Friends! It is March—

This marks six months since the start of this bulletin. It's borne out of an undeniable spirit rising through our city. It's intended to emphasize the wide-ranging efforts to build culture that isn't mediated by extractive platforms.

Notice that the events here aren't just about fixing your own screen time or boosting your productivity. Rather, they're for people to seek more fundamental—and more collective—change. Groups of people are getting off tech together. This month, communities are divesting from streaming—we're getting off smartphones, off social media—and we're discovering what else becomes possible: attention practices, creative circles, singular public occurrences abound, all fresh and emergent.

Today, this newsletter continues as a tool for us all to gather more, with deeper intention than usual—to act in ways that can't be commodified—to build outside mind-flattening feeds.

Here are some new resources and opportunities; please keep reading for the full March calendar—

• Caitlin Begg from Authentic Social has a study called Stuck in the Screen open through March 12. Answer questions about your tech use for 5 minutes with the option to enter a $10 gift card raffle.

• The Summer of Ludd is shaping up to be a big-tent effort. There's an opportunity for everyone to be involved (and for more tax-deductible donations ...). Curious about wtf is going on there? Email theofficialsummerofludd@proton.me.

• The School of Radical Attention (SoRA) is launching their Attention Activism Atlas this week. If you are organizing your community to think about, talk about, practice, and/or share authentic attention, SoRA would love to have you in their network and connect you with others across the nation. Take a moment to fill out the form linked HERE.

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March Events, so far

Sun., Mar. 1 | 'Ditch Spotify' Mix Tape Swap @ 5:30 p.m., Interference Archive

Join to exchange physical media–mix tapes, burned cds, thumb drive playlists, anything! Say goodbye to evil streaming services that exploit musicians ...

Attendees will be encouraged to pick a song from Interference Archive's excellent record collection to be dubbed onto a mix tape and gifted to a beloved Brooklyn soon-to-be-reopened worker-owned bakery and sandwich shop!

As always, we'll have a stack of free literature and organizers ready to chat with anyone interested in organizing at their workplace.

Sun., Mar. 1 | An Evening of Music (Phone-Free) @ 7 p.m., TJ Byrnes

Original music into open jazz jam—join for a phone-free evening to start your week.

Hosted by activist August Lamm and artist Andy Henley.

Mon., Mar. 2 | Month Offline Begins

After a successful NYC launch last month, the March cohort of Month Offline begins at telos.haus.

For more information on the program and the Dumbphone they use, visit offline.community.

Tue., Mar. 3 | Worm Moon @ 7 p.m., Park Slope

The offline life is one with more embodied rituals. Cozy it up and celebrate the worm moon (promises of spring to come) at Kyle's apartment.

Bring an offering of something of the earth for our altar! And yes, I know the worm is really phallic… listen… it's a worm okay?? Email kyletuhr@proton.me for address.

Tue., Mar. 3 | Bay Ridge Figure Drawing @ 7 p.m., Underland Gallery, Bay Ridge

A monthly figure drawing session hosted by artist and activist Amanda Hanna-McLeer. Nude model; no photos allowed.

Amanda is the director of the upcoming Luddite Club film.

Tue., Mar. 3 | Divorcing Google Screening & Teach In @ 7 p.m., Mayday Space

Divorcing Google—a screening and teach-in, this aims to create a conversation around the glaringly obvious: we aren’t being watched over by machines of loving grace. Bring your laptop (and a friend) as we watch a few videos and start opting out from the nightmare together.

We’ll be watching Survival Without Rent, and there will be zine versions of what we go over during the workshop for you to take home and share.

Thu., Mar. 5 | Attention Lab "STUDY" @ 6:30 p.m., DUMBO

The School of Radical Attention's flagship "Attention Labs" are experiential, participatory workshops dedicated to the joint exploration of human attention. Through group attention practices and guided discussions, we create and test tools to rebuild the art of sustained attention, which has been under attack by persuasive technologies.

This lab's focus is STUDY: a glimpse at the power of collective inquiry.

Sign up for any lab here.

Thu., Mar. 5 | Break Up with Spotify @ 7 p.m., Secret Riso Club

Join us for a cocktail hour and workshop by Sonic Liberation Devices Thursday March 5th from 7–9 at Secret Riso Club. This workshop intends to create a dedicated space for divesting from Spotify by migrating to another framework, ranging from other popular apps to hosting your own home media server. We aim to critique Spotify executives' investments and the existence of the streaming model while rekindling a physical space for talking about and sharing music.

Sonic Liberation Devices is a Brooklyn-based collective devoted to delivering accessible music tech knowledge and sound devices for the broader community by designing open-source synthesizers. They consciously create sound machines as a tool for resistance, connection, and solidarity.

More info and RSVP here.

