Danny Hogenkamp, a 31-year-old CEO in Washington, D.C., runs a successful analytics company by day and a one-person movement for phone-free living by night. He hosts elaborate, device-free parties, runs the local adult chapter of the Luddite Club, and uses a flip phone for calls and texts while keeping his smartphone tucked away at work. What sounds like a social stunt is, for him, a deliberate experiment: more time, deeper conversation, and a taste of life that feels surprisingly richer. Drawing on small acts of renunciation, he’s testing what happens when we trade the always-on for the present moment.
Hogenkamp’s story reads like a modern parable—one about attention, community, and the simple courage of saying no to convenience. He found seven extra hours in his week, swapped scrolling for stacks of books, and discovered that real-world rituals (locked phone pouches, plexiglass lockers, and no-phone evenings) can create a different kind of social gravity. This post peels back that experiment and offers a few ancient practices that can help anyone try a softer, steadier relationship with technology.
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