It’s difficult to disconnect. At home, at work, in the meeting room, even in the bathroom — our smartphones are always on and always with us.
But the creators of a small container called Pause want to effectively shut your smartphone down, and they don’t think you have the willpower to do it alone.
And let’s face it, they’re probably right.
Pause’s co-founder, Yuval Lazi, was eating dinner with his wife and young son one night when his phone buzzed. He answered and within a moment was consumed with the device. For a few minutes his son was the only active human participant at the table.
“It was only when he suddenly shouted, ‘Put your phone away’ that I realized how wrapped up in my phone I had been,” Lazi told Digital Trends. “And so was my wife by the way.”
After a few conversations with friends, Lazi saw the problem with the habit we all have — neglecting face-to-face interactions for our phones.
Pause is based on the concept of a Faraday cage, an enclosure that blocks electric fields. When a user puts her phone into the box and closes the lid, Pause interferes with the surrounding radio waves, transforming them into electric fields and heat, according to the company. That means no signals get through and the phone won’t elicit that familiar ping.
The company is offering the boxes for $40 in an Indiegogo campaign and hopes to raise $36,000 in the next month.
We know what you’re thinking — we were thinking it too. Why drop $40 on a Faraday box when you can just silence your phone and toss it in a drawer?
“If people can put their phones in a drawer or turn them off then we absolutely encourage them to do so,” Lazi said. “The sad truth is that most people never do.”
For this reason Lazi thinks Pause is more than a gimmick — it could serve as a constant reminder to disconnect by creating a phone-free zone for families and firms.
