In this engaging discussion, Graham Dugoni, Founder and CEO of Yondr, sheds light on the philosophy behind his innovative phone-locking pouches. He shares how these devices help create phone-free spaces at concerts, schools, and weddings, promoting genuine interactions. The conversation touches on the urgent need for cell phone bans in schools, inspired by literature like Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation. Dugoni emphasizes the importance of balancing technology use and real-life engagement to enhance focus and community connections.
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Yondr's Origin
Graham Dugoni's idea for Yondr arose from witnessing someone filming a drunk concertgoer without consent.
This sparked his concern about privacy in the digital age.
insights INSIGHT
Consequences of Technology
Kara Swisher expresses concern about the lack of foresight regarding the consequences of technology among tech developers.
She questions why many people readily embraced the idea of constant filming without considering the potential downsides.
insights INSIGHT
Smartphones' Impact
Dugoni believes smartphones fundamentally changed our existence, especially for digital natives.
He emphasizes the need to examine privacy and critical thinking in light of this shift.
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In 'The Anxious Generation', Jonathan Haidt examines the sudden decline in the mental health of adolescents starting in the early 2010s. He attributes this decline to the shift from a 'play-based childhood' to a 'phone-based childhood', highlighting mechanisms such as sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, and perfectionism that interfere with children’s social and neurological development. Haidt proposes four simple rules to address this issue: no smartphones before high school, no social media before age 16, phone-free schools, and more opportunities for independence, free play, and responsibility. The book offers a clear call to action for parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments to restore a more humane childhood and end the epidemic of mental illness among youth.
They’re incredible pieces of technology, they’re unbelievably useful, and we feel lost without them. Nonetheless, smartphones have become the bane of our existence. So Graham Dugoni started Yondr with a surprisingly simple and analog solution to their ubiquity: locking pouches that force cell phone users to put away their device while still keeping their phones on them. Now, they’re used everywhere from comedy shows, to concerts, courtrooms, and weddings.
After the success of Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation, more and more states and school districts are instituting cell-phone bans — and, oftentimes, Yondr is the first company they turn to when they need help. Kara and Graham talk about the push to ban phones from schools, the company’s success, and his philosophical take on smartphones, social media and technology.
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