WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Flyover Features: What do we think about this New Neo-Luddite College Club?

Episode Date: November 4, 2025

Emma and Sophia discuss a recently formed club at NYC's "The New School," which claims to be organized for people with Luddite tendencies, and who come to free "the iPad babies."

Welcome back to Flyover Features on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM, a witty radio show where we discuss current events and culture through the lens of an article. I am Sophia Mant and I'm here with Emma Vrini. And today we'll be discussing a New York Times piece titled They've Come to Free the iPad Babies. A student at the new school, which is a college in New York, started a group to get herself, and her peers off their phones. And this was recently published on October 30th by T.M. Brown. And essentially, the piece is about this recent sort of an activist group at this, you know, liberal arts campus right in the heart of Manhattan, who are Luddites, which is to say they claim to hate technology and this kind of, you know, rising,

dependency on it and iPhones. And so it's essentially about this group or this club called the lamp club. And the piece says it's described as an organization for people with Luddite tendencies or at least aspirations. And they have a rather goofy way of expressing their beliefs, saying about 100 people, which is actually a pretty impressive turnout in Nome hats made of brightly colored manila envelopes began marching and it was the second time they'd done it. They did it last year and they titled it, you know, scathing hatred of information technology and the passionate hermorrhaging of our neoliberal experience. And one of the events organizers was like, well, gnomes come from the earth and, you know,

just kind of goofy, hippie-dippy-dippy-bohemian type sounding event and people. And then they even had another event where they just went to school, but without their shoes on, just trying to get people over their social anxieties and the like, you know, because, you know, not wearing shoes is apparently a way of freeing social anxieties. And as a whole, I feel kind of mixed about the group and their aspirations. I certainly think it's better than a lot of other left-wing groups because I actually don't entirely disagree or even agree with a lot of what they're claiming to fight against it. I think it's kind of fun and quirky how they're doing it, but also sometimes it feels a little bit ridiculous and odd that they use technology in the first place to reach out to people, although apparently that changed, like they stopped using an Instagram account. But, you know, someone watching them was like, this is ridiculous.

They're also filming it with iPhones. And this is a, you know, probably none too pleased New Yorker. So, you know, I don't know if it's like, you know, people watching the demonstrators are filming it or for the demonstrators themselves are, which would be very ironic. But, yeah, that's essentially some of the gist of this piece and, I guess, a bit of my opinions. So I suppose I leave it to you now, Emma. Do you have any takes on this demonstration event group? I don't know.

It seems like people who attribute their social anxiety and, you know, lack of social network to technology. and I think that maybe that could be true for some people. Maybe some people are more affected by technology than others. At least speaking personally, I don't find that to be the case. In fact, I think I found more people through technology than, you know, technology has detrimented me. For instance, some of the people I'm closest with on campus at school are people I met first online. on an app.

I think it was an app or like some sort of website for people who were all going to the same college who all wanted to get to know each other. And so I met like, I want to say at least three of my closest friends on this app. Well, that's crazy because I didn't know this app existed. I've met none of my friends through technology at Hillsdale. Sometimes maybe there's a group chat or email list that's created after I'm already friends with them. But like every single person I knew here or know here I met in person.

that's actually interesting. I mean, I don't, we definitely met, yeah, no, we did meet in person because we got to know each other because we're both journalism students. So kind of through shared classes and then we started hanging out besides that. Well, we met each other through Greek as well. Yeah, that's what I was saying. Yeah. Yeah. Journalism and Greek. So we both had similar classes, which is kind of how pre-technology people kind of got to know each other. I guess that's pretty obvious. Yeah. So broadly similar interests met through or formed through in-person connections. I think maybe it's, good that this way for you, I actually agree that as a whole technology seems worse for social anxiety and the like because it really encourages these sort of social media prisms and just this obsessive focus on images and stuff. I hate Instagram. I don't have it. I don't have it. Just the idea of it almost. And yes, I know I'm over the top of it, but just kind of disgust me, makes me uncomfortable. I just don't like this obsession with images. It's not something I want to touch. It just seems so just genuine. and just focusing on these beautiful pretty pictures and stuff.

