Tech news in 3 minutes
The slowtech revolution is here to kill your phone addiction and rescue your attention span
When Tony Fadell, known as the father of the iPod, saw a five-by-four-foot ad for the iPod Shuffle in New York City's 28th Street Subway Station, he was shocked. The ad, placed by refurbished tech marketplace Back Market, promoted "zero screen time." Joy Howard, Back Market's CMO, explained that demand for obsolete tech like the iPod is growing due to "slowtech" – a movement seeking mindful technology use amid oversaturation. She noted that people now see friction as a feature to create boundaries. Austin Murray, who founded early mobile gaming company JAMDAT, now builds MOQA, a screen time reduction app. He observed that average daily screen time of five hours is a product design problem, not a willpower issue. Writer Calvin Kasulke pays for apps Opal and Freedom to limit his screen time, calling it embarrassing but necessary. About 53% of American adults want to reduce screen time. Some users switch to flip phones or minimalist devices like the Light Phone. Light co-founder Kaiwei Tang said many users are aged 20-35. However, Murray noted that dumb phones can't handle essential tasks like banking. Fadell prefers less screens, echoing a market trend: American spending on screenless wearables like Oura ring and Whoop wristband grew 88% year-over-year. Even the Mark AI bookmark ($159) aims to reduce phone usage for note-taking. Fadell said, "We need less screens, not more of them."