A rising movement urging to put down your phone

More than a dozen millennials gathered in an apartment in Brooklyn, dropping their phones into a metal colander before spending two hours reading, sketching, and talking—anything that didn’t involve screens. A similar gathering unfolded nearby in a converted early-20th-century factory turned upscale office, where about 20 people in their 30s briefly looked at their phones, then set them aside. Then they set them down and looked at their bared palms for a while. Then those of their neighbors.  to focus on something far simpler: their own hands, and those of the people around them. The exercise was designed to highlight the value of real-world attention over constant digital distraction.

Roughly two decades after Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone, a small but committed movement has begun pushing back against the dominance of screens. Though still niche, this “attention activism” trend is spreading across countries, fueled by concerns that modern technology has become increasingly intrusive and exploitative.

“The products have become more insidious and more extractive, exploitative,” said Dan Fox, 38, who hosted the house gathering. Members of the nascent movement “want to start a revolution,” he said.

But can an “attention activism” movement of millennials and Generation Z members break free of the world’s largest companies? The raw numbers say no. But cultural changes start small, and the rebellion is growing against what many call “human fracking.”

Tech giants like Apple say they are responding, introducing tools such as screen-time tracking and grayscale modes to help users cut back. Activists, however, argue these measures fall short.