I don't know. Like, I relate a lot to this dislike of it. And I do think it causes more alienation and the like, you know, when they're quoting these students such as Ms. McVorren, who's 19, and Mr. Baldwin, who's 21. And, yeah, I don't know. You know, she really thinks, she says, I think it all goes back to people feeling alienated from another in a negative relationship to technology. and I'm sure especially in New York City and Manhattan, that social pressure is probably

even worse and just, I actually agree that, you know, when they're faulting phones, to quote the article for fraying human connections as well as accelerating inequality, call me a liberal, but like, I actually think that's true because it's just causing more and more of these comparisons or image-based ways of seeing people that I don't think is ultimately good. and maybe they're goofy, but I appreciate them really actually getting in person to deal with these problems. I have more respect for it. And I don't know, they sound kind of funny, even though perhaps a bit annoying and disruptive if the New York City, people they talk to aren't any indicator. Although apparently some of the people that happen to encounter them that the article quotes also are like interested in the event and can tell what they're arguing.

because some people apparently were saying, oh, this is just ridiculous. What are they even doing? But then other people are like, oh, it's clearly against technology. And like, I don't want to judge an event when I haven't been there. But I feel like I would figure out it's definitely, that's definitely what they're arguing based on the pictures and everything

and that they're destroying iPhones and that, you know, maybe I'm just too in tune to like slightly goofy esoteric hippie stuff. Now, I'm joking, but like, I don't know. I definitely figure out that, oh, the gnomes, that's goofy, but that's related to, like, you know, wanting to be natural earth dwellers or something. Yeah. I also would just, I know this is a little off topic, but mention that the photography in this article is incredibly interesting and also very good. The first picture, which is a picture of the student, Jackie McVorren, is very cool.

And it's a good picture. And I think half of the fun that you get from reading this article, is looking through all the pictures. So I would definitely recommend going and looking through this article and looking at the pictures at least if you have the time. Also, you're listening to Flyover Features on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Yes. Yeah.

To get back to like how apparently some of the onlookers didn't understand what they're arguing. They have this picture of this guy that literally has a poster that says, eat your phone. I don't know. Like to me, it just sounds like actually it's pretty obvious what these people are broadly arguing against.

and maybe people are just confused because it's on common to see young students, especially like, I'm a little bit outside of the mainstream maybe, not to sound like, ooh, I'm so unique. But like I feel like people that have more liberal inclinations are often not necessarily super anti-technology or even progress, which these people actually do seem to be on some level. So I just feel like it's like a little bit of a confusing mix, not necessarily a bad thing. I think this is actually a fairly coherent view, even if I don't fully. agree with all aspects of it. But that's what I kind of wonder. Yeah. Like Mick Moran said also, like, I just envision the world I want to live in with the analog tools and live like that. And I, you know, I like this. And, you know, they quote a sociologist, the piece, Caitlin Begg, who says, people are just sick of this march forward and having to view technology as progress. And they don't

want their time and attention to be commodified anymore. You know, I agree. And I like that these people are protesting against something that one I think is actually a real issue that affects everyone. That does, I think, make a lot of issues such as inequality worse. Like, I like that these people are actually getting to something that I would agree seems to be a genuine driver more than, to be honest, stuff I consider. And again, I'm biased. I'm more on the right. Not that no one matters or that niche groups don't matter.

