Frankfurt, Germany - Enthusiasm for the internet is cooling, said German futurologist and trend analyst Matthias Horx.

"It's becoming increasingly apparent that virtual worlds can replace actual ones only up to a point," he said in Frankfurt during an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"A small but growing group of people who had a strong affinity to the internet and digitalization are dropping out now," remarked Horx, noting that many companies had declared e-mail-free days. He cited studies showing that some 2.6 million people regard themselves as "ex-onliners," having cut down on their digital communication to enhance the quality of their lives.

Born in Dusseldorf in 1955, Horx founded his Zukunftsinstitut, or "Future Institute," in 1998 near Frankfurt, central Germany.

In their intensive use of social networking websites such as Facebook, Berlin-based studiVZ and Hamburg-based Xing, many people have found "their social bonds slipping through their fingers, and that virtual 'zombie friends' are not so reliable," Horx said. The problem of "digital fakes," he noted, was now a topic of discussion in many internet forums.

In a growing number of restaurants and cafes, cell phones and laptop computers are no longer welcome. "They don't want an atmosphere in which everybody's looking into his or her virtual tunnel, but rather social spots where people really meet," Horx said.

He said that many companies, having recognized the flood of e-mails to be a "time and productivity killer," regularly switched off internal e-mail communication, usually on Fridays. "Instead, they encourage people to drink tea together again, which is a lot more productive."

"Offline" is one of nine societal trends named by Horx in his institute's Trend Report 2009.

This "tendency to digital weariness" begets another trend, which Horx and his team of scientists call "club couture." "Club formations will become very important for society in the future," Horx said, explaining he did not mean the sort of clubs that elites have always organized themselves into, but new clubs based on particular themes or interests.

This development, he said, was so far most evident in the tourism industry, where exclusivity had gained in significance as a marketing tool - for example in hotels for specific target groups.

Many banks, too, have turned to literature, art and culture - instead of financial products like derivatives - as a means to retain wealthy private clients in the wake of the financial crisis, he said.

Horx also sees a "renaissance of civic activity," citing numerous private-school foundings by parents, growing citizen involvement in foundations, and community engagement portals on the internet devoted to donation distribution and the like. Regional action groups are also proliferating, "new settlement movements" that combine multigenerational living with ecological architecture, he said.

Politicians and political parties have not yet really noticed how social commitment has shifted to more individuality and creativity, Horx remarked.

"People no longer want to be merely a number in a large organization, but to be able to develop their own style," he said. Other examples of this were "green" shopping portals on the internet and travel that combined relaxation with social or environmental activism, he noted.

Although the organic-food trend continues, Horx noted, he said the industry faced a crisis due to hugely increased demand. "The market has got so big that they now need to mass-produce, so it loses some of its charm and comprehensibility," he said.

Horx foresees more scandals and turbulence in the organic-food industry. "It's losing credibility, but people still have the need for a different kind of nutrition and food production," he said.

One of the consequences was the increasing number of people who grow and preserve their own food, Horx noted and pointed to the United States, where hundreds of city dwellers had jointly leased a farming cooperative to produce organic food for themselves.

Internet: www. horx. com. (dpa)