We need a movement for offline spaces, just like walkable cities.

Faraday cage environments where phones and laptops simply don’t work. 

Libraries with pencil and paper and no distractions.

Laptops without WiFi chips, so you can type offline and then sync back manually via USB or Ethernet when you want.

Restaurants with phone lockers at the front, where everyone must check in devices beforehand.

What else?

Yes to this. We need it culturally too. I went to see Trey Anastasio play an acoustic show the other night and I didn’t see a single phone up recording. I’m sure some people took some snippets but they did it very discreetly. It was a sign of respect from the audience and a collective commitment to being in the moment. It was cool

Reporter at Drop Site News, co-host at Breaking Points/Counter Points

🤝 This is what I’m talking about with startup societies!!

I would love to see opt-in experiments like this that selectively constrain tech offline. Sort of like the 140 character limit for Twitter was so counterintuitive initially, but helped make the medium.

Personally, I use pen/paper or whiteboard offline maybe 50% of the time and it’s extremely helpful for deep thinking.