‘Turn off, tune out and drop in’. That’s the message to customers at a Dutch digital detox cafe who are paying for the privilege of leaving their phones at the door. The Offline Club, which began life in Amsterdam, offers an oasis of calm and respite from the incessant digital hustle of life lived through the black glass of a smartphone.
It nurtures moments of quiet introspection over vapid doomscrolling, and encourages spontaneous conversations with strangers instead of endless keyboard arguments hammered out 280 characters at a time.
With board games, a piano and books on hand, the idea is to swap recharging your device for replenishing your soul, even for just a few hours. Aided – ironically – by word spreading on social media, the club has already branched out to multiple cities across the Netherlands, and is now poised for an international launch.
