"Smartphone ownership is near universal in the UK, with 95% of Brits (and 98% - 99% of people aged 16-54) owning one - and boy do we love 'em. We spend an average of 3 hours and 21 minutes a day on our devices, which is more time than we spend watching TV. Phone usage, driven by social media, is reshaping the way we exist, from how we receive information to how we live experiences."
"Meals, gigs, holidays, anywhere you can go and anything you can do becomes content. They are memories to be captured and stored on a phone rather than in your brain; they are signals to be broadcast to the rest of the world. If you didn't post it, did it even happen? Have you been to a gig or a festival unless you've watched a performance through a sea of screens held aloft in front of you?"
"Nightclubs have been leading the pushback against phones for years in an effort to protect the dance floor as a place of freedom and self-expression. Berghain, like most Berlin clubs, famously has a no phones policy, and Pikes Ibiza introduced one in 2024. In London, FOLD and Fabric have long banned photos, with Fabric even giving someone a lifetime ban after filming another clubber and mocking them on social media."
Smartphone ownership is nearly universal in the UK, with 95% of adults and 98–99% of people aged 16–54 owning one, and average daily use is 3 hours 21 minutes. Social media-driven phone usage changes how people receive information and live experiences, turning meals, gigs and holidays into content to capture rather than memories to internalise. Nightclubs have long enforced no-phone policies to protect dance floors as spaces of freedom, with examples such as Berghain, Pikes Ibiza, FOLD and Fabric. Pubs, bars and restaurants are adopting similar measures, including camera stickering and phone storage, to encourage presence and community.
Read at London On The Inside
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