and campaigns focused on digital defiance popping up, ironically using the Internet to share their message.

Let’s begin with Scroll Aware (scrollaware.com), a new social enterprise which encourages users to audit their online habits so they’re aware of just how much time they spend on activities such as doom-scrolling, and to pledge to live more mindfully and be present with others. It also suggests we buy their cute padded “sleeping bags”, called Smaart Pockets, to tuck away our phones and reduce their use, because out of sight is out of mind. Run by the entrepreneur Jessica Butcher MBE, and comprised of businesses and campaigners who have had enough of smartphones, the enterprise plans to launch the #LessScrollMoreSoul campaign later this year.

Meanwhile, Looking For Growth was established six months ago and gained attention in June when its members used cleaning spray on the Bakerloo line to remove graffiti. The movement is dedicated to improving public spaces and stimulating economic activity in the real world. They are recruiting new members through their website youcanjustdostuff.com and an office in south London, with many young men signing up. Richard Reeves, who wrote Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, said at a recent Centre for Policy Studies event that young men were checking out and retreating to their phones. Not those joining LFG.

Finally, there’s Smartphone Free Childhood, created by the former school friends Clare Fernyhough and Daisy Greenwell in response to their fears around children’s smartphone use and the norm of giving them smart devices when they go to secondary school. The movement now has more than 200,000 followers signed up – irony again – on Instagram.

All good stuff, and not before time, given that the average child now spends less time outdoors than a high-security inmate, according to a 2016 survey by Natural England, and the situation can only have worsened since then.

My own view from running workshops for parents and teachers on adolescent mental health is that we are better off focusing on the “pull” of more soul-time rather than the “push” of less scroll time. What we focus on expands: we are what we pay our attention to, as our brain rewires itself and constantly creates new neural pathways. So we do well to focus on the good stuff. I’m referring to the timeless benefits of offline living and in-person activities, be that pottering in the back garden, chewing the fat, sharing a cuppa, feeling part of a community, or picking up a paintbrush – all enjoyable idling pursuits, and suitable for all ages. Preaching to teens about the downsides of smartphone use, or advising them to disconnect, would be less effective because bossing them never works – especially given the longing for autonomy which develops in adolescence.

Call me naïve, but I’m quietly optimistic that the zeitgeist is shifting. Digital fatigue is growing, a recent Deloitte survey found. It reported that while over half of Gen Z (born between 1995 and 2012) would favour a ban on social media for under 16s, this rises to 71% of Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) and 78% of Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964).

Meanwhile one in five consumers has deleted a social media app in the past 12 months, rising to one in three among Gen Z, the same survey found. Half of consumers have turned off all notifications for one or more apps, and nearly one in five has set screen time limits to reduce their use of devices. Finally, over a third of consumers plan on not purchasing a new device in the next 12 months.

I’ve also observed a change in daily life. Some psychiatrists are beginning to give “disconnection prescriptions”. My pal the psychiatrist Dr Jamie Arkell from London’s Nightingale Hospital tells me he now asks his patients to measure exactly how many hours a day they are online, how that makes them feel, and how they might reduce their screen time.

Schools are changing too. Take Trevor-Roberts prep school in north London. There are no screens in sight, a friend reported on a recent visit. Instead, they focus on what we might call slow learning: the use of books, pens, and map-reading.

Public spaces are being designed more thoughtfully to invite connection: benches facing each other, communal talk tables, free chess boards and community walls for public expression and local event promotion. There are already “Happy to chat benches” which feature a sign saying “Sit here if you don’t mind someone stopping to say hello” popping up in Newcastle. Analogue is already cool again – vinyl, paper-planners, alarm clocks, disposable cameras, and game nights. Many bookshops now serve as digital detox zones, offering cafés, events, and open-mic nights.

I predict these changes are just the beginning. One day, phone cloakrooms may be common at social gatherings, with “No-phone zone” signs in most public spaces. We will all have those phone sleeping bags. It will be frowned upon for phones to be out in social settings, just as smoking is no longer acceptable.

And we may return to sitting with our thoughts, processing or making sense of our experiences, chewing on curiosity rather than tapping it into Google or ChatGPT. And, dare I say, becoming happier in the process.

Rachel Kelly’s latest book The Gift of Teenagers: Connect More, Worry Less was published by Hachette in May.

This article appears in the current edition of the Idler.

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