What if there was a way to easily control every web connected device in your home directly from your smartphone? Grove’s production manager Sean Kelly and a group of Portland, Oregon based designers and innovators asked themselves that very question. Well, if you’re a parent with web savvy children, you’re in luck! Circle is a new product designed to assist us in developing a healthier relationship to the Internet, our computers, and our smartphones. Support Circle’s kickstarter campaign here!   

What does Circle do? Circle connects wirelessly to your router and devices and acts as a filter, time management tool, and informs and notifies you of your family’s networks activity. It offers smart filters to make sure only age appropriate content reaches your children. Have you ever lost track of time and gone spiraling down the black hole of youtube? Circle can help! Imagine every device powering down simultaneously (in effect, pausing the Internet) for your set dinner hour or dedicated family time.

These web devices we use are relatively new and many of us are unknowingly addicted to the Internet. Further still, young children are native to this new digital landscape. The Internet is a tool and we want to teach our children how to use it in a way that is enriching to their lives, not detrimental to development. We love our technology, but sometimes we all need a reminder to go outside and climb a tree!

We Grovers are a busy bunch and Sean is no exception. He works full time as our production manager helping to produce mountains of bamboo iPhone cases, and yet... somehow he still finds the time to design on the side and sleep a little here and there. How does he do it? We wish them luck!

Support Sean and the Circle team here!