There’s nothing like a weekend of hosting your three 10-and-under nieces and nephew (sponsored parent getaway!) to once again bring you up-close to the real struggle of screen vs. analog life. Our kids are old enough to be doing real world stuff on their own, so it’s been a while since we had to choose between the ease of parking kids in front of Curious George and taking time to lead a walk in the woods!

You might say that “The Rush to Unplug” — a recent Wall Street Journal article (paywall) by Nora Knoepflmacher — puts last weekend into a surprising perspective: there’s a full-blown countermovement in home design. While “smart homes” have dominated recent trends, families across America are now deliberately creating screen-free zones — discovering that what Knoepflmacher calls “dumb” spaces might actually be the smartest investment they can make for family life.

Knoepflmacher profiles James and Ellen Patterson, both tech professionals, who transformed their basement during a home renovation. The couple noticed their children “kept disappearing down there to entertain themselves for hours without the aid of tablets or TVs,” Knoepflmacher writes. Inspired by this organic behavior, they created a dedicated “analog room” — “a studiously screen-free zone where the family could play board games together, practice instruments, listen to records or just lounge about lazily, undistracted by devices.”

This personal story reflects broader cultural trends. According to the article, Google searches for “how to reduce screen time” reached an all-time high in 2025, while TikTok videos tagged #AnalogLife have received over 76 million views in the past four years. Catherine Price, author of How to Break Up With Your Phone, tells Knoepflmacher that “people are waking up to the idea that screens are getting in the way of real life interactions and taking steps through design choices to create an alternative, places where people can be fully present.”

Level 3 of your Trinity House — Household Economy — is all about this: caring for your family’s God-given communion by creating and ordering an environment that is conducive not only to “shared work” as a family, but also to the joy that follows. After the work of Household Economy, in Level 4, Family Culture, we get to celebrate our family’s communion in engaging, enriching leisure activities.

The benefits of the analog design trend extend beyond simple screen reduction. Designer Jeanne Hayes, who created what she calls an “offline-office” space in her Connecticut home, reports feeling “more peaceful and more productive at the same time—two things that rarely go hand in hand.” Nashville designer Laura Lubin observes that her clients increasingly want spaces that “actively support well-being” because “people are overstimulated and overscheduled.”

Knoepflmacher notes that screen-free design offers unexpected freedom. Without needing to accommodate oversized televisions or extensive wiring, the Pattersons’ could create distinct music and game zones. Designer Christine Gachot explains that removing the requirement to center a room around “the dominant black box of a smart TV” opens new possibilities for spaces reflecting family values (and dare we say, your “domestic church” or Trinity House).

For the Patterson family, their analog room has become more than a design choice. As James Patterson reflects in the article, “Playing a game with family or doing your own little impromptu karaoke is just so much more joyful than getting on your phone and scrolling for 45 minutes.”

As you seek to improve the design of your home in the weeks and months ahead, consider any of the following practical steps:

• Start small by designating one room or corner as screen-free. As Price advises in the article, parents can make “small tweaks” rather than waiting for major renovations—even a reading nook or music corner can shift family dynamics.

• Add analog accessories that invite interaction. Knoepflmacher describes how clients are requesting “retrograde staples, such as analog clocks and magazine racks.”

• Create physical boundaries that signal the transition. These physical cues help family members mentally shift from digital to analog mode.

• Stock the space with activities that encourage togetherness and family bonding. The Patterson family’s guitar collection supports “impromptu karaoke” nights with friends and family. And they went on eBay to find a favorite board game from childhood, the Stock Market Game, which requires pencil and paper calculations. This led to the grandparents regularly stopping by for a round or two.

• Model the behavior yourself. When parents consistently choose analog activities, children naturally follow.

All of which brings us back to last Sunday evening … when our sister and brother-in-law pulled up to our house to retrieve their kids. Truth be told, we were like most other parents alive today: for two days, we had gone back and forth between hikes, puzzles, blocks, and yes, some kids’ movies and shows. No, our nephew and nieces did not experience a 100% analog weekend with Uncle and Auntie and their cousins, but when we asked them what the highlight was, their response was telling: “The walk in the magical kingdom [the nearby forest]!” they all said, beaming.

Analog won the day, yet again.