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We’ve all been there, scrolling through social media only to realise we’ve been staring at our phones for 20 minutes instead of two.
But it seems West Australians are turning away from the digital realm – and into the analogue space.
According to a new report, the average Australian spends roughly five hours and 52 minutes a day online, and an average of 19 hours 28 minutes a week on social media.
The E-Safety Commissioner lists a variety of signs and symptoms people may feel from spending “too much time online.”
These include: ongoing headaches, eye strain and sleep disturbance, neck, back or hand pain, regularly checking your device while trying to complete other tasks, withdrawing from offline friends and activities and a decline in performance in work or study.
Now, there appears to be an increased focus on switching off the phone – and indulging other avenues to get your brain working.
Set up for art connoisseurs and newbies alike, Craft Club – which runs from 6pm to 8pm every second Thursday at Fremantle Piazza – allows for people to connect outside of social media through their love of crafting.
“When I started it, there wasn’t anything like it in Perth. Also, there was nothing to do in Perth in winter, which is when the club began,” founder Molly Wellington said.
“The first club session was around three years ago, but it was sporadic in timing, so essentially I have been doing it more consistently over the last six months because I thought that there was a need, and there definitely is.
“Also I selfishly just have a list of like a hundred projects that I want to do myself and I never do them if I’m just doing them at home on my own,” she said with a laugh.
Tickets to the craft club are sold out ahead of sessions.
Crafters can either bring their own project and tools or use the supplies Wellington brings to start something new.
On alternating Tuesday evenings, Wellington hosts workshops which vary between patchwork, junk journaling, keychain making and more.
While she champions the analogue idea at her sessions, it was on social media that she first stumbled across the trend.
“The hilarious thing is that I noticed it on the internet a lot which is really funny to me. But in real life I feel like people just want to get off their phones,” she said.
“A lot of the conversations that I keep having on the nights are with people who say, ‘I’m so hooked on my phone, I just need to have an excuse as to why I’m not looking at it,’ or the other night someone said that they felt really gross that they brought their phone to look up something during for their project because … they just wanted to be here in the moment.
“It definitely feels like [the analogue trend] is popping off right now and I’m seeing other clubs and things pop up in Perth as well, which is so good because normally you just see them over East.”
Painting therapy
Also offering a space to break free of the digital realm is The Painted Teapot in Subiaco.
The studio offers book-in sessions where people can paint a piece of blank pottery, ranging from cups and plates to teapots and vases.
Owner Kalpanie Fernando said the studio became popular after COVID-19 when people discovered how positive arts and crafts can be for mental health.
“I definitely think there are a lot of people that are way more into arts and crafts now than there was pre-COVID. I don’t know if that was a catalyst for this change in mind and this kind of shift, but definitely a noticeable change,” she said.
“I think we all got a taste of what a work-life balance could look like when people started spending more time at home, working from home, being able to pursue arts and hobbies and have family time.”
Fernando said that her bookings have shifted from parents and children to mostly adults looking to escape from stressful work days and excessive screen time.
“I’ll be honest, 95 per cent of my bookings are adults or at the very least over 15-16 year olds,” she said.
“There has been an enormous shift and there’s a lot more people who do this kind of thing in their spare time. I think they use it as an excuse to get away from the digital world, honestly.”
Pottery painting sessions come with an $8 studio fee plus the price of the pottery which starts at $20.
Philippe Giguere-Simmonds has been a regular at The Painted Teapot, using sessions to relax from his job as a haematologist.
“I ran across it during COVID, and I thought ‘oh gosh, I haven’t done that in years’ and so I sort of got back into it then,” he said.
“It was a nice creative outlet that gave me something durable and nice at the end that I could use. I like using all of my pieces, eating off of them and drinking from the mugs and stuff.”
Giguere-Simmonds said concentrating on painting feels “repetitive” and “meditative” for him.
Craft classes
The Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre has also seen an uptick in people wanting to join art classes, with one day pottery classes often selling out in advance.
City of Fremantle creative programs lead Ofa Fotu said the range of classes – from jewellery making to painting and sewing – have been a hit with people of all ages looking to add something crafty into their lives.
“The Arts Centre definitely provides different pathways where people can start and have no experience in working with some of the materials or some of the forms,” she said.
“We’re surrounded by technology and the marvel that it is, is amazing, but the opportunity to kind of tap out for a moment and do something that is repetitive and meditative can … let you claim your time back and do something for yourself.”
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