Fractons are an unusual class of quasiparticles that, despite being deconfined, cannot freely propagate through space. This phenomenon was first theoretically discovered in the models of quantum memory, but became ubiquitous in other branches of condensed matter physics. I am broadly interested in physical mechanisms that give rise to such quasiparticles, their theoretical description and classification, as well as observable consequences of the existence of these particles. Some works that address both of these questions are