Glass blocks the screen genre, allowing you to cut off contact with the technology world

According to the developer, the IRL glass project will allow us to control, not let technology dominate us as it is now.

Are you frustrated with looking at the screen hanging everywhere, from the restaurant to the street, from the house to the lane? So you want to pick up the IRL glasses, the glasses use horizontal polarization to block all image signals from a screen that reaches the human eye. When you put on the IRL glasses, you will see the screen as if it has been turned off.

Picture 1 of Glass blocks the screen genre, allowing you to cut off contact with the technology world
When you put on the IRL glasses, you will see the screen as if it has been turned off.

This product was created by a creative group of artists, designers, and individuals who love technology, to bridge the gap between artworks and controllable things. be electronic device.

According to reports from Nielsen, Americans spend an average of 10 hours a day looking at the screen. Artist Ivan Cash looked at the number with a different look: he wanted to regain the static time, the sacred hours that were not obsessed with technology, the specific times that people now think " isolate yourself "or" lose contact with the outside world ".


IRL glasses can block all LCD and LED screens.

Mr. Cash told the Motherboard website that the idea of ​​the IRL glasses came from his best friend and partner, Mr. Scott Blew. After watching the short film about applying a special film to the glass door, the person from the outside will see nothing appear on the screen inside the room. Mr. Blew thought of creating a pair of eyeglasses that could do it, started to do one, but wasn't sure what to do with it.

And when Mr. Cash saw the cool product of Blew, he suggested that he should commercialize the IRL glasses. Two young men poured their energy into the project.

IRL glasses block LCD screens and LED screens through horizontal polarization effects, optical phenomena are also applied by Designtex to their anti-peeping Casper Cloaking Technology. Mr. Cash explained that when polarized glasses are squeezed down and rotated 90 degrees, the light emitted from the LCD / LED screen will be blocked. You won't see anything on the screen outside a black layer, it seems that the screen is turned off.

Picture 2 of Glass blocks the screen genre, allowing you to cut off contact with the technology world
The light emitted from the LCD screen and LED screen are both vertically polarized.

"The light emitted from the LCD screen and the LED screen are both vertically polarized. That means light waves wind up and down along a vertical axis , " Scott Blew told Motherboard. " To block this light [ie, block the screen], we use a horizontal polarizing filter. You can imagine that the filter is a fence with each horizontal wooden plank, because the planks are all on the axis. in contrast to the axis on which the light runs along [vertical and horizontal axis], the wavelength of light will not be able to cross the barrier ".

Mr. Cash, who is also known for his project to suspend the use of electronic devices across San Francisco, said that the veteran director John Carpenter's 1988 1988 Live Live was his inspiration. In the sci-fi movie, the main character, John Nada, has a strange pair of glasses, allowing him to see the true meaning of the billboards. It turned out that these were the messages that the aliens - then invaded Earth - used to manipulate humanity.

Picture 3 of Glass blocks the screen genre, allowing you to cut off contact with the technology world
Poster of the 1988 Live Live movie.

"It took us six months to develop and test the product, relying heavily on the film" They Live "for inspiration , Cash said. "The film is a perfect message because in 1988, outdoor billboards were the main source of information control. 30 years on, the screen still gave us underground messages. Soon people will stand. stop them to stop looking. "

The IRL glasses are currently in beta, only working with most LCD and LED TV screens, and a number of other computer screens. It can't block phone screens and digital signage - things that still use OLED screens. The team makes the IRL looking for new solutions. To do it, they need more money.

They hope that the fundraising project on Kickstarter will help them get more capital to develop, research to have a better pair of glasses.

"IRL glasses are not just a sale product that makes money, it's a statement , " Cash said strongly. "We can't live in the 2D world forever. We show the world that we need a product that gives us control of technology, not vice versa."