Trends

Digital fatigue and the return of physical presence

Screens have not lost their audience. They have lost the power to create obligation.

By Marcus Yabe · published 1 August 2026

Use is not attachment

Digital fatigue is not an exodus from the internet. It is the gap between rising screen time and a declining sense that the time is worthwhile. The crucial issue for a brand is not exposure, but the importance a person assigns to that exposure.

Presence has a cost

When someone blocks an afternoon and crosses a city, they give consent with a cost. Global trade fairs grew in revenue in 2024, while business events in São Paulo generated R$12 billion in economic impact. Attention is abundant on a screen; attendance is not.

Print returns as an object

The point is not that paper has returned as mass media. It returns as an object people keep, gift and place in their lives. A small, numbered and addressed edition competes for a place on a shelf, not for a place in a feed.

What brands should do

Do not ask digital channels to create the obligation they no longer create. Use them to distribute information and make the physical moment, the object and the encounter carry the weight of relationship.

Sources in the original Portuguese edition

Ofcom, Online Nation 2025; Cetic.br, TIC Domicílios 2024; Pew Research Center, Teens, Social Media and Mental Health 2025; UFI; Ubrafe and São Paulo Turismo; CBL, SNEL and Nielsen BookData.

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