And it’s not just our mobile devices. We’re spending more time behind screens big and small than ever. We are, quite simply, addicted to digital.

This was the topic of debate last night at our Slow Tech Forum, a part of our current gallery show for London Design Festival. Hosted at our 18 Hewett Street gallery space, the event explored how design might offer an escape to our screen additions. Wallpaper* Magazine's Editor-at-Large and Slow Tech curator Henrietta Thompson chaired the session, and introduced the topic with some startling statistics, such as how one in ten people now think it's ok to interrupt sex to send a text message.

Our group of expert speakers then explored the subject further and talked us through related projects they have recently worked on. Plumen energy lightbulb designer Samuel Wilkinson presented his design process for his two Slow Tech exhibits, the Biome flora terrarium and Pendola wall-mounted pendulum clock. Philips Design's Jack Mama took us through recent future-focused projects by the Philips Design Probe, such as an urban bee-hive and a kitchen that functions using purified human waste. And Matt Ward, course leader for BA design at Goldsmiths, told us about his slow photography project, which led him to create a series of fictional bomb situations popped using balloons, in order to obtain emotional shots of people in the midst of diffusing them.

Following the presentations, the audience helped along the conversation and highlighted the extent of our digital addiction and how we just can't give up our highly connected mobile devices. We'll be exploring the Slow Tech topic further with a Briefing on our site soon.