From farming to phone-free retreats, analogue wellness a new digital detox trend

Blacksmithing classes. Retro vinyl record players in hotel rooms. Board games at the phone-free dinner table. The movement towards an analogue revolution – or perhaps counter-revolution – is gathering pace. Could this year be the year we say goodbye to our “smart” lives and joyfully embrace a “dumber” one? Beth McGroarty, research director at Florida-based non-profit organisation Global Wellness Institute, believes people are getting more serious about logging off for digital pauses in 2025. She considers the rise of “analogue wellness” to be this year’s most significant wellness trend. There is mounting evidence that too much time online really is affecting our brains – cutting our attention spans and increasing the risk of brain-related illness such as dementia or stroke. In the past decade there has been a steady increase in rates of anxiety, depression, issues related to attention span, body dysmorphia and eating disorders in all age groups, but especially in teens and young adults. They can all be linked to unhealthy amounts of screen time. Psychologists welcome the move to ditch digital. Hongkongers are looking for more analogue activities away from their screens, the same as everywhere Lucia Tait Tolani, co-founder of Hong Kong furniture brand Permanent Resident “In today’s hyperconnected world, the concept of switching off and engaging in analogue activities like board games, crafting, or physical experiences is not just nostalgic – it’s therapeutic,” says Dr Quratulain Zaidi, a clinical psychologist and founder of MindNlife psychology practice in Hong Kong. “These activities offer a mental reset from the constant stimulation of screens, which leads to cognitive overload, stress, and sleep disturbance,” she adds. Putting the phone away allows people to make eye contact and human connections. “For children in particular, analogue play fosters creativity, problem-solving, and social skills, which are often stunted by excessive screen time.” People are leaning more towards nostalgic activities, says McGroarty, underlining the uptake in retro pre-digital tech, hobbies and experiences. For example, Polaroids and other instant cameras have made a dramatic comeback as an alternative to the smartphone. According to Business Research Insights, the global instant camera market was valued at around US$1.65 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach US$1.91 billion by 2033. Board games are in growing demand. The global board games market was valued at US$14.37 billion in 2024 and is projected to double in size to US$32 billion by 2032. Not surprisingly, board game cafes have enjoyed a surge in popularity, particularly with younger clientele seeking off-screen entertainment with friends. YMC Boardgame in Hong Kong’s Wong Tai Sin district, for example, has a growing list of followers who gather to play drawn-out strategy board games such as Kemet: Blood and Sand, Arcs, Skyrise and Explorers of Navoria. There has been an upswing in “structured, super social, phones-down classes, clubs and communities”, says McGroarty, with such things as reading salons and birdwatching collectives springing up across the globe. Some of these communities, like Amsterdam-based The Offline Club, have a strict policy of locking up phones for social nights of reading, drawing, playing games and music, in offbeat venues such as old churches. With more people seeking to escape the incessant bleeping and pinging of gadgets, how we choose to spend holidays is changing, too. In Hong Kong, there are several options for a silent, meditative, phone-free detox retreat. Kadampa Meditation Centre in Sheung Wan offers one-day or multiple-day retreats, as does the Hong Kong Insight Meditation Society’s Plum Village, the Mauna Silent Retreat, and Vipassana Hong Kong on Lantau Island. Participants must surrender their mobile phones at many of the retreats. Analogue wellness does not have to be strict, and can form the basis of almost any holiday. Many people are opting for sociable analogue activities that hark back to the pre-industrial age, such as shepherding or blacksmithing. Villa Petriolo, a luxury boutique hotel in the Tuscan hills in Italy, organises events around the seasonal movement of livestock between summer and winter pastures – with a local shepherd who shows guests how to tend his flock. At the Viceroy at Ombria Algarve hotel in Portugal, you can also be a shepherd for the day – and even lead the flock home with the help of some trusty sheepdogs. At Babylonstoren, a luxury hotel in South Africa’s Cape Winelands, visitors can “step back in time to an era before rampant industrialisation” by working on an interactive 19th century farm. In Japan, amateur blacksmithing courses, such as at Kurogane Knife Making workshop in Kochi, on the island of Shikoku, are becoming more popular. The workshop offers one- or three-day forging experiences. Participants can learn to make tamahagane – the Japanese iron traditionally used in samurai swords – as well as traditional forging techniques. There is also an option to make your own kitchen knife. Similar experiences are gaining traction in the United States. Lucia Tait Tolani is the co-founder of Permanent Resident, a luxury furniture and tableware store in Hong Kong’s Tai Kwun heritage arts centre. She is seeing what she believes is a pushback against spending time on devices as people look to unplug and connect in real life. “Hongkongers are looking for more analogue activities away from their screens, the same as everywhere,” she says, adding that she and Permanent Resident co-founder Cinda McClelland Reynolds are focusing more on in-store, nostalgic skills events with a community focus. Recent examples include a Christmas wreath-making workshop and a mahjong workshop over Lunar New Year. They are planning a series of tablescaping events, and decorating workshops and talks with designers. But do people come in for the retro activities and then take photos to post on social media, going back to the digital drawing board, as it were? “Yes,” says Tait Tolani, “but the activity takes centre stage. While they get the requisite photos of the highlights, they put their phones away and enjoy it. It’s good to see.” Like what you read? Follow SCMP Lifestyle on Facebook, X and Instagram. 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From farming to phone-free retreats, analogue wellness a new digital detox trend

Amid a resurgence of retro Polaroids and vinyl records, many are cutting out screen time to pursue hobbies from board games to blacksmithing