There’s a lot of good happening on the Palouse this week.

My family is excited for the Palouse Empire Fair and Rodeo. We’ll be there Friday night. Pro tip: if you want to see bull riding (my personal favorite) make sure to check out the rodeo on Friday night.

Every time something goes to an extreme, it’s only a matter of time before culture swings back the other way. Every force in nature and society inspires an equal and opposite reaction.

It seems to me that we’re reaching an extreme with technology and tech addiction. Maybe this is just my algorithm, and the things I’m thinking about as a parent of young kids, but there’s a growing movement away from tech use and social media.

Jonathan Haidt, the author of The Anxious Generation, describes the problem of technology and the digital world’s effect on our experience of life in the physical world.

Haidt argues, “The phone‑based life makes it difficult for people to be fully present with others when they are with others, and to sit silently with themselves when they are alone.”

He also highlights the problem with technology and how our brains aren’t hardwired to manage all the information constantly flooding us from our screens. He says, “People can’t really multitask; all we can do is shift attention back and forth between tasks while wasting a lot of it on each shift.”

I personally know the cost of too much time on my phone. It sounds like my kids saying, “Dad, you’re always on your phone!” Ouch. That’s why I spent last August totally phone-free. I kid you not, I read four fiction books in one month. That’s four more fiction books than I read in the previous year.

Where am I going with this?

I think there’s a coming wave of Offline Opportunities. Businesses, non-profits, and social movements designed to help people be a little less connected to tech and a little more connected to one another. I’ve seen more and more brands and businesses focused on helping people connect and be present without technology.

There are device companies like Brick that are designed to help people break their addiction to their phones by making them temporarily dumb phones. There are companies designing devices that are intentionally non-addictive, like Daylight and Lightphone.

But there are also social movements like The Offline Club, a social club based in Europe, inspiring large groups to get together for offline experiences.

I’m super excited about stuff like this, and I hope to see more opportunities to live the “pre-smart-phone” life. Even if it’s just temporary.

If this resonates with you, I’d love to hear from you. Maybe we can bring some offline magic to the Palouse.

That’s it for this week! Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this, send it to some friends who might enjoy it, too. Let’s build our community together. I’ll see you at the Fair.

Until next Thursday,

Keep the Faith