The Rise of the Board Game Cafe
I’m hearing about more and more of them.
It’s an interesting phenomenon.
People are not only playing all of the new, creatively complex games being produced today. Games with thousands of pieces and colorfully designed cards.
People are also playing “Shoots and Ladders” and “Sorry”.
I see a group of guys come into one of my local coffee shops every week to play board games.
There are no digital screens involved. Many board game cafe’s don’t have wifi.
One of the important concepts in Digital Minimalism is taking back our leisure time. So much of our modern “free time” we have is spent in front of a screen.
And it’s killing us. (Maybe literally.)
Newport gives three “lessons” to learn about leisure.
- Prioritize demanding activity over passive consumption
- Use skills to produce valuable things in the physical world
- Seek activities that require real-world structured social interactions.
Thus, board game cafes.
Painting parlors.
DIY pottery.
Maker-culture.
Artisan, craft, and boutique.
These are ways humans are seeking meaning in a world that's become abuzz with digital meaninglessness and banality.
Think well about your leisure activities. Use intention rather than defaulting to a device.
Just so you know …
Starting June 1st, will be doing a digital detox, per Cal Newport’s latest book “Digital Minimalism”. (You need to read this. And at the moment I’m publishing this, you can get the audiobook for $8.99. That’s almost a steal. Buy this book NOW!)
What this means for me: I am logging out of 99% of my social media for the month of June. All social media will be deleted from my phone. This blog will continue to post to Twitter automatically. It will not auto-post to Facebook or LinkedIn and I will NOT be logging into Facebook for the month. (I haven’t entirely decided what my LinkedIn behavior will be for June, as I do have business contacts on that platform,)
Two solutions for this:
Use an RSS feed reader like Feedly or Feed Wrangler. Or just download an app like Reeder. If you use the Internet in place of a newspaper (Like most of the current population), you need this in your life anyway. Just drop this URL into one of these service: https://www.bernieanderson.com/blog/?format=rss.
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Would love to track with you as I seek what “Digital Minimalism” will mean for me.
