How a digital detox day can help people take control of their free time

HAre you annoyed by a pile of unread books? Or plagued by climbing gear lying in the cupboard? If you’re one of the British adults who, on average, five hours a day Now that we’re looking at screens more than participating in hobbies, maybe it’s time to join the offline revolution.

Instead of staring at a screen for those five hours, you could read about 300 pages of a book, climb Mount Snowdonor – depending on your pace – run a marathon. Some even choose to turn off their devices for a day.

On Sunday more than 1,000 people promised to take back control of their downtime and go on a 24-hour digital detox. The event is being run by the Offline Club, which says its mission is to “swap screen time for real time.” Those who sign up will be invited to a Zoom call on Saturday, where they’ll be given tips and tricks for surviving the next day without the internet.

Philip, 33, a branding director from Rotterdam, the Netherlands, is one of the participants. Between working behind a desk all day and coming home to watch TV and doomscroll on social media, he can spend up to 14 hours a day staring at a screen.

He said: “I’m just sick of them. I thought it might be fun to just try it to feel a bit more relaxed. I want to live a bit more in the moment instead of doom scrolling on social media and seeing what other people are doing in their ‘perfect lives’.”

Philip wants “more face-to-face interaction and getting out more”. A whole day without navigation apps to get from A to B or to stay in constant contact with friends and family will be a challenge, but Philip said he was “excited” to get involved.

Fernanda Grace, 38, a community manager from Barcelona, ​​Spain, is also going offline on Sunday. She wants the digital detox to become a widespread and recurring event, along the lines of Earth hour where people are encouraged to give 60 minutes to the planet by turning off non-essential lights.

Grace said, “Sometimes I just want to get off my phone. When we do things together, it has more impact. It’s like when you go to the gym and you have a buddy waiting for you there, you have to go.”

Since she found out about the Offline Club, she has already started making small changes. “When I go out for dinner with a friend, my phone doesn’t leave my bag.”

Another habit Grace has adopted is using an old-fashioned alarm clock instead of relying on her phone to wake her up. “An email or WhatsApp can set the tone for the whole day. If it’s something urgent, it’ll keep you excited all day. I try not to do that anymore.”

She hopes to finally read some books, sleep better, and get into the habit of responding to others less often. “I want to have a better relationship with social media in general and really not feel guilty about disconnecting.”

The Offline Club held its first physical “digital detox hangout” in Amsterdam in February. In the months since, the company has expanded to Paris, Dubai, and London. In these hangouts, phones are locked away for a few hours and attendees are encouraged to read or interact with each other. Sunday marks the club’s first attempt at a mass mobilization to get people offline.

Ilya Kneppelhout, co-founder of the Offline Club, said people are surprised by how just a few hours of being offline “makes them feel so much less stressed and more connected to themselves and to others.”

The company also runs an offline weekend away in the Dutch countryside, where phones are locked away on arrival. Tickets for the two-day event cost a minimum of €425 (£356). Speaking about the retreat, Kneppelhout said: “People had a lot of mental space. They quit their jobs because they finally stopped and thought about their lives.”

Kneppelhout said he was inspired to co-found the club after having his own phone-free weekend. “I wasn’t reading enough, I wasn’t writing enough, I wasn’t getting out in nature enough. Afterwards, I felt super creative. I came back very energized and inspired.”

He quit his job since the company’s meteoric growth. “(The Offline Club) is not financially sustainable yet. That’s one of the reasons we’re expanding to other cities, but the business is going. We’re grateful enough that we’re (able to) dip into our savings account a little bit and borrow some money from our parents for the time being.”

Kneppelhout thinks the digital detox movement is just beginning. “We want phone-free spaces in cities and maybe phone-free vacations.”