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# The smartphone era created an attention crisis. Slowtech is fixing it

**[TechCrunch](https://daily.dev/sources/tc)** · 9 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

## Summary

A growing 'slowtech' movement is pushing back against smartphone-driven attention overload. Consumers are turning to retro devices like iPod Shuffles, minimalist phones like the Light Phone, and screen-time limiting apps like Opal and Freedom. Industry veterans including iPod co-creator Tony Fadell and mobile gaming pioneer Austin Murray reflect on how the tech they helped build contributed to the problem. The movement spans hardware downgrades, refurbished tech marketplaces like Back Market, and even AI tools repurposed to reduce screen dependency — all driven by a desire to reclaim time and attention from algorithmically optimized devices.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/18/the-smartphone-era-created-an-attention-crisis-slowtech-is-fixing-it>

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