The abandonment of smartphones, the boycott of social networks, and a growing mistrust of technology companies. Many people are increasingly deciding to turn their backs on the ultra-connected, digital society.
These so-called 'neo-Luddites', are part of movement which is gaining ground, especially among the younger generation.
There is no denying we live today in an ultra-connected society with new technologies are emerging and the use of social networks is spreading among younger and younger people.
According to a French study by the Heaven agency, 89% of 12-year-olds own their own smartphone and 87% of 11-12 year olds regularly use at least one social application. According to an INSEE study, in France, mobile equipment has now become indispensable: 95% of the population owns a mobile phone and 77% more particularly own a smartphone.
But this ultra-connected lifestyle is not to everyone's taste. Some want to free themselves from social networks, or even reject the technology completely. This movement is called neo-Luddism or modern Luddism.
The term takes its name from the Luddist movement, so named after Ned Ludd, an English worker who protested against the use of weaving machines in the late 18th century and initiated a clandestine movement called "The Luddites" to destroy the machines. Since then, the struggle against the mechanisation of work has evolved into an opposition to the progression of new technologies.
According to the media L'Observateur, neo-Luddites fight on several fronts: in ecological battles against GMOs and nuclear power, in the denunciation of nanotechnologies, the refusal of carding in everyday life, and the resistance against security imperatives in the public sphere. Nowadays, Luddism or neo-Luddism is more a way to resist government surveillance and a form of capitalism.
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Recently the New York Times newspaper was able to follow the daily life of the "Luddite Club", a group of Brooklyn high school students who promote a lifestyle of self-liberation from social media and technology. Its 25 members have decided to abandon their smartphones but also social networks. They also offer other students one-hour digital cures.
The benefits? They claim it leads to better self-esteem, decreased anxiety related to social networks, and a growing interest in reading and nature.
According to a study by American marketing firm Hill Holliday on Generation Z – those born after 1995, half of respondents said they had stopped or are considering stopping at least one social media platform.
In 2020, in the United States, a movement called "Log Off", which defines itself as a youth movement by teenagers for teenagers, decided to provide a space for conversation about the harm caused by social networks and how to use them in healthier way.
The movement has engaged with thousands of teens in more than a dozen countries, documenting the stories of a generation increasingly worried about placing their mental health in the hands of for-profit tech companies.
