Duke University students Sean Fang and Cole Bonawitz met during their freshman orientation in 2024. Placed in the same group for a pre-semester program, the two embarked on a week-long bonding experience. The kicker is that no technology was allowed.
They have been best friends since and have developed close relationships with other students. But that initial process of forming these relationships without their phones in sight made them realize how strong a digital detox can be.
“But [after arriving] back to campus,” Bonawitz said, “people went back into their old habits and started picking up their phones a lot.”
One and a half years later, the two friends decided to create a solution for the dopamine drain: a time-tracking device to help reduce screen time. Unlike some others offering purely digital remedies for excessive screen time, though, they opted to do it with a wristband.
Tapping into his computer science education, Bonawitz first developed an app, and the team began beta testing with a small group of initial users in 2025. At the same time, they began experimenting with different materials, figuring out what kind of wristband would be most suitable for users. Once they’d finalized their prototypes, Fang visited China to start manufacturing during a winter break away from Durham.
In January, Fang and Bonawitz officially launched “momnt.” The app provides a solution to the negative consequences of dopamine addiction by limiting the time users spend on the apps they identify as distracting or disruptive to everyday life.
Once a user installs the app, it will prompt them to select the apps they wish to add time limits to. At the start of the day, they can choose how much total time they’re allotted on these apps; options include moment mode (15 minutes), discipline mode (30), and intentional mode (45).
The wristband element
While developing the momnt. app, Fang and Bonawitz researched consumer behavioral science. They realized that similar platforms and features in the market, such as the standard iphone time trackers, didn’t have control elements. They aim to motivate through alerts and reports but don’t typically provide actual barriers to use.
“After you tap to unlock, there’s no one there to control you,” Fang said.
This led them to determine the apps a user initially identifies as potential distractions or time-wasters should be locked by default. This is where the aforementioned wristband element comes into play.
The momnt. wristband is built with an RFID (radio frequency identification) chip, a tiny transponder that stores and transmits data wirelessly. If a user wants to use a time-restricted app, they simply tap their phone on their wristband to unlock that app. They can then use it freely—but as they do so, minutes are subtracted from their pre-selected duration.
In this way, daily app usage becomes finite in a controlled manner.
Each wristband is waterproof and does not collect data. So far the founders have ordered their first batch of 600 wristbands.
“We’re at the product market fit stage where we’re still going to recruit… more beta testers, but we’re… officially selling them out at a discounted price for this initial batch,” Fang said.
Currently, momnt.’s target audience consists of teenagers and young adults, with a particular emphasis on students. However, they are also testing their products with parents who want to reduce their children’s screen time.
“They were like ‘Hey, I think momnt. is great,” Fang said, “because they have their kid’s daily screen quota. And every time they need [to use their electronics], they have to come to them and draw a specific amount of time with the wristband.”
Early reception
Since their start, Fang and Bonawitz have funded their platform via bootstrapping and non-dilutable grants, which they received from various programs at Duke University. One such program was the recent Duke Venture Group Startup Competition, where they were awarded a cash prize by a panel of judges that included successful founders John Antonelli (of Real Sports) and Alex Monahan (formerly OddsJam).
The team also aims to enroll in the Duke Startup Showcase this year and start a crowdfunding campaign to support their operations.
Although it has been challenging for the students to balance running a startup and handling their respective class loads, they have received a lot of positive feedback from users.
“From [discussions with] our initial testers and the goal of this first batch,” Bonawitz said. “We just want to really refine our product to be the best possible in [defeating] this habit of screen time. And so we’re just going to iterate as much as we can and hopefully arrive at the best solution we can.”
Momnt. also has a strong social media presence on Instagram, TikTok, and X. One of their recent videos garnered over 40,000 views.
For the next few months, Fang and Bonawitz will be implementing more features and personalization options in the app, like monthly screen time data charts accessible for users to compare. In the meantime, the co-founders will be applying to more accelerators and chatting with venture capital partners.
QUICK BITS
Startup: momnt.
Co-Founders: Sean Fang, Cole Bonawitz
Founded: 2025
Team size: 2
Location: Durham
Website: getmomnt.com
Funding: Bootstrapped
The app itself is free to download from the (Apple) app store, and the co-founders are still working on an app accessible for Android users. The presale price for the wristband is $39.
In the future, momnt. will have an optional upgrade for a monthly “pro” subscription. The exact benefits are still in the works, but the team plans for it to provide more analytical and community-based services for users. The option to use the app for free will remain.
“We just want to pursue that mission and help as many people as we can to improve their quality of life, break bad habits, build good ones, and just connect with others,” Bonawitz said.
