Two years ago, Jack Winston, CEO and co-founder of BePresent, lost his phone for four days. During that time frame, the Needham native said he felt his anxiety melt away, his connections with others deepen and his mental clarity increase tenfold. When he found his phone, despite his best intentions, he struggled to curb his screen time.
Jack and Charles Winston are the Gen Z Needham brothers behind BePresent, an app that reduces screen time aimed at Gen Z users. The app uses gamification and psychological approaches to engage Gen Z users and motivate them to put their phones away. according to Jack. He said the more engaged users are with BePresent, the less they are on their phones overall.
“The answer is making technology better, the user experience more impactful, making people feel empowered by technology, and making it fun, engaging, and motivating to develop a healthy relationship with technology,” said Jack Winston, CEO and co-founder of BePresent.
According to Jack, the app's main customer base is Gen Z users who feel addicted to their phones. BePresent works similarly to other productivity apps—users log in and set their preferences for what apps they want to block and for how long.
However, the app differs because it attempts to incentivize users to block their apps by gamifying the experience with weekly streaks, goals and leaderboards. The app also provides rewards based on how well individual users can maintain their streaks and block distracting apps.
Duolingo, an app that gamified the language learning experience, was a significant influence on the brothers, Jack said. He saw how keeping a streak alive, climbing a leaderboard, and sharing progress with friends incentivized users to do something that "everyone hates in high school."
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Before using his app, Jack spent up to eight hours a day on his phone. That number has since been reduced to one or two hours, and he says the average BePresent user reduces screen time by over 15 hours per week.
"I think that this approach is more powerful than just blocking because it creates that constant awareness where we are always there in the back of your mind making you think, ‘Is what I'm doing right now intentional, or is it mindless?’” Winston said.
The brothers launched their app full-time in the summer of 2023 and have been developing it since. Jack Winston, a Boston College alum and former DraftKings employee, handles the business-facing aspects, such as fundraising, developing the business model and developing the go-to-market strategy.
Charles Winston, a Tufts alum and former Google software engineer, handles the app development. He uses his experience building applications end to end at Google to develop the mobile app.
“You need something that makes people want to develop a healthy relationship with technology instead of making it all bad. It's kind of like dieting. If you go on a strict diet cold turkey, you won't keep that up long-term. We want something that is always with people, motivating them and making them feel like they're controlling technology instead of feeling like technology is controlling them.” Winston said.
