Young people want to log off.
Spellbound. Despite widespread desire to cut screentime, new data shows Americans are spending 6.3 hours—roughly 40% of the day—on their phones.
A plot twist, those aged 36+ are now more hooked than 17–25-year-olds, with younger cohorts increasingly craving analog recreation and anti-algorithm socializing.
Paying attention. Targeting the next generation, tech startups are selling friction-as-a-service — pivoting from attention to experience economy.
A fresh pitch, Andrew Yang’s Noble Mobile phone plan—backed by Scott Galloway—pays people to use less data and party more, hosting gatherings in major cities as a marketing play.
Y2K-inspired redesigns, Physical Phones and KICKBACK promise authentic offlineness to a generation robbed of it. Adding functional upgrades like Bluetooth while stripping distracting features, the latter brands its CD players and cameras as “liberation devices” for freedom from algos and pings.
Aiming high. Coming for Apple, Nothing tech targets Gen Z with the promise of “making tech fun again.” Positioning as the anarchist’s pick, it became a unicorn last year following a $200M Series C led by early Facebook backer Tiger Global.
With an average customer age of 26, its mission is to inspire creativity, not trap attention. Multichannel marketing, it’s building community through music scenes and IRL events.
Takeaway: With unclaimed territory between algorithmic over-optimization and luddite-level dumbphones, brands are battling to own the solarpunk turf.