Sat., Mar. 7 | Unplatform: Creatives Workshop @ 2 p.m., Brooklyn Central Library

Come talk to other artists, writers, musicians, and other creatives about your relationship to social media and how to create a world where creative life is free from extractive platforms.

Full event page and RSVP here.

Sat., Mar. 7 | President Protocol Play @ 3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., TNS Black Box Theatre

President Protocol is a theatre/media piece written and directed by Rodrigo Pocidônio, telling the story of an ordinary man who receives an obscure email appointing him as the new President of the United States.

This theatre/media piece blends physical comedy with digital technologies in a contemporary tale about smartphones, mental health and the crisis of Western democracy—inviting us all to rethink our relationships with digital tools and imagine a future beyond techno-fascist narratives.

FREE tickets.

Sat., Mar. 7 | Sidewalk Study 'RAVE' @ 5 p.m., Bushwick

The dance floor is a site of liberation and resistance: an attention sanctuary where DJ, dancer, music and movement commune; a meeting point between the intimate and the anonymous, the lasting and the fleeting. To rave is to evolve from consumer into co-creator. The DJ curates the conditions and the dancer is invited to blur boundaries between artist and audience.

In this Practice, we'll be reading excerpts from two books written about (and at the height of) rave culture. Join us in taking “the glory of rave” to the streets of Brooklyn.

Facilitated by Eleanor Lambert and Marcella Mulholland of SoRA Study Corps. Email strotherschool@sustainedattention.net for a spot.

Sun., Mar. 8 | Sidewalk Study 'NEW RITUALS' @ 2 p.m., Chinatown

Parties are a form of ritual—or can be. Since early history, rituals have been integral to how people come together. In this study, with the guidance of philosopher Byung-Chul Han, we'll think about what constitutes a ritual, and how rituals appear and disappear from our contemporary lives.

Join us in close attention to the tea ceremony, the changing landscape of Chinatown, and the interplay between noise and silence that characterizes urban life. What might we regain by returning to ritual?

Facilitated by Kyle Barnes and Cherilyn Tan of SoRA Study Corps. Email strotherschool@sustainedattention.net for a spot.

Mon., Mar. 9 | Deplatform "WATCHING" @ 6 p.m., Online

Why rely on a monthly subscription to watch TV shows and movies? Is this the only way to watch? Wanna find something else to consume with your eyes while you consume with your mouth??? This online presentation explores alternatives to relying on companies for video content.

Online. Email knavehaven@pm.me to RSVP.

Tue., Mar. 10 | Kill the Internet IRL @ 6:30 p.m., LIFEWORLD

Internet philosopher CJ The X and actual philosopher C. Thi Nguyen give joint lectures on the internet and its dissidents, wielding memes, words, images, ideas, books, jokes and history to reveal our Digital Hellscape Circus World for what it IS and for what it COULD be.

CJ The X is an artist and YouTuber known for chaotically winging it through media analysis and somehow landing on their feet. C. Thi Nguyen is one of today's preeminent professors of philosophy, fresh off the release of his new book The Score: How To Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game.

Kill The Internet is a coalition of artists, influencers and academics dedicated to creating spaces for people to meet offline, do things and laugh. Enjoy the little slice of heaven that is doing cool things with other human beings irl & participate in the communal world building we sorely need to make it through these Unprecedented Times.

More info here—full house currently, but another date might be added!

Tue., Mar. 10 | Civic Tech Open Assembly @ 7 p.m., Index Greenpoint

Open Assembly is a working session to draft a public-facing tech agenda for NYC ahead of the Mayor's Executive Budget release on April 26.

We're gathering technologists, designers, creative thinkers, and digital practitioners to identify concrete actions that can be shared with City Council staff and NYC agencies during this budget cycle. If we move quickly, there is a real opportunity to influence how public resources are allocated toward digital infrastructure, data policy, and civic technology.

Together, we'll define priorities, surface concerns, and outline actionable proposals around issues like open-source city data, participatory budgeting tools, digital public infrastructure, procurement reform, and other ways technology shapes everyday life in New York.

Please complete the interest form before attending.

Tue., Mar. 10 | Quietest Places Book Launch @ 7 p.m., Rizzoli Bookstore

Nicole Kelner on how to find peace of mind in the city that never sleeps.

Join us for a conversation with Nicole Kelner to celebrate her new book, an illustrated guide exploring the pockets of New York City to find quiet, stillness, and a connection to nature and the self. She will be in conversation with Abi Inman, followed by a signing.

PLEASE NOTE: RSVPs are encouraged but not required.

Tue., Mar. 10, 17, 24 | Attention Activism 101 @ 7 p.m., Online

Attention is the touchstone problem of our age. Over the last twenty years, an unprecedented concentration of technological and financial power has successfully monetized human attention. The harms of this new system—in effect, the "fracking" of our most intimate selves—are familiar to all. Less widely understood is the nature of the movement that has emerged to fight back against this historic injustice: ATTENTION ACTIVISM.

