In an era increasingly defined by smartphone use and 24/7 connectivity, a small but growing number of young people are rejecting their digital devices. Jameson Butler, now 18, embodies this trend. She got her first cellphone at 10 years old in 2017. From the age of 12, Butler entered a full-blown digital trance. Her parents could sense their worry, and while she felt that way too, she didn’t recognize it in herself at the time.
When he was 14, Butler took a major step in his life by quitting the scroll for good. She closed her social media accounts and went back to a “dumbphone.” This phone, with apps removed, guarantees she can only be contacted in emergencies. As Butler approaches adulthood, she made the decision not to re-up on a smartphone. While this decision adds difficulty to many areas of Ms. Arrieta’s life, she stands resolutely by it. She concedes that “being on a flip phone in 2025 for sure makes … life more difficult in a lot of ways.”
Butler’s story is indicative of a larger movement taking place among young people. As a result, they’re taking their time and mental health back from the jaws of digital usage. This phenomenon is reflected in Seine Port, a small French town about 50 kilometers south of Paris. Last year, the one-horse town’s mayor, Vincent Paul-Petit, successfully led a push for a town referendum. It will implement a town-wide smartphone ban that goes into effect at the end of this year. This initiative aims to create a healthier environment for its 2,000 residents.
The Luddite Club and Digital Detox
Jameson Butler is the technical director at the Luddite Club. This cohort, consisting of fierce young advocates, advocates for less screen time. They are not self-described revolutionaries. Rather, they view their function as collaborators, guiding their classmates to find a healthier equilibrium between work and play. Butler says that their aim is to give youth the tools to be self-determined. They intend to equip people with the tools to help themselves.
Butler and Harris did provide programs and advocates, with a concerted effort to help children escape from screens. She remembers all the loneliness that came with her choice to unplug. She reveals that the most difficult piece of making that leap is the loneliness. Isolation and disconnecting from peers deepens those negative emotions.
The Luddite Club operates under one simple rule: members must consciously engage in activities that do not involve screens. Butler thinks that this kind of physical space—free from distracting digital devices—is absolutely necessary. She stresses that curbing these harmful effects goes beyond content moderation or capping children’s screen time. In addition to encouraging these break spaces, we need to establish concrete places and intentional times—with no internet—where people can gather to connect meaningfully.
A Collective Challenge
Experts are beginning to recognize that the compulsive overconsumption of digital media is a collective issue that requires collective solutions. Anna Lembke, a professor of psychiatry and addiction medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and author of the best seller, Dopamine Nation, puts it like this. Technology Fatigue She notes that no one has a problem making a confession if their fatigue is due to overuse of electronic devices.
Lembke adds, “Now it’s happening, so I’m super hopeful. Humans are incredibly adaptable. Her optimism reflects the potential for communities like Seine Port and movements like the Luddite Club to foster healthier lifestyles.
Butler’s experience will ring true for so many Australian families struggling with these same concerns. Our study, FINCH2016/1022 www.finch.org.au, demonstrated that over 50% of Australian children aged 10–13 years own a mobile phone. This trend frequently triggers parents’ fears of too much screen time. Mum of four, Stephanie Challis from Echuca is doing something about it. She has since become an outspoken member of a growing coalition of parents committed to minimizing their kids’ screen time. She believes even minor changes can yield significant benefits: “If we reach parents that were probably going to give their children a smartphone and a TikTok account in grade five [age 10], and they decide to wait until year seven and year eight, that’s still progress and that’s still something to be celebrated.”
The Importance of Community Support
The most important element to any initiative’s success to reduce screen time. The mayor’s mobile phone ban in Seine Port serves as an example of how collective action can create meaningful change. The town’s residents will be affected by the ban regardless of age, fostering an environment where everyone can engage with each other without digital interruptions.
Butler’s Luddite Club works in much the same way, giving its members a cathartic groove to pursue their detox together. This increased feeling of cultural camaraderie goes a long way in fighting feelings of isolation and creates belief-shifting relationships with fellow peers.
Reflecting on her experience, Butler notes the positive impact her decision has had on her life: “I definitely spend more quality time with my family. I’m more present at family dinners, I do my schoolwork faster, I have better grades, I’m more organized. I’ve become a lot less scatterbrained.” These changes make a strong case for the benefits of stepping back from screens.
