Is Digital Detoxing the Hot New Real Estate Feature?

As we grow more and more aware of the physical and psychological effects of being connected 24/7, the popularity of digital detoxes has also increased. That can take many forms, from a dedicated retreat to a more personalized, human-scale approach. Whether you’re traveling for a digital detox or being especially mindful of your devices, the goal is the same: to regain some awareness of what the essential parts of life are like.

Now, it seems, there’s another option for people looking to disconnect from being connected, and it involves high-end real estate. In an article for Curbed, Kim Velsey described the amenities at 505 State Street, a fully electric skyscraper that’s the first of its kind in Brooklyn. Velsey’s reporting focuses on one feature of the building in particular: the Grow Room, a sizable green space where cellphones are not permitted.

“Transport yourself in an immersive, tech-free space filled with plants and designed to offer a moment of respite,” the building’s website declares. It also offers a range of suggested activities for the Grow Room, including conversing with friends or bringing a book along to read.

Velsey referred to this room as “in some ways a miniature of the already popular detox retreat,” and notes that it’s part of a larger trend of adding indoor green spaces to prominent buildings all over the world. That feature doesn’t just apply to residential spaces: corporate offices have also experimented with a wide range of plant life to alter the character of a given room.

This European Island Is Cultivating a “Phone-Free” Environment

They want tourists to enjoy the surroundings technology-free

While the ubiquity of cellphones is only a few decades old, the idea of taking a break from the modern world goes back far longer. Patrick Leigh Fermor’s book A Time to Keep Silence describes the author’s experience taking part in silent retreats at a host of monastaries across Europe; it was first published in 1953. Digital detoxes might be a recent phenomenon, but the mindset behind them has endured for much longer.

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Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll lives and writes in New York City, and has been covering a wide variety of subjects — including (but not limited to) books, soccer and drinks — for many years. His writing has been published by the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, Literary Hub, Vulture, Punch, the New York Times and Men’s Journal. At InsideHook, he has…