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For several years now, we have been talking a lot about smartphone addiction. It is not surprising when you see the number of people screwed on their screen in transport, restaurants, and even during conversations. It affects both children and we, adults, and unfortunately the solutions we have at our disposal to fight our instincts are quite limited. I know something about it! Besides, these are often software that can easily be bypassing with a simple code or that you “forget” to launch when the time comes.
In short, it’s not phew. The best remains to entrust your phone to one of his friends, giving him an hour of return. But this friend will have to be mentally strong when you start to roll on the ground in the exorcist mode, the head that turns 360 ° while screaming! And I know you, most of you have no friend solid enough for that.
Fortunately, there are small boxes that will play this ad inflexible friend: “Phone Jail” or “smartphone locking boxes”. The concept is radical: you literally enclose your phone in a plastic prison for a fixed period, and nothing can give it up before the end of the count. NOTHING !
Basically, these “smartphone prisons” are ABS plastic boxes with an electronic locking system and a timer. You slide your precious inside, you program a duration (from 1 minute to 99 hours 59 minutes, more than 4 days), and once locked, it’s over. Unable to access your device before the countdown reaches zero. No secret code, no scheme possible.
The LCD screen will then constantly display the remaining time, just to taunt yourself while you are desperately trying to focus on your work.
These little digital guards are surprisingly well thought out, I think. They have a rechargeable lithium battery via USB-C, with an impressive autonomy of 50 days of operation and 90 days in standby. Thus, even if the battery was unloading during locking, an integrated reserve battery would guarantee unlocking at the expected time. Practical not to transform your 3 -hour digital detox into forced withdrawal of 3 months.
Luts and openings are also strategically placed to allow you to hear important notifications and even answer urgent calls without being able to access the rest of the phone. You can also load your smartphone while it is in “detention”.
For absolute emergency situations, an emergency unlocking exists (by pressing the left upper button 10 times), but be careful !!! This function can only be used 5 times throughout the life of the product. Afterwards, even in the event of a zombie apocalypse, your phone will remain locked up until the end of the countdown. This is called a firm commitment, or I don’t know it.
You may be wondering why buy a gadget at € 35 while dozens of free applications promise to limit your screen time? Well. Because our brain is low, very low and when it comes to choosing between immediate satisfaction (read this damn notification) and long -term profit (finish this important project), we are unfortunately programmed to choose the first option.
The screen time control applications are easily bypasses, you know. Just deactivate them or ignore them. It’s a bit like asking an alcoholic to monitor the bar himself. The physical barrier, on the other hand, completely eliminates temptation and automatic verification behavior. Like that, no need for will or self -discipline, decision -making is done upstream and is non -negotiable. This is what psychologists call a “Commitment Device”That is to say a device that forces you to engage and protects you from your own future weaknesses.
And according to those who tried this kind of box, the simple fact of putting your phone physically out of reach significantly improves concentration and reduces anxiety. The brain ceases to expect interruptions and can finally enter into a state of “flow” or deep work.
Now on the market, two main brands compete for your dependence: Dayear And idiskk. Their products are quite similar, but some differences deserve to be underlined:
Le Dayear (€ 39.99) has the largest battery (900mAh) and an operating autonomy of around 30 days. It can accommodate phones up to 6.7 inches and offers the best manufacturing quality. There are several colors and even versions for tablets.
Idiskk (€ 32.39) As for the best quality/price ratio with features similar to the Dayear models, but at a slightly lower price. And it is available in lots of colors including white and black.
All these models can be used in various situations:
- For students in order to schedule timed study sessions (25 min of work, 5 min of break & mldr; pomodoro, you know)
- For parents to limit children’s screen time without triggering of nerves crisis
- For work for meetings or concentration sessions without distractions
- For the couple for dinners or evenings without the third unwanted connected guest
- And for sleep to lock the phone before bed (and rediscover the paper books)
My advice anyway is to start with short periods (30-60 minutes) to get used to you gradually. And keep your 5 emergency unlocks preciously for real emergencies and not for when you want to check if someone liked your last tweet.
Here, these smartphone prisons are just a funny gadget, it is a tool to combat our collective dependence. And yes, we are there, to the point where we must literally put our smartphones in key to find our freedom of mind. It’s sad but not the choice. And at 35 € on average, it may be the most profitable investment in terms of productivity and mental well-being.
So there you go, now you know it exists. For my part, I have not yet been able to test this thing but occasionally why not. Afterwards, I would be the type to swing him against all the walls of the house to try to break it and free my precious & mldr; Which speaks volumes about my level of addiction.
Thank you to Lorenper for this discovery which made me both laugh because the concept is very stupid anyway but also to cogitate to my own toxic relationship with my smartphone. Snif & Mldr;
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