In this course, we will survey the intellectual and practical foundations of the nascent ATTENTION ACTIVISM movement. We'll draw on texts by William James, Shoshana Zuboff, and Tim Wu among others. What do the extractive incursions of the Attention Economy mean for shared life in the twenty-first century—and how are communities of activists already working to resist them?

Sign up at https://www.schoolofattention.org/enroll/.

Wed., Mar. 11 | Sidewalk Study 'SECRET'S OUT!' @ 7 p.m., Wash. Sq. Park

A party can reveal the truth: with everyone in the same space at the same time, it's hard to prevent secrets from coming out.

In this Study, we'll read from a climactic party scene in Jane Austen's first novel, which narrates the coming-of-age of two sisters in the socially regulated milieu of eighteenth century England. We'll think about the kinds of attention that people give to other people at parties, and will play with the attention demanded by a dreaded truth irreversibly revealed.

Facilitated by Connor Griffin and Jonathan Gershberg of SoRA Study Corps. Email strotherschool@sustainedattention.net for a spot.

Thu., Mar. 12 | Salon & Ludd Club Doc @ 7 p.m., 15 Rutherford Pl.

Join The Luddite Club documentary team for an intimate salon at The Quaker Meeting House. The night will include a screening of never-before-seen footage as well as an opportunity to support the finishing of this important film. Plus, an opportunity to meet with the activists and organizers who make up what some are calling the Luddite Renaissance.

• Afterparty location TBA •

Free RSVP.

Fri., Mar. 13 | Social Media Horror Stories @ 7 p.m., Tompkins Sq. Park

It's Friday the 13th. Let us gather around the park green and bond around the horrors of the platformed world. We'll have a facilitated conversation on the grass and ample soapbox moments.

All are welcome. Bring friends & screenshots.

Prizes for the most sinister stories ...

Sat., Mar. 14 | Action Potluck @ 6 p.m., Crown Heights

We'll come together over shared food to discuss what is important to us and how we can address it collectively. We'll rebuild a muscle of exerting agency over the state of our shared worlds and combat the passivity our technology habituates us to.

Email Connor for a spot—griffin75006@proton.me.

Sun., Mar. 15 | Appstinence In-Person Drop-in @ 2 p.m., TBD

Drop in for FREE personal guidance on reclaiming your life from persuasive platforms. Get the low-down on de-platforming and using alternative devices; discover how to fill newly won free time (yay!), and learn ways to talk about all this with your friends and family.

To get on the list, email henry_m@appstinence.org.

Mon., Mar. 16 | Attention Lab "SANCTUARY" @ 6:30 p.m., DUMBO

The School of Radical Attention's flagship "Attention Labs" are experiential, participatory workshops dedicated to the joint exploration of human attention. Through group attention practices and guided discussions, we create and test tools to rebuild the art of sustained attention, which has been under attack by persuasive technologies.

This lab's focus is SANCTUARY: creating social space free from the influence of Big Tech.

Sign up for any lab here.

Wed., Mar. 18 | FACE VALUE App Testing @ 4:30 p.m., Midtown

come try our brand-new app!

the catch?

all it does is scan JP Morgan Corporate office employee faces. and you can only see it in person—not on any app store.

email ppamphlet@proton.me for more information. volunteers needed, and all guests welcome!

Wed., Mar. 18, 25, Apr. 1 | Attention Activism 201 "ORGANIZING" @ 7 p.m., online

ATTENTION ACTIVISM is the collective movement to push back against the commodification of human attention—what we call "human fracking"—and create, space by community space, a world where we can flourish. In this course, we will explore practical strategies for ATTENTION ACTIVISM, drawing on texts by bell hooks, Paulo Freire, and Deva Woodly. We'll also focus on developing the organizing, facilitation, and movement-building skills required to build groups for ATTENTION ACTIVISM. The bulk of the course will be dedicated to supporting participants toward an organizing project in their own communities.

Completion of our Attention Activism 101 seminar is required for participation in our 201 training. Participants who complete Attention Activism 201 will be eligible for inclusion in our national organizing coalition.

Sign up at https://www.schoolofattention.org/enroll/.

Thu., Mar. 19 | Design It for Us: Monthly Coalition Call @ 5:30 p.m., online

Design It for Us (DIFU) is a community of young people (26 and under) from around the world fighting to hold Big Tech accountable and improve our digital ecosystems.

Members are encouraged to attend monthly calls to learn more about state and federal tech policy, join campaigns, and directly advocate for legislative change.

Join here.

