The Rise of Analog and Anti-Doomscrolling

Across social feeds, “analog baskets” or “ anti-doomscrolling baskets” are showing up as curated collections of screen-free activities: a paperback, a deck of cards, a sketchbook, maybe a small craft kit. These baskets make it easier to choose offline time by removing the friction of “what do I do if I’m not on my phone?” and putting tactile, calming options within reach. Outside of the home, communities are hosting knitting and mending meetups, running groups while bars and restaurants add ping pong tables and pickle ball courts.

For employers and campus space planners alike, all of this is a signal: people are hungry for third places, spaces that are neither home or work/school, where they can learn, make, play, and connect.

RTO, Collaboration, and Belonging

HR and senior leaders continue to frame Return to Office (RTO) around collaboration, innovation, and culture, not just supervision. In 2025, many large employers implemented more aggressive RTO mandates, ranging from three days a week to full-time in-office, explicitly citing the need to rebuild connections, spark spontaneous innovation, and restore a shared sense of identity.

At the same time, data shows the nuance: hybrid teams with a mix of in-office and remote days often collaborate more intentionally than fully in-office groups, which can slide back into unstructured, meeting-heavy habits. HR technology and collaboration analytics now track network density, information flow, and participation equity to determine whether increased in-person time is actually improving collaboration, rather than simply increasing activity.

Occupancy analytics is the spatial counterpart to those HR metrics. Where collaboration tools measure who talks to whom, occupancy data reveals where those high-value interactions actually occur on the floorplate.

Spaces That Create Connection

If employees are going to commute in, the office has to deliver something they can’t get at home: spaces that foster connection, psychological safety, and belonging. Leading space planning teams are investing in:

• Social commons: Large, flexible hubs with mixed seating, coffee, and food that feel more like hotel lobbies or student unions than lobbies or cafeterias.

• Project and war rooms: Dedicated spaces where teams can “pin up” work, leave it visible, and build momentum across days instead of resetting every meeting.

• Maker and tech-free zones: Areas intentionally designed for hands-on work; whiteboards, analog brainstorming, Lego walls, craft tables, or physical prototyping.

• Gaming and club spaces: Rooms that support board games, console tournaments, or interest clubs after hours, turning the office into a community anchor, not just a work container.

• Quiet nooks and reflection spaces: Library-like rooms or pods that give people a place to read, think, or journal away from their inbox, countering digital fatigue.

Why Occupancy Analytics Matters

The challenge is that you can’t design effectively for connection on vibes alone. You need to know:

• Which connection-focused spaces are actually attracting people, and at what times.

• Where informal collisions are happening versus where spaces sit empty.

• How usage patterns change when you add analog elements (craft nights, game events, whiteboard walls, big collaboration tables, or department hang-outs).

Occupancy analytics turns those questions into measurable signals. Real-time and historical utilization data shows which social commons consistently fill during certain hours, which “analog zones” pull people out of desk neighborhoods, and which conference rooms are overbuilt for scheduled meetings but underbuilt for collaborative work.

For example, a workplace team might discover that a centrally located café-style area with no fixed monitors and lots of writable surfaces regularly hits healthy, dynamic occupancy, while a nearby formal conference wing stays underused. With that insight, they can:

• Convert a portion of underutilized meeting space into more informal lounges or project rooms.

• Pilot “analog baskets” or game spaces in popular hubs and track whether dwell time and repeat visits increase.

• Correlate occupancy patterns with HR’s collaboration and engagement metrics to demonstrate that certain spaces are associated with stronger cross-team networks.

In higher education, campus planners already treat time spent in libraries, student centers, and social spaces as indicators of community health and student wellbeing. The same logic now applies in Corporate Real Estate: time spent in well-designed, connection-rich spaces is a proxy for the health of the culture. Occupancy analytics makes that visible and actionable at scale.

Designing an “Analog-Aware” Workplace Strategy

As analog habits grow, employees are essentially telling employers what they value: spaces and rituals that help them feel human again. CRE, HR, and workplace leaders can respond by:

• Creating a culture of face-to-face communication, led by leadership.
• Programming analog experiences into office life (maker hours, pop-up craft tables, analog brainstorm sessions).
• Building or repurposing spaces that look and feel more like third places than traditional offices.
• Using occupancy analytics to continuously test which environments truly draw people in, foster collisions, and support a sense of belonging, then doubling down on those patterns.

In an era when RTO mandates alone can backfire, the workplaces that win will be the ones where people choose to show up because the spaces themselves support connection, creativity, and a healthier relationship with technology. Occupancy analytics is the quietly powerful layer that proves which parts of your portfolio are doing that job, and where a small analog tweak might unlock a lot more human energy.