Extremely Offline

PRESENTED BY DESCRIPT

Happy Thursday, Future Party. Sydney Sweeney, method actor? While promoting her new movie — a biopic about trailblazing boxer Christy Martin — Sweeney revealed that she loved learning to box so much (and got pretty good at it) that she’s seriously considering doing a pay-per-view boxing match for charity. She even has a list of names she’d like to face in the ring. We think more actors should commit to their training this hard. Who wouldn’t want to see Brad Pitt actually race on the F1 circuit or Adam Sandler go pro in golf?

Platforms that make people put down their smartphones are becoming one of the hottest online… and offline… trends.

Why It Hits: As we’ve said many times in this newsletter, research shows that too much screen time, social media, and endless doomscrolling are taking a toll on us. Young people agree — a 2024 Pew study found that nearly half of teens think social media has mostly negative effects, with only 11% saying it’s mostly positive. Now, as platforms break down in utility, top features get paywalled, and AI slop floods the feed, people are looking for connection IRL.

Between The Lines: According to Insider, the phrase “offline is the new luxury” is taking off.

The Future: These phone-free events and meetups are part of a broader movement to log off — one that includes digital minimalism, analog bags, and IRL entertainment. People are realizing that a digital detox shouldn’t be a once-a-year stunt, but a weekly routine like hitting the gym. It’s society learning how to be healthy and balanced again.

Prediction: The new era of “going viral” might mean hearing about an event or experience through the grapevine — but finding no media anywhere to prove it even happened.

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Amazon is expanding its grocery footprint — not by building bigger stores with more shelves, but by using technology to deliver the food you don’t see stocked.

The Big Picture: Amazon is constantly working to shrink the gap between ordering something and receiving it. Integrating its Amazon Fresh grocery business and Whole Foods acquisition into its e-commerce and robotics flywheel has taken some time, but the company hopes its pilot store in Pennsylvania will demonstrate how these services come together.

Between The Shelves: The new Whole Foods in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, wants to ensure that customers leave with everything they need.

Checkout: The Verge notes that the new hybrid-shopping feature lets Whole Foods offer more items without the store… well… losing the Whole Foods vibe. But it’s all part of Amazon’s plan to make the upscale grocery brand a bigger part of its empire — Whole Foods CEO Jason Buechel was recently named VP of Amazon’s grocery business, and Whole Foods workers will soon become Amazon employees.

In other words, the existence of both Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh may not be long for this world.

Next Run: If customers like the experience, expect Amazon to explore other types of specialty stores using the same system — from fashion and consumer products to physical media.

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63.6% of you voted No, it’s too risky to depend on. in yesterday’s poll: Do you trust self-driving tech?

“We don’t let AI run trains yet… and they run on rails with predetermined routes. It’s far too soon to let AI operate vehicles on various road surfaces with no predetermined pathways. If they can’t get AI safely installed on light rail, subways, or trains, they certainly should NOT be allowed to use these dangerous systems on the nation’s roads and highways.”

“Until every vehicle has self-driving tech, there’s too much variability with those that don’t. Once all vehicles have it, I’d assume they’ll communicate with each other — but until then, there’s no way I trust it.”

“We have autopilot on aircraft — they can even land themselves — but the pilot still needs to be in command. I think it’s the same for self-driving cars: you still need to stay aware and in control. No snoozing, no distractions.”

“It’s probably about as safe as your average human driver — which isn’t saying much.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

⚾ The international score: the World Series averaged 34 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan across all seven games — the most since 1992.

🎙️ Netflix wants all the video podcasts — it’s now in talks with SiriusXM to license shows.

🍿 Mason Thames is the first actor since Jim Carrey in 1994 to star in three #1 movies at the box office in a single year — Black Phone 2, How to Train Your Dragon, and Regretting You.

🤖 Apple is reportedly in final talks with Google to have Gemini power an AI-driven version of Siri for $1 billion annually.

🤝 Google and Epic have jointly filed to end their ongoing antitrust litigation by allowing third-party apps to be downloaded from the Google Play store.

🗺️ Speaking of Google, Maps is getting Gemini chatbot integration that lets travelers ask questions about their route.

🏆 TikTok is rolling out the red carpet for its inaugural TikTok Awards in the US.

🛑 The Motion Picture Association — the US movie ratings board — has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Instagram over its use of a PG-13 rating for teen accounts.

📈 Snap’s stock jumped 25% after it announced a $400 million deal with Perplexity to integrate its AI answer engine into the app.