Thu., Mar. 19 | Offline Book Club: Enshittification @ 6:30 p.m., Stavros Library (SNFL) 4th Floor, Room 405

Stop scrolling and put down your phone… SNFL's Offline Book Club is a space for in-person conversation about the role technology plays in our world. Each month highlights a different book on the topic of technology's impact on our individual lives as well as society as a whole, followed by an open discussion to share recent experiences and observations.

Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It by Cory Doctorow—The new dirty word that describes the pattern behind digital platforms progressively getting worse and worse for users. But we don't need to curse our fate; there may still be things we can do about it.

Space is limited. Walk-ins welcome, but priority will be given to those who register in advance.

Fri., Mar. 20 | PATTERN RECOGNITION @ 7 p.m., Upper West Side

A series of studies taking a closer look at video games as a medium.

Let's explore how we can experience games in more meaningful and intentional ways, disambiguate them from their industry: one that is ripe with exploitation of our attention, time, and money. Join to see if we can pull these things apart and find something worth engaging with.

Facilitated by social worker and organizer Colin Yaccarino.

RSVP for more info.

Sat., Mar. 21 | Unplatform: Creatives Workshop @ 2 p.m., Brooklyn Central Library

Come talk to other artists, writers, musicians, and other creatives about your relationship to social media and how to create a world where creative life is free from extractive platforms.

Full event page and RSVP here.

Tue., Mar. 24 | Attention Lab "COALITION" @ 6:30 p.m., DUMBO

The School of Radical Attention's flagship "Attention Labs" are experiential, participatory workshops dedicated to the joint exploration of human attention. Through group attention practices and guided discussions, we create and test tools to rebuild the art of sustained attention, which has been under attack by persuasive technologies.

This lab's focus is COALITION: the collective potential of attention activism.

Sign up for any lab here.

Mon., Mar. 30 | Deplatform "WATCHING" @ 6 p.m., Online

Why rely on a monthly subscription to watch TV shows and movies? Is this the only way to watch? Wanna find something else to consume with your eyes while you consume with your mouth??? This online presentation explores alternatives to relying on companies for video content.

Online. Email knavehaven@pm.me to RSVP.

Tue., Mar. 31 | 'Left to Their Own Devices'—Conversation w/ Jon Haidt @ 6 p.m., Bollinger Forum at Columbia

What does it take to build a digital world that actually serves the people in it? Join us for a timely and free evening with social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation.

This special event features Haidt in conversation with Ava Smithing, Gen-Z host of Left to Their Own Devices, for a discussion about what changes when young people get a say in the laws that shape their digital lives.

Following a live audience Q&A, attendees are invited to a community organization showcase featuring ways to get involved with the groups working on the front lines of digital rights, online safety, youth advocacy, tech accountability, and public-interest technology.

More info, and RSVP here.

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Weekly Resources

Every Sun. | CIRCLE TIME (Parallel Play) @ 4 p.m., Bushwick

You always want to ask people what they're working on at the cafe? NOW YOU CAN! This is Circle Time. Sundays, BYOPP (bring your own passion project) and prepare to share.

Format: Intros → Focus Time → Optional show & tell

Hosted by Rebecca Lipsitch of How Do We Play.

More info here!

First and Third Sun. | Date with Détournement @ 9 p.m., Various Locations

Join public art projects that push back against alienating tech.

First and third Sundays.

sighren.ludd@proton.me if you want in.

Every Tue. | Event Facilitator Workshops @ 4 p.m., 222 Bowery (Giorno Poetry Systems)

Do you have a phone-free event in mind but don't know where to host it? Would you like to do more hands-on organizing in the tech resistance community? Are you craving more presence, participation, and agency at your events?

Join for these FREE, weekly sessions, where organizers from the "Off Tech" scene discuss facilitation, share concrete resources, and workshop your events through completion.

Email ppamphlet@proton.me before joining. (The location sometimes changes!)

Every Wed. | Technocritical Writers Room @ TBD

Writers from across the community engage in generative sessions to share stories, visualize futures, and spread messages of this budding movement. This month's details are about to be finalized—

Email loganlane1@proton.me for more.

Every Wed. | Phone-Free Adelphi @ 7 p.m., Fort Greene

Screen-free night of creativity from 7 to 9 p.m. We turn off our phones, work on something creative together, then talk about the experience.

Capped at 10 people. Please only come if you can stay the whole evening!

Stay up to date and RSVP for any week using this form. Email danmaxfox@gmail.com with questions.

Every Fri. | Crafternoon @ 1:30 p.m., Stavros Library (SNFL) First Floor Corner Space

Two hours of freeform crafting and conversation every week at the midtown Manhattan library. Bring your own project. We have tools and materials for sewing, painting, fiber, and paper arts, and are always happy to assist you in finding books related to your creative interests. Walk-ins welcome. More info here.