Dave Chappelle Wants You! (To Put Down Your Phone.)

Phone-locking startup Yondr, and other ways to get offline

By The Editors
December 9, 2015 9:00 am

By now, you know that comedy icon Dave Chappelle took to Thalia Hall for a sold-out, 12-show residency last week.

What you may not know: for the entire run, the funny man is partnering with Yondr — a tech startup that makes cell phone-locking pouches — to bar audience members from recording his performance.

Which got us thinking: it’s important for all of us to ditch our electronic fetters from time to time.

Chappelle chose Yondr. Others have found more clever solutions.

Point is, we’re addicted. Below: a few ideas to help you unplug.

Take a vacation. Not just any vacation. You want an escape with the intention of going offline. Like, say, these four off-the-map destinations for adrenaline junkies. Or, you could a book a WiFi-less stay at Camp Grounded, a tech-free summer camp for adults where you’ll “disconnect to reconnect.” Summer booking available now, and locations include Northern California, upstate New York, North Carolina and Texas.

Use technology to fight technology. Counterintuitive, yes. But sometimes it’s best to fight evil with evil. Apps like Freedom allow you to switch off the internet entirely. There’s also Forest, which gamifies your desire to check your phone every minute. And a must-have for the bedroom: Headspace — an app for guided meditation.

Read a book. Preferably, a real, live, paper-and-ink book. Chances are you read a lot. On computer screens: Emails. Tweets. Texts. None of these, however, help you relax (in fact, staring at an LCD screen late at night could be messing with your sleep cycle). Or brain-boosting. Here are some productivity titles to get you started. Or check out NPR’s Great Reads of 2015.

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