A shadow companion called over the last few months Boba and co. Persuading people in Washington, DC to turn off their smartphones for a month. It’s part of a project called Mas Offline, where participants get a flip phone and access a support group to talk about algorithms, doomscrolling and why smartphones make us feel so lonely.
This isn’t just another digital detox retreat. To me, it sounds like a hip social club. Home base is called a bar Hush Harbor, The first phone-free bar in DCAnd early on, the onboarding experience involved calling a 1-800 number and leaving a voicemail application
The local movement is going to the national level. Now have a website and Option to join a team from anywhere in the US. For $100, you get the Dumb Phone 1, which is really a TCL flip phone; A new phone number with a 404 area code; And a curriculum of sorts to guide you through the month. There are also weekly dial-in radio programs that take the place of in-person meetings. The first private group outside of DC is also accepting applications: Month Offline Brooklyn Starts in January 2026.
It all smacks of the same nostalgia that led The Resurrection of the CD And The return of the compact digital camera. The concept of a piece of technology that does a job and doesn’t occupy our entire attention span.
“The phone definitely increases our tendency to avoid things,” says Grant Besner, one of the co-founders of Mas Offline. “Just needing to replace it for a little while and sit with your thoughts to be bored can be a transformative and really positive experience in someone’s life.”
Mas Offline is part of a new generation of solutions for your smartphone-connected existence. These include carefully designed smartphone options, Like the Lite Phone 3. There is also brickAn NFC-enabled magnet that blocks access to certain apps when you tap your phone. You can also find lots of apps, Such as Freedom, One Second or ForestThat would accomplish a similar end. The overarching idea is that sneaking away from your phone for the weekend won’t do much to change your long-term habits. You need to learn to be more intentional about your phone use.
“This is AA for smartphones“
I first learned about Months Offline from Brittany Shamus, a Washington Post reporter who attended one of the DC-based groups and Wrote a feature about the experience. Something that stood out in his coverage was the extent to which people weren’t just looking for a quick phone. They wanted community and connection.
“It definitely had elements that made it feel like a support group,” Shammus told me. “People in the group would sometimes say, ‘This is AA for smartphones.'”
After talking to several others who did the Mas Offline program, it was clear that some wanted to go full flip phone, while others just needed a break from their iPhone. One of them, Lydia Peabody, said she gave up her smartphone for a month because she was struggling with her mental health and was “scrolling.” [her] Life away.” Then he switched to a flip phone and everything changed.
“I didn’t know life could feel like this,” said Peabody, who now works at Mas Offline “I didn’t even know I could exist like this.”
For those who don’t want to do the whole month-long challenge, the organizers of Month Offline will sell you a Dumb Phone 1, with a new phone number and cell service, for $25 a month. They also make an app, Dumb Down, that makes it easy to sync calls and texts between an iPhone and a flip phone. Even without the support group component, switching to a flip phone May deepen your existing friendships And Improve your attention span.
For as long as smartphones have existed, they have been designed to help us stop using them. More than a decade ago, you could spend hundreds To go to the camp groundAn adult summer camp in California where all digital devices were banned. The organization that sponsored it, Digital detoxGroups inspired worldwide to help people disconnect D Offline ClubFor example, hosts phone-free events and retreats across Europe. There is even a special festival that takes place every year on the first weekend of March called Global Day of Unplugging. Verizon is a corporate sponsor.
But what was once a wellness trend is quickly becoming a full-blown social movement. After Jean Tuenz asked “Did the smartphone destroy a generation?In 2017 in The Atlantic, the idea that technology use created youth mental health crises went mainstream. It didn’t help when, a few years later, the Wall Street Journal reported that Instagram Knew its product was harmful to minorsCiting internal documents. That was around the same time Wait till the 8th promise And some families to keep smartphones out of the hands of children until they are 13 years of age or older Even consultants are hired To help them kick the smartphone habit. Then came the pandemic, when everyone’s lives were more mediated by screens.
Now, banning school phones is a major legislative priority. Florida was first To push the phone from the classroom in 2024, and there are now 35 states with laws or regulations Limiting or completely banning phones in schools. We don’t know how this will transform education, but at least in one Kentucky school district, the number of phone bans statewide is on the rise. Check out books from the library.
You have to wonder what a school phone ban would look like for adults. More than half of US adults worry about becoming addicted to their smartphones, According to a 2024 Harris PollBut it seems unlikely that they all want to be thrown into the sea. Spending a weekend on a digital detox retreat can be relaxing and exploratory even suggest That these types of interventions can help people reduce the amount of time they spend on their phones once the program ends. Stay away from social media Sure looks good For your mental health.
“Overall, there is now emerging evidence that digital detox can and does work,” says Kostadin Kushlevis a Georgetown psychology professor who leads the Digital Health and Happiness Lab. But most research focuses on giving up a single trait like social media, Kushlev added.
Let me confess: I didn’t do the month offline. I couldn’t even last a week using just a Lite Phone 3. A big reason for this is that it’s not the right time for me to reorganize my digital life. While mass offline organizers make it easy, switching to a flip phone is difficult.
But I got a brick. Anytime I want to stop myself from reflexively scrolling through Reddit at night, I just tap my phone on the little gray square and the app stops working. To get it working again, I have to get up, walk across my apartment and tap again. It sounds simple, just a little bit of friction to snap me out of the stupor. And right now I want to feel more present.
Update, Nov. 6, 9:25 a.m. ET: This story originally appeared on Nov. 6 and has been updated with news of the launch of Mas Offline Brooklyn
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