Offline Luddite festival draws anti-tech crowd in New York

A weeklong anti-tech festival in New York’s East Village is drawing hundreds of people to phone-free events built around community, labor politics and resistance to Big Tech. Wired reported that the Summer of Ludd, centered largely in Tompkins Square Park and running through July 5, is using in-person gatherings to channel growing frustration with digital platforms.

The festival opened with a performance called “Luddite Recreations,” a play about the 19th-century English artisans and textile workers who opposed machines they believed threatened their livelihoods. According to Wired, about 300 people attended the performance, where an actor playing Lord Byron told the crowd that phones, photos and recordings were not allowed.

Organizers have kept the festival off the internet. Wired reported that events were promoted through neighborhood posters and printed booklets placed in local community spaces, with the materials emphasizing that the program exists “only in real life.”

Workshops without platforms

The schedule includes talks and activities on offline dating, mending, opposition to data centers, 16-mm film screenings and shortwave radio and walkie-talkie workshops, according to Wired. A July 4 beach day cookout and additional East Village events are also part of the program.

Behind the festival is New York’s Luddite Renaissance, which its spokesperson described to Wired as a loose collection of organizers without a formal affiliation. The spokesperson, a blue cloth puppet called Gowanus operated by a masked puppeteer, said the group began planning in January and wants to create events that resist consumption.

Gowanus told Wired that online organizing puts major technology companies into ordinary human exchanges, naming Mark Zuckerberg and Silicon Valley as forces intruding on social life. The puppet serves as a public voice for organizers who want to remain anonymous, Wired reported.

The festival’s political themes extend beyond personal screen habits. Wired reported that the events overlap with a Luddite conference at the New School, where speakers are discussing artificial intelligence and military systems, and include practical sessions on leaving Big Tech services.

Gen Z and a broader backlash

Wired framed the event as part of a wider revival of interest in Luddites among young people, especially Gen Z. A 2025 Pew Research study cited by Wired found that 48 percent of teen respondents in 2024 said social media has negative effects on people their age, up from 32 percent in 2022.

Andrew Maynard, a professor of advanced technology transitions at Arizona State University, told Wired that the original Luddite movement focused on labor rather than blanket opposition to technology. He said the modern label can describe people resisting technology’s reach into their autonomy.

Several attendees told Wired they were drawn by the chance to meet people without platforms. Mara McGuire, a 20-year-old student taking time away from school, said she joined after seeing rehearsals in the park and was interested in learning from people directly.

Damian Thomas, a web developer who runs Unplatform, told Wired that modern tech workers face a parallel with historical Luddites because they rely on infrastructure controlled by others. He said the goal is to build alternatives that do not force people back onto social media.

Wired also spoke with a former Big Tech employee who requested anonymity, saying he feared retaliation. The former security engineer said he left his last job after leaders pushed nontechnical workers to use AI-assisted coding tools in production, a practice he considered concerning.

Maynard told Wired he doubts the festival will substantially change daily behavior, because many people continue using phones, social media and AI even when they believe the tools are harmful. He said the questions raised by such movements remain significant.

This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.