Humans have become increasingly vulnerable to technology engineered to grab our attention, pulling us away from more meaningful and fulfilling moments and interactions in our lives. Can technology itself be part of the solution? Our guest this week on the GeekWire Podcast is Caroline Cadwell, co-founder and CEO of Unpluq, a recent graduate of the Techstars Seattle accelerator program. The startup offers an app, subscription service, and keychain tag designed to help people become more conscious and mindful about their use of smartphones, social media, and other addictive apps and services.

Related links:

Seattle Public Schools sues TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and others, seeking compensation for youth mental health crisis

Rational Overrides: Influence Behavior Beyond Nudging — research that helped to inspire Unpluq's approach.

Could You Live Without a Smartphone? — TedX talk by Anastasia Dedyukhina of  Consciously Digital, who is referenced by Caroline Cadwell on the episode.

Our favorite startup pitches from Techstars Seattle Demo Day