Buenos Aires Residents Cut Anxiety With Evening Phone-Free Hours

Buenos Aires residents have started blocking out two-hour windows each evening with phones powered down or left in another room, a shift tracked by local health clinics since early 2025.

Screen time has climbed steadily in the city, where universal healthcare records show anxiety-related consultations rose 18 percent between 2023 and 2025. Many cite constant notifications from work apps and social feeds as the trigger, especially for those balancing long commutes along Avenida Santa Fe and family obligations.

Local spots that support the habit

Park users in Palermo have taken to leaving devices at home during morning runs along the paths near Plaza Italia. Groups meet at Parque Rivadavia on Tuesdays and Thursdays for outdoor calisthenics sessions that begin at 7 p.m., with a posted rule against checking phones until the cool-down ends at 9 p.m. River Plate season-ticket holders near the Estadio Monumental have formed informal circles that meet at sidewalk cafés on Avenida Figueroa Alcorta an hour before matches, storing phones in a shared bag.

A 2025 Ministry of Health survey of 4,200 adults found that those who kept phones off for at least 90 minutes after 8 p.m. reported 23 percent lower self-rated stress scores than peers who kept devices within reach. The same report noted average daily screen time hit 6.4 hours, with evening use accounting for 2.1 of those hours.

Starting a workable routine

Clinics affiliated with the city’s public system recommend beginning with a single fixed window, such as 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., and placing the phone in a kitchen drawer rather than relying on willpower alone. Tango classes at venues along Calle Corrientes have added a five-minute phone check at the end of each hour-long session, giving participants a clear boundary. Residents who track adherence for two weeks report steadier sleep and fewer headaches, prompting several neighborhood gyms to post similar no-device guidelines on their doors.