Really Bad Studio · prototype
Present — Digital Detox
A wearable that marks the boundary between available and away.
A wearable concept for stepping away from digital demands without turning disconnection into another app, score, or optimisation project.
The question
Most digital-wellbeing tools live inside the same device they’re asking you to leave alone. This starts somewhere else: a wrist-worn object and a deliberate gesture that marks a boundary.
What I made
A product premise and an interaction system. The point isn’t to win at disconnection — there’s no streak, score, shame loop, or tiny dashboard congratulating you for escaping dashboards. The interesting work is social and physical: what the gesture means, what it can truthfully control, how the people around you understand it, and what stays reachable in an emergency.
The concept-board sequence
Available
Ambient signals remain present; the wearable is visually quiet.
The gesture
Cover, turn, press, or clasp: substantial enough to feel chosen, not theatrical.
The boundary
Supported devices enter an explicit focus state; nearby social cues change; emergency exceptions stay legible.
Away
No score.
No confetti. Just less world for a while.
Return
A small, intentional re-entry that shows what changed without dumping the whole backlog at once.
Where it is now
Concept and interaction system; final name and physical form pending.
A concept board is enough to show it honestly. The final name, industrial design, hardware boundary, and platform behaviour are all open.
Related work
This idea didn’t stay in its lane.