founder story

an average IIT'ian who said no to technology overload.

who I am, why I started trring and the version of future I want to create.

I am Dhiraj Chaudhari, born and brought up in a small town in eastern Maharashtra, graduated from IIT Kgp 2019 with a dual degree (B.tech + M.tech) and chose not to join MBA at IIM Calcutta straight after engineering (read here why if interested). I worked in IT division of a multi national bank for about 5 years post college before I consciously decided to start trring. Read on to know why the heck I moved from corporate to this -

When covid happened, like millions of others I also got once in a lifetime opportunity to work from home straight for nearly 2 years. Something which felt like a joyous ride in the beginning with ghar ka khana, huge savings on rent and other metro city expenses, being close to parents slowly started to result into constant brain fog, sudden rise in screen time, loss of productivity and finally hampered quality of work too. And I am amongst the people who quit instagram in 2019 to never go back (with no cheating) yet I was always getting drawn to my smartphone. Once I narrowed down the problem to my own digital addiction, I started noticing patterns around smartphone habits of people across ages.

And everyone seemed to be drowned in their smartphones. It is not about one app, or one age group and it's not only about high screen time and the eye damages. It is much more than that, our minds are always stimulated by cheap and easy dopamine, our sleeping habits are getting worse, we are losing abilities to focus and regulate emotions too. It became my most interesting parallel study with job. Smartphone addiction is a well engineered addiction because it works for all the big tech companies. Your time spent online is the revenue for them. We are aware about the manipulative nature of algorithms that make sure you spend extra hour glued to the screens. The issue is unrestricted access of smartphones all the time and the current solutions are apps which are like fancy locks, but rarely work as long term solutions. I realised it's not a tech problem to be solved by another app, it is a lifestyle problem to be consciously looked at and willpower alone is not enough to come out of this, it needs change in our physical environment too.

That's when I decided to go all in to help people spend at least 1 hour less on their smartphones daily by not building another app and that's how I started trring - India's first digital wellbeing focused lifestyle brand. The first product we launched under trring is trringphone. The idea is profoundly simple but the most practical and easy to implement for

• taking daily break from smartphones without losing connectivity over calls,
• creating no scrolling zone at your home or office,
• keeping smartphone out of your sight to actually keep it out of your mind.

No extreme solutions of digital detox, not another smart device, just a purposely dumb device, which does not connect to internet nor analyses your data, it just mirrors your calls. It does not need any additional connection or sim card and is portable inside the house. It acts as a behavioural nudge to remind you of your commitment towards digital wellbeing, the intentional use of technology. It helps you build habit to take daily breaks from technology overload and inspire the people around you, your kids to take their daily break from screens, not just by preaching but by showing in action.

I see the future where humans consciously create no technology zones, and choose to be disconnected daily for few hours from algorithms and all kind of technology to actually feel, and connect, and think, to live intentionally. The trringphone is a bridging device that helps you create an environment of calm, away from all the digital noise around you. It's not a magical solution to bring down your digital addiction in a day or week but it shows your resolve to reduce addictive tech and acts as the first step towards digital wellbeing. I believe in a future where digital minimalism is a lifestyle widely practiced and a virtue of modern life where we protect our attention from being extracted by machines all the time, where we choose healthy disconnection.