Yondr – Disconnecting to Reconnect

Commuting through London is an interesting experience; I wear noise-canceling headphones and read a book. A physical book. I have nothing against e-readers at all, in fact I own one myself, but I like to have something physical in my hand in the early mornings when London wakes up or in the afternoons after a long day of focusing on screens and active listening. Looking around me though, I seem to be a dying species. Most people are glued to their phones. Many mindlessly scroll through social media (the worst offenders without headphones – we all know there is a special place in Hell reserved for those), some play games, watch videos or whatever else. And it does not stop on the train. Walking upright seems to be in decline and it is at times difficult to keep one’s calm when yet again someone walks into you because they were focused on their phone rather than looking ahead. Don’t expect an apology either. You are more likely to be accused of having done the unthinkable: broken the human – machine connection.

Rant over. Let’s be entirely honest: we all recognise the above. We recognise it because phones have come to dominate our lives. They are immensely useful and allow us to live lives that were unthinkable only 10 years ago. And yet, they are also incredibly hard to put aside. My 10 month old instinctively goes for mine whenever I am daft enough to leave it within her reach. It’s scary. And if we adults struggle at times with putting them away and self-control, what chance do teenagers stand? Their brains are developing and they are unable at times to make anything close to a rational decision. When I ask one of them why they did something in school the answer is often: ‘I don’t know’. Increasingly I believe them. Additionally, they are increasingly living their social lives through phones. Have you ever suggested to your child that their phone is attached to them like an additional limb? That’s because it is. For them, it is part of their existence and view of self. Separating them from their phones is separating them from their peers and ability to negotiate social interactions. They are literally cut off.

I believe that we adults are making a fatal mistake: we work on the assumption that our children interact the way we did when we were younger and are able to live the same lives. They don’t and they can’t. Today’s world is not the one we grew up in. Whether this is a good thing or not is in many ways irrelevant because it is the reality we face. Hence, we need to teach them to interact differently with each other. They need to learn to use devices responsibly, but they also need time away from them to learn other skills. This is the reason why we decided to introduce Yondr pouches 2 years ago. Our pupils come to school, lock their phones away and can focus on work, friends, clubs, etc without the fear of missing out because nobody else has their phone either. We have taken all of their extra limbs away with the result that none of them miss them. Yondr was first founded to provide a phone free experience for music gigs, comedy shows and the like. It was a response by some artists to enable people to be more present and enjoy the moment, rather than experiencing it through a screen. Offering the pouches to schools was a natural next step and we have been early adopters of this approach. All schools have been wrestling with phone use, but I firmly believe that we have an excellent compromise. I won’t pretend it’s popular but I carry with some pride the slight comparison with the late Mrs Thatcher – only it was not the milk that I snatched.

Our pupils have the opportunity to experience life together without the pressure their phones put on them for 8 hours each day. They can be children and do not have to worry about the snap they missed, the chat that happened without them. If you had the opportunity to do the same, wouldn’t you want to take it?