Lock Up Your Phone and Train Your Brain to Leave It Alone: Kairos 'Time Machine'

The Kairos Time Machine trains users to spend less time on their phones and more time creating memories.

The average screen time for a U.S. adult is 7 hours and 4 minutes per day, according to Comparitech data. That’s pretty wild, considering that people are only awake for 15 hours a day, maximum. If that stat is accurate, it means that the average American adult spends half their life staring at their phone (or computer).

It’s hard to break away from screens these days — especially when platforms, apps, websites, and devices are literally engineered to tap into the serotonin receptors of our brains, cultivating actual addictive, compulsive behaviors.

Sometimes, it feels like we need a physical device to uncouple us from our screens. If only there were some kind of stockade that used scientifically based insights from the psychology of addiction to curb screen time. If only there was something that could help people build better, healthier relationships with our devices.

Enter the Kairos Time Machine. Recently launched on Kickstarter, the Kairos Time machine is both a lockbox for your phone and a fully blown goal management system.

The Kairos Time Machine: How It Works

Kairo Time Machine Kickstarter — (Photo/Kairo)

At its most basic, the Kairos Time Machine is a timer-controlled lockbox for your phone. The small wooden box fits a number of different sizes/brands of cellphones. You simply place the phone in the box, set the timer lock, and walk away.

Even when a phone is locked away, it’s still accessible. The goal is to build beneficial work habits and improve willpower. So, if there’s an important business call, an emergency, or an urgent work need, you can still get on your phone and do what you have to do. If there isn’t, it’s up to your own volition to leave the box locked.

The Kairos Goal Manager Schedule

The timer lockbox itself is just the tangible side of the Kairos Time Machine. Additionally, the unit comes with the Kairos Goal Manager Schedule. This sequence of steps was inspired by the Pomodoro Technique, a psychological time management system that helps you work toward goals you set for yourself.

And for anyone who doesn’t like the idea of their phone in a locked box, don’t fret. You have control over the duration and can start with small goals and gradually work your way up from there.

“By making each commitment intentional and recent, screen time goals can be taken seriously 100% of the time when using the Time Machine and the included Kairos Goal Manager schedule,” stated Ilidor Kukic-Potrebic, the creator of the Kairos Time Machine.

Here’s how the goal manager system works:

Choose how long you want to lock down your phone.
Write down a small, specific step toward a goal that you can achieve in that time.
Put your (silenced) phone in the cradle. Wind the locking timer to the chosen time.
Close the lid. Work against the clock, knowing that a break is coming.
When the timer expires, record your progress.
Take a moment to acknowledge your achievement.
Reward yourself with a five-minute break.
Repeat for the next step of your goal.

Handcrafted, Eco-Friendly

Each Kairos Time Machine is built in a local, environmentally friendly factory. They’re also all made with the environment in mind, using recycled materials and minimizing consumable waste. The parts are all mechanical and require no batteries or electrical input.

And if it ever breaks, the materials are 100% biodegradable or recyclable. So there’s minimal garbage guilt if you need to throw it away.