Folk Rebellion Is Launching an Old-School Newspaper to Help You Unplug

Photo: Stocksy/Milles Studio
Technology can be a saving grace in certain situations, like when you haven't grocery shopped in weeks but needn't worry thanks to Amazon Fresh and its competitors. But as the lines between the digital and the tangible become increasingly blurred, anxiety, loneliness, and difficulty disconnecting are pretty much becoming par for the course.

However, this blue-lit cloud does host a great silver lining: A number of people, retreats, and publications are focusing on helping people slow down and recover from digital overload. And now, Folk Rebellion, the lifestyle brand that plans tech-free social events among other things, is launching a new publication, The Dispatch, which harkens back to its interest in unplugging.

The intention of The Dispatch is to provide a puzzle piece that will contribute to a community less focused on the cyber world.

According to The Dispatch's website (and the irony of its very existence is not lost me), the newspaper's "goal is to retrain our reader’s goldfish internet brain to stay focused on long form, meaty reads" in lieu of the quick and endless scrolls of your cellphone. The intention is to provide a puzzle piece that will contribute to a community less focused on the cyber world.

The least-expensive subscription option ($18 a month) comes with the monthly print issue as well as a poster and calendar, the second bundle ($48) also includes a digital version of the publication and access to an online members community, among other perks. Finally the most expensive of the subscriptions ($98) is surprisingly the all-digital option. Of this, the publication says "Yes, we are charging more for less (digital) because we believe so strongly that the true benefit comes with good old-fashioned print."

And, unsurprisingly, this boundary-pushing publication's first issue (January 2018) will be "Rebel" themed, focusing on disruptors in industries and society. This news coupled with Time's "Silence Breaker" choice for People of the Year paints 2018 as open-eyed, unplugged, and empowered.

Need to unplug? Here's how to embrace digital minimalism and the old-school tech items that will help you put your phone down.

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