Advertisement

Control your smartphone addiction with these handy gadgets

Matteo Bandi's alarm clock, which prevents the smartphone in it from being used: Matteo Bandi
Matteo Bandi's alarm clock, which prevents the smartphone in it from being used: Matteo Bandi

A designer from London has built household gadgets to reward people for beating their smartphone addictions.

Matteo Bandi’s inventions, including a projector, a speaker and a lamp, work only when they are connected to an idle smartphone, meaning the user cannot check social media or emails, or play games.

If the phone is removed, the gadget stops functioning.

Mr Bandi, a 23-year-old Royal College of Art masters graduate, hopes his inventions will encourage people to regain “self-control” by “rewarding them” with a nice offline experience.

Research released by travel firm Flash Pack today found that 70 per cent of 662 Londoners surveyed said they had tried not to check their devices while on holiday, but failed.

Mr Bandi’s prototypes include an alarm clock that projects relaxing animated laser patterns on the bedroom ceiling to help the user fall asleep — instead of scrolling on their phone.

The film projector requires two phones to function to create a “social moment” for friends — and includes a tiny printer inside to give them a cinema-style ticket with their names on as a keepsake of time spent together.

His lamp is programmed with a timer of between 50 and 90 minutes.

When the working sessions end the light emits a colourful animation alerting the user that it is time to stop. Mr Bandi, of West Kensington, held a workshop for young creatives to understand their phone use.

He said: “The alarm clock was very interesting for the workshop participants as their phone was the first thing they looked at in the morning, and the very last thing we usually fall asleep with.”

He explained that each of his gadgets “will make us feel a bit special for not overusing our phones. They only work when we leave our phone in them, and there is no on/off button… The idea is that if you use it for anything else other than that specific object then the object will stop working.”