Yondr was started by former professional football player Graham Dugoni, who is passionate about creating phone-free spaces. This small, U.S.-based start-up has received international acclaim for its simple, yet innovative solution—lockable pouches that securely hold smartphones during events. These pouches come in at £7-£30 per pouch. They are specifically created to minimize distractions and enhance focus at concerts, schools, cult meetings, and other types of events.
Yondr’s technology has seen widespread use, including notable instances such as Sir Paul McCartney’s concert in California, where 4,500 fans utilized the lockable pouches. That’s where this new initiative from Yondr displays some truly impressive ingenuity. It also highlights a growing global movement to design places free from smartphone distraction.
Dugoni, who himself had to retire from professional football due to injury, started Yondr two years later. His experience made him acutely aware of how smartphones were ruining people’s social interactions and their ability to focus.
“Effectively carrying a computer around in your hand has many benefits, but smartphones open us up to a lot of misdirection and misinformation,” Dugoni stated. “If we continue to outsource those, with this crutch in our pocket at all times, there is a danger we end up undermining what it means to be a productive person.”
Yondr’s pouches automatically lock when an event starts, allowing you to experience the show without any distractions. So get lost in nature, minus the pesky interruption of virtual device forest fires! This broader approach follows the logic of many educators and event organizers who have adopted similar phone-free policies with much success.
As an educator, Paul Nugent recognized the psychological effects of smartphone use on his students. Smartphones induce anxiety, fixation and FOMO – a fear of missing out. The only way to genuinely allow children to concentrate in lessons and to enjoy break time is to lock them away,” he explained.
That first rollout of Yondr’s system can be difficult. “The first week or so after we install the system is a nightmare,” an interviewee remarked about adapting to phone bans. As many educators can attest, the benefits far outweigh the challenges once you’ve gotten over that initial hump.
“It’s given us an extra level of confidence that students aren’t having their learning interrupted,” said Gillian Mills, a teacher who has seen a transformation in classroom dynamics since adopting Yondr’s solution. She pointed out that phone confiscation was no longer a widespread concern. “We’re not seeing phone confiscations now, which took up time, or the arguments about handing phones over, but teachers are saying that they are able to teach.”
Though there’s been some doubt about the cost-effectiveness of employing Yondr’s pouches to schools, most feel the advantages more than compensate for the costs. Nugent acknowledged this concern: “Yes it can seem an expensive way of keeping phones out of schools, and some people question why they can’t just insist phones remain in a student’s bag.”
The movement toward phone-free spaces goes far past schools. Other artists and concert promoters — most notably Dave Chappelle and Alicia Keys — have taken up Yondr’s technology. These artists understand the value of creating real, personal moments between audience members with the help of a no-phone policy.
Dugoni spoke of the larger impact of too much smartphone use and its effect on community. He warned that outsourcing our cognition to devices threatens everything that makes us human. As a result, social interaction and critical thinking skills are hardest hit. “We’re getting close to threatening the root of what makes us human,” he remarked.
As Yondr only seems to be growing in its influence, the market for fostering phone-free environments seems to be growing, too. That start-up is one of many leading a charge to combat the public harms of 24/7 connectivity.