Gen Z's new anti-tech rebellion: making eye contact and listening to each other

Members of the Luddite Club gather in New York City's Tomkins Square Park.

Corrie Aune for BI Members of New York City's Luddite Club yearn for a life without a screen.

Some have given up smartphones.

Others have more radical ideas.

They say limiting technology has made their lives richer and allowed them to connect with others.

Jameson Butler hated how much time she spent on her smartphone , so over the pandemic, she ditched it for a flip phone.

It was meant to be a temporary "social media cleanse." Years later, the 19-year-old still hasn't gone back.

"Immediately, the quality of my life increased so dramatically," she said during a meetup of like-minded tech skeptics in New York City's Tompkins Square Park on Sunday.

"I was like, oh my God, we've all been sold this lie that we have to have phones." Butler cofounded the Luddite Club in 2021, a group whose members meet weekly in the city to discuss literature, life, and the pitfalls of technology.

For its members, each meeting is a rare couple of hours where they can experience social connection that isn't set up by an Instagram DM or a text blast.

Members of the Luddite Club hang out in the park without a phone in sight.

Corrie Aune for BI In some meetings, the group goes on walks or does scavenger hunts around the city.

In others, they smash iPads into the concrete and wear pointy paper hats.

In every meeting, the group hopes to show people that life offline is fulfilling, organic, and fun.