But I sometimes have a bit of an issue when people focus on solely minority type things when it's like, okay, but doesn't the majority actually also matter too? And that's more like the work in class. That's a larger group of people. So I don't know. Like I actually like how I think they seem concerned about that, but are consistent and also being like, well, this negatively affects everyone. So I don't know. This is one of the better ideas when it comes to left-wing activism that I think I've seen. Like you can, I can tell in reading it that these people actually have thought through it, even if their methods are a little odd. Yeah, I'll address the three things you said first with the balance that they sort of have to strike between reaching people,

since they're trying to use their phones less and using Instagram and stuff, to get people to be involved with weirdness. So it seems like they want to be able to reach people without phones, but they also don't want to be too weird so that the average onlooker actually is able to join. And that seems like attention with this group. Like, okay, they have all these weird manila folders on their head of different colors and they wear, you know, yellow, red, like, color, like primary colors that sort of stand out. And they carry around these weird signs. Well, they're guaranteed to have an audience,

but is their audience guaranteed to actually resonate with their message? And I think that some of them are. There was one woman who, she was 66 years old. She's a baby boomer. Susan Westbrook, who was visiting from Saratoga Springs, said, we didn't grow up with this technology, but these phones are so addictive. And I think that it's interesting to get a boomer perspective because the baby boomers seem like they are increasingly becoming very addicted to their phones. Whereas I think the younger generation grew up with them. So counterintuitively, they're more able to moderate their screen usage, whereas boomers sort of just got slammed with it. And they haven't had it their whole life. And so now you're seeing the boomers who like have Instagram

reals playing at full blast in public. And they're just like scrolling or they're just texting or on Facebook all the time. And they don't really know or they were never really told, hey, this could affect you too. So now we're seeing the advent of like boomers who are just like totally addicted to their screens. Yeah. Well, it really is, I mean, it's becoming more socially accepted broadly, but it really is rude to just be focused on someone else or not listen to someone when they're talking or to blast something with full volume. I mean, people are just not conscientious of that and it's unfortunate. And honestly, like, especially because these are people who seem to identify more with broadly speaking the left, they wouldn't be surprised

if it's kind of a more diverse coalition of people to, um, within the protest, not the top two people that interviewed necessarily. But like, that actually does give me a little bit of hope that these people are acknowledging, hey, this seems bad and almost they want to bring people together. And how, you know, Mrs. McVoran talks about how people are isolated and just the antisocial rudeness that I'm talking about and how people are even uncomfortable with Bordrum. I mean, we're changing our human nature, I think, or attitudes or behaviors are really being drastically changed by this technology. and people I think should be concerned about it

because it's, I don't think it's good at all. And my dad, you know, he's always been very concerned about technology. You know, he was like, it's like evil is now just a click away. It's so much easier to access dark and negative things to do so kind of under the guise or this protection and it's almost like designed to be easier to do such things, you know, with private browsing, deleting history and the like. it's just easier to hide one's dark tendencies and, you know, it's just leading to more isolation.

So I know my dad's always been very concerned about that. And I'm glad to see younger ones too. I do think a big concern about technology is just manners. Like, I'm not necessarily against technology or the fact that you can access bad things. I do think that sort of is a necessary evil of technology that we need to learn to work around as opposed to just shutting down all technology or saying we oppose all technology. I think the big thing is just manners, like I said. Like, I know that our culture sort of has moved away from manners,

but it's something that's worth sort of thinking about more. Like, when is it appropriate for me to be on my phone if I'm having dinner with somebody? Or, you know, if I'm at a meeting, when is it appropriate for me to check my phone? Because the answer is not never, but it's also not whenever you want, you know? Well, my family, it's never if someone's in a conversation with you. I know that's not most people, but like, yeah, it's like never a phone out for such, such things. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And I do think it's dependent on context. If you're talking to someone and you're standing with them, then obviously you shouldn't go on your phone. Yeah. But it depends. Yep. You're listening to Flyover Features on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Another student involved with the Lamb Club is quoted as saying,

People in my generation search for themselves through technology. And it says, Mrs. Giorgi, I might be mispronouncing that, is a trained dancer. She leads movement classes for the club. And she says, I'm trying to pay more attention to the ways I'm distracting myself or running away into my phone. And I actually thought that was a surprisingly profound group of statements. It's odd just how much technology has changed people. I've said that before, but it's just it's really true that people find and sort themselves into groups now through the artifice of technology. And more specifically, through a lot of the times these online social groups or cultural, you know, niches of the Internet and social media.

