At Wired, Vittoria Elliott reports on an unusual festival in New York City early this month, The Summer of Ludd:

I’m here to watch a performance called “Luddite Recreations,” which is a history of the Luddite movement—a group of artisans and textile workers who resisted the adoption of machines during the early years of the Industrial Revolution in England and whose resistance to being displaced from their work was met with violence by the British monarchy.

It’s one of the opening events of the Summer of Ludd, a weeklong series of talks and activities like how to flirt and date offline, mending, and learning to fight against data centers, all focused on getting people off their phones and into community.

“Inside the Luddite Festival Harnessing Gen Z’sRage Against Big Tech,” July 2, 2026

Wow. Things have really gone south if people need to be taught how to flirt without technology… At any rate, phones, photos, and recording were forbidden at the event, which was minimally advertised online.

Elliott tells us that Gen Z, the first generation to grow up entirely with digital tech, is the primary impetus against the Big Tech. But it’s hard to see how the New York City crowd she describes will move the needle much.

As Arizona State tech prof Andrew Maynard tells her, “Even when people agree that they think these technologies are harmful, it rarely impacts the way they live their lives. They’re still using their phones, social media, AI.”

A word about the original Luddites…

Historically, the machine-smashing Luddites were not opposed to technology as such; rather, they saw no immediate benefit to workers from the Industrial Revolution. Their movement lost force in part because most people’s living standards did gradually improve as a result of new technologies.

One could say the same today. Social workers may issue mobile phones to low-income clients because they are more likely than others to need rescue. True, millionaires enjoy fancier phones. But overall, the digital world only works because it is a great leveler.

If people need to turn off their phones to flirt, it’s because nature is still working the way it always has, not because the phone company is a bad bunny.