Being tactile and offline is trendy again
By: Boaz Valkin
Tags: Offline, Travel, Digital Nomads, Remote Working, Tech

2018 was not a good year for Tech companies. Facebook has almost become a dirty word. Scandal after scandal has eroded the public’s trust. Amazon didn’t look great after it’s major PR campaign around its second HQ and people are trying to wean off the Google ecosystem.

Living in London, I’ve also started to notice a trend of people wanting to spend more time on tactile experiences. I think people have started to be more mindful of their tech dependencies and are trying to curate more offline experiences.

VINYL

Photo by Kevin McCutcheon on Unsplash

Vinyl is fully back and doing well. Vinyl manufacturing has made a come back from extinction and in the US, there was significant sales growth¹. Physical sales actually topped digital sales in the US in 2017.

In London, I’ve definitely seen an increase in listening bars and restaurants playing vinyl. Spiritland in Kings Cross and Brilliant Corners in Dalston are two examples.

LETTER WRITING

Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash

Letter writing is making a comeback as people seek an alternative to digital communication². I tried it out and I must say it was a super interesting experience. It a point, it was quite therapeutic and felt like I was writing in a journal. There’s also something quite special about taking the time to write out something for someone. Similar to when you write a handwritten note or birthday card.

MEMBERSHIP CLUBS / OFFLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS

Membership clubs are back in fashion. If you use Instagram, I’m sure you’ve noticed the flurry of advertisements for all sorts of social clubs ranging from book clubs, entrepreneur networks, supper clubs and physical locations (like Soho House, Shoreditch house etc).

A great example of offline social network building is Norn. They ran their Beta last year where they did a hybrid model of accommodation/short term rental and curated drinks/dinners. They’ve now dropped the accommodation aspect and have been focusing on curating conversations across different formats.

I think people are increasingly craving meaningful connection building and we’ll continue to see more businesses trying to capture this market.

TRAVEL EXPERIENCES

Photo by Parsing Eye on Unsplash

Increasingly, more people are spending money on experiences as opposed to material possessions³. Flashpack is a super cool travel startup that focuses on curating diverse international experiences for 30 to 49-year-olds. Companies like Remote Year and Wifi Tribe are specialising in combining work/travel and trying to encourage people to shift from the traditional 9to5 mentality and alter their day to day life.

I’m particularly interested in this space as I think we’ll continue to see people moving away from traditional corporate jobs that value presence over productivity. Remote work opportunities are increasing as companies move to a remote first approach. Internet connectivity has played an integral role and people can now easily find suitable wifi spots and work across the world.

In conclusion, as people become more mindful about their screen time, I’m curious to see how companies leverage this in 2019 and beyond. If you have any thoughts about this broad topic, please leave a comment!

Thanks for reading,

Boaz

Footnotes:

¹ https://thevinylfactory.com/features/the-top-vinyl-news-stories-of-2018/

² https://medium.com/s/story/the-return-of-handwriting-8a6e388bd72d

³ https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/may/13/just-do-it-the-experience-economy-and-how-we-turned-our-backs-on-stuff