“Breaks aren’t real anymore:” KitKat introduces signal-blocking smartphone wrapper

The company behind the legendary KitKat chocolate bar has introduced a “wrapper” for a smartphone that blocks signals and lets you take a break from scrolling.

The signal-blocking package, also known as a Faraday cage or pouch, looks just like the usual red-and-white KitKat wrapper. Instead of four chocolate fingers, however, it locks a smartphone so its owner can have a break from endless notifications.

“We can’t stop scrolling. Breaks aren’t real anymore,” the promotional video says.

Ogilvy Columbia, the agency behind the campaign, claims to have reached out to thousands of people, including university students, workers, and festival goers, inviting them to try the Faraday cage.

While the rollout of KitKat phone wrappers may be nothing more than a clever marketing ploy, the popularity of Faraday cages is rising, with the global market projected to reach $2.5 billion by 2033.

Faraday cages are especially popular in North America, where major telecommunications and defense companies drive the demand.

How does a Faraday cage work?

A Faraday cage is named after its inventor, a 19th-century British scientist, Michael Faraday, and works by shielding its contents from electromagnetic radiation.

In other words, a Faraday cage distributes radiation around the cage’s exterior, preventing it from reaching within the cage’s interior.

To this day, the invention is used in many intentional and unintentional ways.

For instance, some buildings with plaster or concrete walls, strewn with metal rebar or wire mesh, may act as Faraday cages by disrupting wireless internet networks and cellphone signals.

At the same time, the technology can be used to protect telecommunications equipment from lightning strikes and other electromagnetic interference. Scientists build advanced Faraday cages to create totally neutral testing environments for their experiments.

While KitKat markets Faraday cages as a solution to scrolling addiction, consumers also use them for privacy protection, such as to prevent tracking or eavesdropping.

​However, a 2016 study found that many commercially available Faraday pouches failed to provide reliable protection against radio waves penetrating the bags.

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