
Published 06 October 2025
Rumblings of an inflection point regarding the myriad ways lives lived chronically online are becoming untenable have intensified throughout 2025, priming 2026 to be the year that the ‘digital balance economy’ crystallises as a moral and commercial imperative. Inherently wedded to the shift, which isn’t about an unrealistic desire for total digital detox but rather the psycho-physical necessity to reactivate real-world connections, is the premise of Fourth Space Engagement: evolving the third space (places beyond work and home) into places that explicitly bridge shared passions online and community IRL.



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