Summer of Ludd: The Kids Are Alright Offline

In New York City this summer, a festival called Summer of Lud is running a week of free public events designed to get people off their phones and into public space. The name is a deliberate play on "Summer of Love," and the goal is to prove that Instagram is not necessary to find like-minded people. The festival is part of a broader analog movement that has been building for years, and the data suggests it is accelerating fast: phone-free club events rose by 567% globally in 2025, and attendance at such events in the UK grew by 1,441% in a single year, according to Eventbrite.

The Twofold Goal of the Analog Movement

The organizers describe the purpose of Summer of Lud as twofold. First, they want to help people understand how large tech platforms profit from their users' helplessness. Second, they aim to remind people that a more meaningful world exists outside of social media. This is not a call to abandon technology entirely, but rather an invitation to rebalance. The festival includes a week of free public and participatory events designed to get people off big tech, into public space, and "reenchanting each other." Organizers have pasted analog advertising posters over subway advertisements in Brooklyn, and the events range from creative workshops in historical churches to demonstrations outside Apple stores. One group built a cardboard data center in the middle of a