Back in February 2026, the UK held its first “dusking” event as part of the annual Dark Skies Festival, which runs throughout the year. According to the Guardian, around 20 people gathered on the North York Moors to watch twilight give way to night. With mobile phones turned off, the event was about focusing on the natural world, acknowledging the end of the day in a way that our modern lives don’t always allow.
The concept comes from the Netherlands and has origins dating back to at least the 18th century. Having all but died out, dusking is making a comeback in its native Holland and spreading across Europe. It’s now gaining popularity here in the UK too.
But dusking is just one way to digitally disconnect and improve your emotional wellbeing through reconnecting with the physical world.
Keep reading for a closer look at this centuries-old Dutch tradition and other ways to perform a digital detox.
Dusking is an old Dutch tradition and part of a new rise in digital detoxing and nature-based mindfulness
Known in Dutch as “schemeren”, dusking was once a daily family ritual that dates back hundreds of years. It had, though, been all but forgotten. Its comeback is owed to poet and author Marjolijn van Heemstra, who led the Yorkshire event, guiding attendees through music and storytelling. Recent events in Europe have attracted more than 400 “duskers”.
The practice is a form of mindfulness that can help us to switch off and rebalance ourselves through reconnecting with the natural world.
Dusk might bring a murmuration of starlings preparing to roost or the hunt of waking bats. It might simply represent a chance to be calm, still, and reflect on the passing of the day.
It’s free and simple to do by yourself or with a loved one, or as a family. But you can attend an organised event too. Mastercard reports that 62% of Brits are planning to attend digital detox events this year, where smartphones and other tech are discouraged or banned.
Dusking may be one answer. But there are other ways to ditch the digital and embrace “analogue escapism” too.
3 other simple and easy ways to embrace a digital detox this summer
- Turn off notifications
Being instantly contactable is important in our busy modern world. You want to be available to family, friends, colleagues, and business contacts at a moment’s notice.
In an emergency, this is vital. But it’s likely that many of the notifications that distract you throughout the day don’t arrive through obvious emergency channels. A phone call is a more likely method for urgent communication than, for example, social media.
And while keeping up with current affairs is important, do you need every breaking news headline pinged directly to your phone or smartwatch?
Identify the apps that cause regular distractions and amend their settings to restrict or turn off notifications. Instead, set time aside each day to check in with these apps so that you don’t miss anything important.
You might find that fewer notifications and diarised check-ins help to relieve your anxiety and any “FOMO” (fear of missing out) you might feel when reaching for your phone after every ping.
- De-smart your smartphone
You might go one step further than switching off notifications and remove distractions altogether.
Certain apps (both free and paid-for) will reduce your home screen to a bare minimum, removing colourful icons and reverting to text-based lists. This makes your home screen far less appealing and might mean you’re not tempted to check in as regularly.
Other tools can place time restraints on certain apps to help break the cycle of habitual checking.
Our smartphones have, for a long time, been pocket laptops. But reverting to using your phone for calls, texts, and work emails could help you to regain focus, stopping dangerous doomscrolling or mindless social media swiping.
- Embrace analogue and get out into nature
The rise of AI means that technology and the digital space will continue to dominate our lives. While this brings unique and exciting opportunities, many are also looking to analogue technology to slow down and reconnect with physical objects.
This might be as simple as putting on a record, a CD, or even a cassette tape rather than relying on Apple Music or Spotify. The weight of these objects in your hands, the requirement to manually turn them over, and even differences in sound quality could help you to ditch the tech.
You might opt to read a physical book rather than your Kindle, or perhaps get out into nature.
Whether you’re dusking, going for a tech-free lunchtime walk, or taking up wild swimming during the warmer summer months, leaving your phone at home and enjoying mindful time in nature can be incredibly rewarding.
Get in touch
If you would like to discuss these changes in more detail, please speak to your usual HFMC adviser, contact us online, or call 020 7400 4700 today.
