From our founder

The problem

Nonesense phone use had always been a problem for me. It wasn’t that much about the amount of hours I spent on the screen, but about how I used it to escape certain situations

Whenever I started a task that required focus, I quickly found myself feeling exhausted or unmotivated to continue. I comforted myself with the classic “I’ll do it later“, and rushed to grab my phone for absolutely nothing useful. Sometimes it was TikTok, others Instagram, or even a YouTube video, but the goal was always the same, escape the stretch and feel “at ease“

This became a vicious circle in which I would procrastinate any heavy lifting task, and what should take 30 minutes to do, would take more than 2 hours

And if only that was all!

Nonsense phone use also impacted my sleep quality, stress levels, and overall performance, because I would unconsciously use it to quite my brain against any slightly uncomfortable thought I had

The solution

When looking for solutions for this problem I couldn’t find anything besides easy to trick apps, and timers, which wouldn’t work for me. Thats when I decided to build something myself

While trying to figure out a solution, I realised two things. First, no matter what anyone says, a real solution will always rely on your willpower. And second, while all solutions focus on blocking or difficulting access to your phone, it makes more sense to focus on mitigating the impulse itself; you will always end up deleting an app or snoozing a timer, but the real victory lies in building a solid, lasting habit

That is how EMBO is born, to help you defeat nonsense phone use by making small changes that result in long-lasting habits