Posts Tagged ‘NoScreens’
Roller skating as a rebellion against screens
How my roller skating childhood inspired a movement for the future
I grew up in Haverhill, a small town in the UK, tucked in the corner of Suffolk on the border with Essex, and Cambridgeshire. With a population of ~20,000 people, it wasn’t exactly a bustling metropolis. But for me, it had everything, because I had friends that lived close, miles of paths to ride my bike and I could roller skate.
At age 13, I was roller skating every chance I got — bombing the slopes behind my house on a school driveway, doing laps of the empty school playground, skating in circles for hours with my Walkman in my pocket, headphones on, fully lost in the music and the movement. Those early sessions weren’t about performance or exercise — they were about freedom.
By 15, my parents were driving me 20 miles each weekend to our local rinks, Rollerbury in Bury St Edmunds or Rollerworld in Colchester. Both had 25m x 50m Olympic-grade maple rotunda roller skating floors, proper lighting rigs, massive sound systems, and DJs spinning everything from R&B, pop to dance tunes. The Prodigy played there, Take That!. Mr Blobby showed up once. I skated with strangers who became friends, and friends who became family.
By 16, I was roller skating at all-night sessions — the kind where you'd start skating at 10pm, blink and realise it’s 7am Sunday morning.
At 17, the first place I drove after passing my driving test? the rink.
And that crew? That massive crew I rolled with back then? Even when I moved to Australia — literally the other side of the world — I still keep in touch with almost all of them. Some of them still roller skate every week. That community never really left us.
Even though both of these iconic rinks have now been pulled down for developments, the culture, community and memories have lived on long past any physical buildings. But now, we catch up at different rinks, outside but still on skates.
From Playground Games to Push Notifications
Now fast-forward to 2025.
Kids aren’t bombing driveways anymore. They're not gliding around playgrounds with a Walkman and an imagination. They're inside. Sitting. Scrolling. Watching someone else have fun.
According to Common Sense Media, kids aged 8–12 average 5.5 hours of screen time a day. Teenagers average 8.5+ hours. That’s not including schoolwork — that’s pure, unfiltered scroll time.
It’s no wonder we’re seeing record highs in anxiety, depression, and disconnection in young people. They’re more “connected” than ever — yet they’re missing real connection.
Roller skating as Digital Defiance
Roller skating is more than movement — it’s medicine.
At SKTNG, we’re bringing back that wild, wonderful, real-life experience I grew up with. Not as a throwback. Not as a gimmick. But as a radical alternative to the endless feed.
Roller skating makes you feel alive. You’re in your body. You’re in the moment. You fall. Laugh (a lot). You get back up. Learn, not by clicking a video, but by trying — and failing — and trying again.
When you're skating, your phone isn't in your hand. It's in a locker. And your focus is on the here and now: the music, the rhythm, the people, the vibe.
Games, Chaos, and Community
We’re rebuilding the rink culture I grew up in — the one that shaped me, my friends, our community.
Where Sunday nights meant chaos and connection:
“Trains” — linking bodies and barrelling across the floor, the whips were legendary
“Little Man” (shooting the duck)— crouching low and weaving through packs of skaters
“Chariots” — two people sitting together, intertwined, someone pushes, and you fly
“British Bulldog” — full-contact roller mayhem, no pads, no helmets (don’t tell our insurance provider)
“The Dice Game, Speed Skating, Limbo, Last Man Standing” — it was glorious madness
It was play. It was adrenaline. It was belonging. And it was all without screens.
That’s what SKTNG is bringing back — a space where games, culture, and community collide, on wheels.
This is not nostalgia.
It’s resistance. Its presence. It’s the future we want—made of people, not programs.
In a world where everything is increasingly digitised, gamified, and monetised, the simple act of showing up, moving your body, and connecting with others in real time is revolutionary.
SKTNG is more than a roller rink. It’s a third space. A cultural hub. A digital detox zone. A place where kids, teens, families, creatives, misfits, and movers come together not to scroll — but to roll.
Join the Movement
We need more than likes. More than followers. We need friends, stories, shared experiences, and safe spaces to just be.
So whether you’re 7, 27, or 67 — whether you’ve never skated or you’ve still got your original wheels — come be part of something real.
Come skate. Connect. Rebel — with lights, music, and a little bit of wobble.
Follow @SKTNG.space or SKTNG.space on facebook
The movement is real. And it’s rolling soon.