"Manhattan's most analog party starts with a confiscation. At the door on Thursday night, I slipped my iPhone into a black pouch and clicked it shut. No excuses. Time to make eye contact. I'm 35 and newly back in New York. My plus one, Amanda, is 24 and could sort the room in seconds: tech bros here, corporate girls there, the deadpan "Gen Z stare" everywhere."
"We treated the no-phones Offline party like an anxiety-inducing field test. I brought millennial loneliness and a habit of hiding behind a screen. Amanda brought cheerleader confidence and a faster stride. We stepped onto a roof of strangers to see who could survive longer without a screen. I found the Offline party through, of all places, host Andrew Yang's Instagram."
"Going offline is on brand for Yang. In his 2020 presidential run, he appealed to voters by warning of the ills of automation and the threat to jobs. His proposed solution: a universal basic income that gives every adult American $1,000 a month with no strings attached. The Yang Gang eats it up. They're a low-key yet dedicated group of younger, mostly male tech workers, many of whom joined the hive during his presidential campaign."
A Manhattan rooftop Offline party required attendees to place phones into black pouches at the door to force eye contact and direct interaction. Attendees included a mix of tech workers, corporate employees, and younger guests exhibiting a Gen Z stare. The event served as a social experiment in digital abstinence, with some guests arriving anxious and others confident. The party connected to Andrew Yang, who promoted offline gatherings on Instagram while advancing Noble Mobile and a broader platform that emphasized concerns about automation and advocated a universal basic income.
Read at Business Insider
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