Brooklyn’s Luddite Teens 🤝 Mindful Drinkers

Earlier this week the New York Times published Luddite Teens Don’t Want Your Likes: When the only thing better than a flip phone is no phone at all. As both a baby phone evangelist and an intentional drinker, I was grinning from ear to ear as I read it.

The Luddite Club comprises teens from local high schools in Brooklyn who gather and socialize without smartphones. Many of them have flip phones that they choose over smartphones in order to keep basic & emergency functionality while avoiding distractions like social media. Some of them go phoneless altogether.

The framing of the article is that the club’s raison d’etre is rejection of technology, indeed it’s right there in the club’s name. The club’s leader wrote a “Luddite Manifesto” and dreams of throwing her iPhone into the Gowanus Canal. Being once a rebellious teen myself, I can appreciate the desire to reject and defy.

But I think these teens are onto something deeper and bigger than just the rejection of technology. What they do instead of spending time on their phones is at the heart of the matter. They have great conversations and form strong bonds. They are fully present in a way that most people rarely are in 2022.

“Some drew in sketchbooks. Others painted with a watercolor kit. One of them closed their eyes to listen to the wind. Many read intently.“

Despite their stated intentions, I believe what these teens actually seek is presence, intentionality and connection. Not only are they on the right track, they’re leading a movement that will only continue to grow and spread. Hopefully to adults as well!

I love my iPhone. I love technology. It overwhelmingly makes our lives better. Or at least it has the potential to, if we use it with intentionality rather than letting it use us. On a long enough timescale, it’ll allow us to build a more peaceful and voluntary world.

Many people who first discover the mindful drinking movement think it’s about rejecting alcohol. In the case of both the Luddite teens and us mindful drinkers, the rejection of technology and booze, respectively, are actually more incidental than foundational. Like the teens, what most of us mindful drinkers are actually seeking is presence, intentionality and connection.

Two of the default settings of life in 2022 are still A) adults drink alcohol and B) adults live glued to their smartphones. If you let life happen to you, you will drink alcohol and you will let your smartphone notify you of its priorities. 

That’s not us. We are actively choosing tools, habits and lifestyles that serve us. Personally, I have an alcoholic drink from time to time and then I go weeks without any booze at all. I use my smartphone and then I put it away and go for a walk. For me it’s about balance and I appreciate that other mindful drinkers will choose other ways to find the balance that’s right for them.

I’d be willing to bet that, in time, Brooklyn’s Luddite teens will become mindful drinkers. Indeed, I think we have a lot to learn from them and I’d like to buy them a drink next time they come to Spirited Away!