News We Found Most Interesting This Week:
TL;DR: Digital exhaustion is widespread and has been ongoing for years. In response, certain physical product industries are seeing accelerated growth (brand gifting, vinyls, and collectible card games). Many people have tried to do a digital detox, yet 50% do not continue past 48 hours, and only 4% of those who try a digital detox continue those efforts past 30 days. Digital platforms are not designed to be rationed or weaned off. Digital addiction is real, governments are implementing regulations to protect children from it, and many consumers are choosing to engage their time (and money) in physical products as alternatives. We believe this return of the physical product is here to stay.
Physical Products Are Surging
We are all digitally exhausted. In response, physical products are seeing a resurgence, as consumers want to see, touch, and feel in the real world (not just in the digital). In this note, we will walk through screen time addiction across age groups, look at the failure of consumer efforts to digitally detox (the effort is there, but not the results), and then take a look at several physical product categories that are surging. We believe the surge of physical products is directly correlated to the anti-screen sentiment that has exhausted Boomers, Millennials, Gen Z, and now Gen Alpha.
Screen Time Is Killing Us
Our children and young adults are overexposed to digital screens, and Americans now check their phones over 140 times per day. The number of screen time hours per day is a statistic we regularly hear, but a better measure is the percentage of waking hours we spend in front of a screen. Note that screens are commanding 28-56% of waking hours for the ages of 8-24, which primarily includes a non-working age for children and young adults (so you cannot assume that these stats are primarily driven by time at a work computer).
Age Group | Average Daily Screen Time | % of Waking Hours on Screens | Key Notes & Variations |
0–2 years | ~0.5–1 hour | 5–9% | Mostly passive exposure; 11 waking hours assumed |
3–7 years | 1–2 hours | 7–15% | 13.5 waking hours; rises sharply after age 5 |
8–12 years | 4–6 hours | 28–41% | 14.5 waking hours; many exceed 40% on weekends |
13–17 years | 7–9 hours | 45–58% | 15.5 waking hours; some teens hit 60–70% (9–11 h screen time) |
18–24 years | 7–9 hours | 44–56% | Peak group; many Gen Z report 10–12 h → 62–75% of waking day |
25–34 years | 6.5–7.5 hours | 41–47% | Work screens inflate totals; highest male average at ~47% |
35–44 years | 6–7 hours | 38–44% | Work + parenting balance; still very high |
45–54 years | 5.5–6.5 hours | 34–41% | Decline begins; more TV than mobile |
55–64 years | 5–5.5 hours | 31–34% | TV dominates; ~1/3 of waking life |
65+ years | 4–5 hours | 25–31% | Lowest adult group; Boomers ~22–25% on average |
Digital Detox
The concept of digital detox is not working for 96% of people (50% drop off within 48 hours)
Today, many people are trying to get away from screens through the idea of “digital detox”, which has a broad definition that includes the following efforts: deleting apps, taking short breaks, limiting to essential apps only, turning off notifications, switching to grayscale, and keeping the phone out of the bedroom. As you can see, these efforts span a wide range, moving attention and time away from screens.
So are these efforts working? No, they are not. Around 1 in 5 American consumers are trying to go through a digital detox (broadly defined above, Electroiq), yet ~50% of attempts last 2 days or less. Only 4% of consumers’ attempts to digitally detox are sustained for more than 1 month. In short, this is not working for 96% of people within the past 30 days of “trying”.
It is safe to say these efforts are not making a real difference at all. And in response to the losing battle with screens, consumers are now starting to intentionally (or unintentionally, perhaps) drift towards less digital products and adopt more physical products.
Physical Products are Surging
In response to this digital exhaustion, here are a few signals happening in the physical product space that showcase how people are responding to a groundswell of anti-screen sentiment.
1) Brand gifting is when companies send curated physical products to clients, influencers, and their own staff. These can be any form of consumer good, including food, candles, clothing, travel items, and more. Brands are embracing this shift to foster authentic relationships as they seek to cut through the noise of endless emails and ads. The corporate gifting market has grown 3.8x from ~$240 billion in 2015 to $920 billion in 2025. At a growth rate of approximately 14.4%, this is a staggering pace and underscores how important physical products remain.
2) Vinyl record sales growing at 11% y/y: Growing at ~11% CAGR, the Vinyl market is now selling >50 million units per year and surpassing CDs (still doing a shocking ~$500m in sales per year). The market size for Vinyl is only ~$2.4 billion today, but ~15-20 million people are buying vinyl records each year, and they are younger than you think. According to Luminate Insights regarding vinyl buyers, “The age breakdown of indie store buyers showed that 24% of consumers were 24 years old or younger and 41% were under 35 years old.”
Today, Millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha are all buying vinyl records and driving physical sales of the market. It is almost as if they actually want to slow down, listen to entire albums, and then walk over to switch out the vinyl for the next album. It also might be because they want to “look cool” or engage in collectibles; yet, either way, the growth of vinyls in younger people is an interesting trend.
3) Collectible Card Game market: The Collectible Card Game (CCG) market (games like Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon TCG, and Yu-Gi-Oh!) has experienced robust growth since 2015. It has evolved from a niche hobby to a mainstream industry blending physical collectibles, digital gameplay, and investment appeal.
Over the past 10 years, it has grown at a 14.5% CAGR from a $4-5bn industry in 2015 to ~$17 billion today. The CCG market centers around physical cards and in-person gameplay, as showcased by the above image, which shows a conference hall full of people playing at once.
In summary, each of these three industries are growing at a high CAGR: brand gifting (+14.4%), vinyls (+11%), and CCG (+14.5). Each of these are far outpacing the global inflation rate (4.2%), GDP growth (+3.2%), and population growth rate (+0.85%). We believe that this type of sustained growth, above and beyond global growth metrics, showcases how consumers are actively investing their time and money in non-digital form factors.
Looking Ahead At Other Physical Product Categories
Other places that consumers will continue to spend their time and money, in response to digital exhaustion and in search of physical product experiences:
Board Games: people are increasingly spending more time playing board games with each other. The market is a $17 billion market growing at 8% CAGR, and we think families of Millennials and Gen Z will prioritize non-screen entertainment at home, which board games are perfect for.
Candles: the candle market is not only for consumption, but people are also spending time in candle crafting and candle-making classes. It is a $14 billion market, 32% of it is in North America, and it is growing at a steady 6.4% CAGR. Given trends around health and wellness, candles could easily increase in their adoption (both as a percentage of consumer spend and as a hobby).
Stationary: people are writing things down more than they used to. They not only apologize for checking their phones during meetings, but people are bringing physical notebooks to meetings versus just laptops. Writing something down feels more intentional than typing it. The stationary market is worth ~$112 billion globally and growing at a modest 4.4% CAGR. We think AI notetakers have their place, but anti-digital trends might give stationery a boost.
Takeaway: Digital exhaustion is widespread and has been ongoing for years. In response, certain physical product industries are seeing accelerated growth (brand gifting, vinyls, and collectible card games). Many people have tried to do a digital detox, yet 50% do not continue past 48 hours, and only 4% of those who try a digital detox continue those efforts past 30 days. Digital platforms are not designed to be rationed or weaned off. Digital addiction is real, governments are implementing regulations to protect children from it, and many consumers are choosing to engage their time (and money) in physical products as alternatives. We believe this return of the physical product is here to stay.
Have a great rest of your week,
Josh