Hi there, I'm Cam. In August of 2026, I founded LOCKED—a one-stop shop offering a smartphone alternative for kids.
I’m still a kid myself. As a 16-year old member of Gen Alpha—the first full generation not to have known a world without smartphones and social media—I have lived the experience of having a smartphone while navigating middle school.
In middle school: I watched online bullying run rampant, friends get consumed by what others thought of them on social media, and beach hangouts turn into everyone sitting apart, scrolling through whatever app had pulled them in. While my parents installed Screen Time limits on my iPhone, I easily got around those as pretty much every kid does. I was spending more time on my phone than with friends (or a book or a soccer ball). The slipping away of useful minutes and hours became more noticeable when I got to high school. I didn’t like how I felt when I looked up from my phone having realized that I had spent the last hour scrolling on social media.
Enter a smartphone alternative. I started to consider: Was I becoming another teen phone addiction statistic? I needed to take action. After months of researching smartphone alternatives, I settled on a flip phone that only called, texted, and took photos. It immediately simplified my life, allowing me to stay connected with friends and family without any of the distractions offered by internet access, gaming or social media apps.
LOCKED is born. My experience impelled me to be a changemaker for the future elementary and middle schoolers, so that kids can lock into healthier aspects of life and not fall prey to the well-documented negative aspects of smartphone use.
More time = healthier hobbies. With a LOCKED flip phone, kids inevitably have more face-to-face interactions, and time for productive, meaningful activities. That's where the LOCKED booklets come in. I want kids to connect less screen time with building healthy, enjoyable hobbies. With that free time, kids can channel their energy into learning to cook, exercising, and learning financial literacy, for instance. I chose those topics as my first three booklets because each of these are hobbies of mine—good for my mind and body, and much more rewarding than scrolling.
The future: I want kids (and parents) to know the Facts & Stats about youth smartphone use, and that there is an alternative in the LOCKED flip phone. And I want kids to realize that they’ll feel better, and be able to do more in their life with a LOCKED phone than with a smartphone.
I built LOCKED having lived the exact experience that inspired it. I'm talking with parents, listening to feedback, and making LOCKED a little better every day. This is just the beginning. Thanks for being part of the journey. - Cam