OfflineFrome: A Phone-Free Social

This is an invitation to spend an evening away from notifications, scrolling and screens and enjoy almost two relaxed hours together offline.

We’ll put our phones away. You can join a board game, play cards, help with a communal puzzle, read, draw, write, chat or bring your own quiet activity.

There is no pressure to network, introduce yourself to the whole room or take part in anything you do not fancy. Come alone, bring a friend or bring something you enjoy doing offline.

Why I’m starting this

Hi, I’m James.

I often find myself spending more time looking at screens than I would like. One at work, television at home, and my phone in between. I want to get away from this and do something else!

Also, with the darker winter evenings now here, it's even more difficult to break away

OfflineFrome is my way of finding out whether other people feel the same and would like to build a local community around spending more time offline, together, in community.

This is the first pilot event, so I would love you to help shape what it could become.

What to expect

We'll welcome you, explain how the evening works and help you find somewhere comfortable to begin.

You can choose from:

• Quick and easy board games

• Playing cards

• A communal puzzle

• Reading and quiet activities

• Drawing, journalling or writing

• Conversation prompts

• Tea, coffee and informal chats

You can move between activities whenever you like.

Near the end, there will be an optional short conversation about our experiences of using tech, how we feel about our relationship with it, what brought us to the event and what we might like to do more of offline

For the first event I'm looking for around 8 to 15 people. Enough to enjoy time together, without it feeling like a massive event.

What to bring

All you need to bring is yourself!

You can optionally also bring, if you like:

• A book

• A board game you enjoy

• A journal or sketchbook

• A small craft project

• A friend (who has a ticket)

• Any safe screen-free activity

We’ll provide games, cards, puzzles, paper, pens, tea, coffee and biscuits.

What happens to my phone?

This pilot is designed to be completely phone-free.

When you arrive, we’ll ask you to switch off your phone and either leave it with a host or keep it off and out of sight in your bag or pocket until the event ends.

We understand that some people may need to remain reachable because of caring, health, work or other responsibilities. We may explore ways to support this at future events, but for this first pilot, the expectation is that everyone takes part without checking or using their phone.

Please consider whether that feels right for you before booking.

About the venue

The pilot will take place in the Remakery at the Edventure Hub coworking space in Frome.

I work at Edventure as Hub Manager and Communcations Lead. OfficeFrome is my own independent project I'm testing out, rather than an Edventure initiative.