And it's kind of sad because on some level, it's like a part of it does feel artificial because it's like, well, would this, you know, this wouldn't have existed without us having created this technology for people to have so found these groups. And I'll never get over really thinking because I think we so often forget that like there were times when the life of one's grandparents was unchanged from your own life. It wasn't this sudden shifting, shifting, shifting amount of vast, you know, I don't know societal change, but just technological change. I want to be cautious saying that because surely, I don't know, maybe wars and strife occur within those periods, but that's insane to me. And it's just, it worries me too because I think it's gone even faster because, you know, I'm 21 years old.

I'm very young. And even with my lifetime, I can think of significant. significant changes. AI and how accurate it is at kind of reconstructing, you know, letters and images or words has changed so much. And it really is almost frightening. And it almost like rips yourself apart. It's just like, how can you keep up?

I don't know. It feels alienating in some sense. And I remember my dad talking about his great grandparents, my Nana, which would be my grandma's not her mom dad sorry i'm trying to think her my non is grandma okay or our grandpa so you know they were around in the 1900s 1800s and it's just crazy to think they remember when you know you got around on horse and buggy and then now you know they advanced from just imagine all the changes they saw to then cars then to you know the tv the television all those things i mean unbelievable what you would have lived through just unheard of and it hurt it we're hurdling so fast and

we don't seem to know where we're going yep and um it it worries me how people seem to have this blind faith a bit in progress and i don't know in some ways it does feel a bit like a kind of despair almost just this vastest of modernity um and sorn kyrka in his work the sickness onto death. You know, he even says the specific character of despair is precisely this. It is unaware of being despair. And I think these people, these involved in the lamp club, are at least aware that something does seem very wrong

and how fast things are changing and the powers that be and some of the ills caused by technology. So at least they're self-aware that, you know, this isn't something we're supposed, we're not supposed to live like this. I hate apathy and those things are wrong. So do you have any thoughts, Emma? I don't think, I think without getting too far into it, I think that the quote from the sociologist,

Caitlin Begg that we see, it's hard to decipher exactly where she's coming from, but just to reiterate, she says people are sick of this march forward and having to view technology as progress. And to that I would say, okay, well, what is progress then? is a social progress because in that case, I would reject that. And the way I've seen things, I've always seen technology as the only thing that has

really progressed, like throughout history. I don't see, you know, shifts in morals or anything as this great progress or anything like that. Well, I think, so do you mean, like, I wonder what she's getting at is that, okay technology maybe is progressing getting more advanced but is this actually coming at the cost of making society worse or almost regressing that or even i wonder if it's like i don't think the people at the lamb club are consciously doing that but intending for this to be the case but it actually does seem similar to almost like well actually it's almost ridiculous to view technology as progress when it's like maybe it's getting more advanced than like but it's actually making a lot of stuff worth for society and how we understand ourselves as humans and relate to other people? I could understand it if she, instead of using the word progress, just use beneficial. Like, I don't understand how people view technology is beneficial. And I think that would make more sense. And I would argue that technology for the most part

is beneficial, but it has its downsides. And those are things that the individual must try to overcome. And I think what's interesting is I do think that's a point when I've talked to you, I don't think we fully agree with. I'm definitely a bit more anti-technology than you are. I am like, yeah, sure, it helps people, but also, oh, think of all the, you know, oh, look at, you know, all this surgery's done on people. You know, they get a new heart and they'll like, well, that's wonderful. Look it. We can heal these people.

But how does that happen? Because so many people die on the highway and from car crashes because they're organ donors, then their organs are taken to say, people's life. So it's almost like for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. You know, if we didn't have a way of modern way of transportation that led to so much death, we actually wouldn't really be able to do the organ donor trade. That's not even conspiratorial. It's just true. That's all we have time for today. You're listening to Flyover Features on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.