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Technology has never been hotter. The latest batch of iPhones are being met with strong demand, according to Wall Street analysts, and artificial intelligence is the primary driver of Wall Street’s gains. Amid all this hardware (and software) hype, though, there’s a growing sentiment among some members of Generation Z who want to leave it all behind.
Welcome to the new Luddite movement. While it’s unlikely to be much more successful in the long run than the original one started by English textile workers in the 19th Century (who rejected and sometimes destroyed automated machinery), it’s a notable crusade in a world where many people spend more time staring at their screens than talking to each other.
The new Luddites aren’t quite as extreme as their forebearers. They know that to make it in today’s world, you have to be willing to accept a certain level of technology in your life, they’ve acknowledged in media interviews. But as personal privacy becomes an afterthought, they’re looking for a middle ground between the two worlds. And that’s opening several new doors for businesses.
Phones are the current primary focus of the neo-Luddites. They want to be able to stay in touch with friends and loved ones, but don’t want a screen to be a focal point of their lives. As a result, several new devices, which ride the line between the “dumb phones” of the early 2000s and today’s smartphones, are gaining popularity.
Jelly Star, for instance, is an Android-based almost-miniature smartphone (ranging from $99 to $340) that will let owners call, text, email, or get directions, but with a screen measuring just three inches, it’s not something you want to stare at for a long time. The $599 Light Phone III, meanwhile, lets you stay in touch, listen to music and find your way around, but ditches “infinite scroll” apps like email, Web browsers, and social media, so you can focus on the real world.
Some parents, meanwhile, are leading a resurrection of the corded home phone so their young kids can talk with friends without being exposed to the dangers of social media and other online threats (even though the phone lines are ironically powered by Voice Over Internet Protocol). And even the Masters Tournament this year offered public phones to patrons, who were required to keep their cellphones and other electronic devices off the greens.
There are groups taking this movement into other areas. There are now more than 25 active and pending chapters of The Luddite Club, a nonprofit founded by a team of self-described “former screenagers.” The organization seeks to promote human connections and a more conscious consumption of technology.
Many members opt to primarily use flip phones, rather than smart devices (though some carry an Android phone as an emergency backup, in case they need to hail an Uber or utilize some other smartphone-dependent service).
In Silicon Valley, another group called Appstinence is encouraging Gen Z to imagine (and live) a life free of social media. “We have become a society that defaults to social media to connect with others, ourselves, and the world at large; this movement wants to change that, by removing social media from our personal relationships entirely,” it writes on its site.
Other groups urging caution about technology are doing so with a more fatalistic approach. The Machine Intelligence Research Institute in Berkeley, California, has been regularly issuing warnings about artificial intelligence, particularly artificial super intelligence (ASI). “If ASI is developed and deployed any time soon, by any nation or group, via anything remotely resembling current methods, the most likely outcome is human extinction,” the group boldly proclaims on its website.
Thinking of embracing a more tech-free lifestyle? You won’t find a lot of information about it online, as you might expect. There are, however, a growing number of real-world rallies and gatherings for people who are embracing a Luddite approach to tech.
On Sept. 27, Luddites in London gathered for “Breaking the (G)loom,” which was described as “an evening of fellowship for the AI avoidant.” That same day, in New York, students and activists gathered for a rally called “Scathing Hatred of Information Technology and the Passionate Hemorrhaging of Our Neo-liberal Experience”—or S.H.I.T.P.H.O.N.E. for short.
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Chris Morris
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