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New Technology Service Yondr's Set to Create Phone Free Clubbing

If you've ever despaired about the amount of phones being waved around in the club, you might have just found a new saviour.

When was the last time you went out without a phone? Honestly, when did you last even leave a room without making sure you had your phone on your person? We can't even nip to the loo without it, let alone contemplate heading to a nightclub without the fucking thing. All of us, each and every single one of us trapped and terrified millenials is in the throes of a serious addiction. Even now, as I write this, I'm stopping every two seconds to look at….wait, where was I? That's right, I was making a Serious Point about people spending too much time on their phones.

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When we think about clubbing we think about being lost in a moment, right? Sort of. We mainly now think about hoping there's decent signal in the venue so we can upload a few fuzzy snaps to Instagram and Shazam everything Steffi's played that night. A moment is no longer a moment unless we've encased it in the digital amber of a social media profile. Or something.

Not everyone's happy about that, though. Step forward the creators of a new service that aims to instigate phone free spaces. Just like the old days! Yondr, "gives venues and artists the tools to create phone-free events and spaces." Which means, apparently that, "In a technology-filled world, Yondr is the easiest way to maintain authenticity, privacy, and exclusivity." Sounds good but what does it actually mean? What does it actually do?

Turns our Yondr is actually a complex set of phone cases that venues can buy in bulk. When the clubber, of gig-goer, or cupcake-eater enters the premises and slips the love of their life into the case, the case automatically locks, which in turn locks the user out of a phone-enhanced experience. If it all gets a bit too much for them, all they need to do is flee the zone of no-phones and everything goes back to normal. Ahh, the sweet sensation of relief.

That all sounds fine but you might still be wondering why it's necessary. Yondr's creators have, handily for us, released a mission statement of sorts, noting that, "Smartphones have fundamentally changed how we live. How to integrate them into our lives as a useful tool, rather than a compulsive habit, is a question that needs an answer." So far so sensible. Here comes the juicy bit: "We think smartphones have incredible utility, but not in every setting. In some situations, they have become a distraction and a crutch—cutting people off from each other and their immediate surroundings." Again, you'd be hard pressed to disagree with that. After all, who didn't experience the soulsapping sight of mates sat silently in pubs, flicking through the unceasing banality of their Twitter timelines over the festive period? Yondr, then, "has a simple purpose: to show people how powerful a moment can be when we aren't focused on documenting or broadcasting it."

Which, when you think about it, makes total sense. While we all need a bit of release from reality from time to time, shouldn't we, like our presumably incredibly content and happy forefathers, focus a bit more on the here and now? Maybe. Let me just check Tinder first, though.

Find out more about Yondr here.