CHANGE (IT BACK): Gen Z is desperate for landlines — and creating their own makeshift versions with cellphones.

Uhls, the UCLA researcher who often works with members of Gen Z and Gen Alpha, said young people are acutely aware of how much time they spend on their phones, and often make efforts to spend less time on them. She said even though they spend a lot of time on social media, they recognize that it’s not particularly deep or fulfilling.

“They’re craving connections and craving more meaningful experiences,” she said.

Some Gen Zers are so desperate for connection that they’ve embraced the Luddite movement. At an anti-technology rally in New York City last month, dozens of young people put Apple on a mock trial and smashed iPhones. Others are embracing “appstinence,” a term coined by a 24-year-old grad student at Harvard.

Chaining her phone to a wall was one of several experiments Ng has done as part of her newsletter, Cyber Celibate, which she uses to explore our relationship with technology. She’s also printed out her TikTok “For You” page to read like a newspaper and sent carrier pigeons instead of texts.

Previously: I started buying DVDs and CDs again in 2025 and it changed my mind about streaming.

Maybe someday we’ll look back at the tech that GenX came of age with as something special — high quality and generally affordable, but not yet all-encompassing.