How one CEO's counter-cultural movement became Yondr

"What I saw was kind of impending nihilism, the sense that everyone is going to be inundated with media, and it's going to hollow out the meaning in your life. His response was not a manifesto or a march. It was a product: an individual, locked pouch that holds devices while users are in designated phone-free zones such as classrooms or concerts."

"The idea of starting a company was kind of [uncomfortable] to me. He had considered pursuing his efforts via academia, but he says he realized the only way to have a mass sociological effect was at a scale that only a company could achieve."

Graham Dugoni founded Yondr fourteen years ago to address the negative impacts of excessive smartphone usage, which he observed was creating a sense of nihilism and hollowing out meaning in people's lives. Rather than pursuing academic or activist approaches, Dugoni launched a company offering locked pouches and operational support to create phone-free spaces in schools, concerts, and other venues. Yondr now operates globally across 55+ countries, works with schools in all 50 states, and partners with major artists including Dave Chappelle, Bruno Mars, and Madonna. Dugoni recognized that achieving mass sociological change required the scale and resources only a company could provide, despite the irony of using a business to combat tech conglomerate effects.

Read at Fast Company