The business of switching off.
Apps that block social media, Wi-Fi-free retreats, courses designed to relearn the art of boredom and even holidays built around spending hours reading in complete silence — the digital detox business is experiencing one of its most profitable moments yet. And it is no coincidence. More and more people feel unable to separate themselves from their phones for even five minutes, while simultaneously fantasising about disappearing from the internet for days at a time.
Amid that contradiction, the conversation reignited after a US court ordered Google and Meta to pay six million dollars to a woman who accused both companies of worsening her anxiety and depression through tools designed to create dependency within their platforms. Besides becoming the first ruling of its kind, the case could open the door to a major legal precedent, especially considering that nearly 2,000 similar lawsuits are currently underway across different countries around the world.
Digital anxiety is already a market
The case not only sparked a legal and technological debate surrounding major platforms, but also strengthened the discourse of content creators specialising in digital wellbeing. The curious — and slightly ironic — part is that a large portion of the digital detox business exists precisely within social media itself, the very ecosystem it constantly criticises. Between productivity videos, offline routines and tips on reducing screen time, influencers, coaches and digital habit experts have turned disconnection into an aspirational trend attracting millions of views.
For years, many of them have promoted a more analogue lifestyle through concepts such as touch grass, a popular internet expression that quite literally encourages people to go outside, touch grass and reconnect with the real world. As a result, activities as simple as reading a book, walking without headphones, spending time outdoors or even being bored are once again being sold as small contemporary luxuries.
From doomscrolling to Wi-Fi-free retreats
The digital detox industry generated more than €2 billion in 2025 and, far from slowing down, it continues to grow through apps that block social media, challenges aimed at reducing screen time and motivational messages promising to restore control over people’s attention.
But the trend now goes far beyond mobile phones. Wi-Fi-free retreats, hotels without signal, silent reading clubs and even experiences where people pay to spend hours reading in complete silence alongside strangers are also booming. At its core, all these experiences are selling the same contemporary fantasy: escaping digital noise for a while and recovering, even if only for a few days, the ability to concentrate without interruptions.
Does disconnecting actually work?
The problem is that many of these solutions only work temporarily. After a short break or a weekend away from their phones, a large number of users end up returning to the same habits as before, once again trapped between notifications, algorithms and endless hours of scrolling.
Precisely because of this, more and more experts believe the debate can no longer focus solely on individual willpower, but also on how digital platforms are designed to capture constant attention. In fact, comparisons with the tobacco industry are becoming increasingly common. For decades, major cigarette companies were accused of knowing the harmful effects of their products without genuinely changing their strategies. Now, that same conversation is beginning to shift towards the tech world.
At a time when everything competes for our attention, disconnecting has become something close to a luxury. Spending a few days reading in silence and away from screens no longer sounds extreme, but increasingly desirable. And that is the great paradox: the more dependent we become on technology, the more valuable the possibility of escaping from it becomes, even if only briefly. It is precisely within that need for pause that the digital detox industry seems to have found a multimillion-pound business.
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