Episode 277 — Less Stressful Tech IS An Option
Guest: Tristan Scott • Date: October 16, 2025
Episode Overview
Most devices overstimulate the nervous system—especially in sensitive kids. In this episode, Tristan Scott of Daylight Computer joins me to explore a biologically safer alternative that helps parents reduce tech-related stress without giving up screens entirely.
About Tristan Scott
Tristan Scott is an Electrical Engineer (M.S.) and currently leads Hardware, Operations & Marketing at Daylight Computer. With a deep passion for designing tech that supports human health, Tristan has spent years researching the impact of artificial light and EMFs on the nervous system. His mission is clear: create devices that are biologically compatible and empower the next generation—not overstimulate them.
You’ll Discover
Why Standard Screens Ramp Up Stress in Sensitive Kids (5:13)
How Tech Mimics a Vegas Casino—And Hooks Your Child (15:06)
What Makes Daylight’s Tablet Calming and Less Addictive (21:46)
How Flicker and Blue Light Disrupt Sleep and Focus (26:36)
Why Writing on Paper-Like Screens Boosts Learning (32:38)
How Auto-Airplane Mode Lowers EMF Exposure (37:18)
How This Device Supports Kids, Teens, and Schools (42:39)
Referenced in This Episode
Autism Parenting Secrets Episode 22 - You CAN Protect Your Child From EMFs with Peter Sullivan
Autism Parenting Secrets Episode 145 - Tech is The Great Dysregulator with Peter Sullivan
Full Transcript
Len Arcuri (00:05.322)
Hello and welcome to Autism Parenting Secrets. Tech is everywhere and our kids are using it. And avoiding it completely isn't realistic. But not all tech is created equal. Some devices crank up stimulation. They make it harder to focus. They definitely mess up with sleep. And quietly they overwhelm the nervous system, especially for sensitive kids. So this conversation today really matters.
And my guest today is Tristan Scott. He is an electrical engineer and the head of hardware operations and marketing at Daylight Computer. He's spent years studying how artificial light and EMFs affect our health. And now he's helping to build devices that are safer, smarter, and more in sync with how our bodies work. The secret this week is less stressful tech is an option. Welcome Tristan.
Tristan (01:03.276)
Hey Len, thank you. Incredible intro there. So thanks for having me.
Len Arcuri (01:06.026)
Absolutely. Well, I like to set up the discussion, you what are we talking about? And tech, it's one that does create a lot of stress for parents because it can be so incredibly helpful in so many ways, especially for kids who are on the spectrum who may be non-speakers. You know, the iPad can be a really important communication device. So I think this is something where parents know that technology has a place. They may have a sense that it's
that their child may be using too much of it and that it's creating issues. So I love what your company is dedicated to doing. I'll hand it off to you. You can give a little bit about your backstory or what started with Daylight wanting to produce a device that is safer and I know you can explain what that means. So yeah, I'll hand it off to you.
Tristan (01:55.66)
Yeah, thank you. I think it's a very exciting time in terms of us being out into the world with a potential better solution. And I think the problem awareness is at an all time high. So it's cool because it makes my job a lot easier. Whereas I think I've been down this rabbit hole by the looks of your bookshelf, you've been down this rabbit hole probably for some years now. And you know, we were...
We we were early, we were neurotic about these things that are affecting our health and the environment, the artificial light, the EMFs, the food, all the other toxins in the environment. And I've been in this world for like eight years. I had one too many concussions my last year of college and that's what sent me down the rabbit hole and I became ultra sensitive to everything and I realized how important all our...
what I would like to say as an engineer, our environmental inputs and input signals are in terms of determining the quality of our life and the interactions we have around us. So it's an exciting time, I would say right now, because as mentioned, the awareness, the kind of information that's available, decentralized, is at an all time high.
And now we talk about where can we have the biggest impact? What are the most important surface areas to cover in terms of setting our society up for a better future? And of course it has to start with children. It has to start with the next generation. And right now I think we're doing such a terrible job of giving our kids the best opportunity to succeed in the future, especially from a health perspective.
because this environment that we now live in is so artificially driven and technology is such a major piece of that. So throughout my journey, I was dialing in all these things, removing toxins, plastics, clean water, clean food, getting outside as much as possible. But I had this, the one piece that I couldn't really optimize for, couldn't really do anything about. And as I was building,
Tristan (04:07.328)
a brand and researching and being online more inherently everybody since COVID just stares at a screen more hours than they did the year before. And that trend just continues and it's going to continue. And it just so happens that the screen, the display, the tech products that we use, the Apple, the Google, the Samsung products predominantly are the ones that we don't really have a quote unquote healthier alternative for or even
any really decent alternatives for, and those companies are optimizing for their business models. maybe it's nefarious, maybe it's just their business-driven metrics that are pushing decisions forward, but ultimately they want you, they want I, they want kids, they want everybody on screen for as long as possible. So they're gonna design the products to facilitate that. They're gonna create devices.
that are very stimulating, very engaging. They're gonna look incredible. They're gonna look better than what you see in real life. And that's ultimately going from a utility-based product to now a dopamine-based product. And we live in this world where we have an attention-based economy and that's what's fueling it. And now we change the frame to our children and the next generation, those that...
and I can get into specific details of why, but our magnitude's more sensitive. Their eyes let in more blue light. Their bodies are smaller. Their brains are developing. They're creating this neural circuitry based on the environment that they're being exposed to. And now the majority of the environment for kids growing up in today's age is in the digital world. So that's what their bodies are gonna optimize for. And then we see the repercussions of that with the tantrums, with...
the mental health issues, with the physical health issues. And then you layer on top of that your specific audience here, which is already the highly sensitive crowds, the ASD children that are already more sensitive to environmental stimuli, which I think is, you know, we know it almost can be in a lot of senses, a superpower. But when you're exposed to these really highly sensitive input or sorry, highly stimulating inputs,
Tristan (06:31.296)
it's going to capture the children completely. And then when you remove that, there's going to be a big ordeal, of course. So our premise at daylight is that it no longer has to be this way. And from an engineering perspective, I've known this for a long time as well, that you could make healthier tech products if you just design them with biology or nature in mind. And there's a lot of components there. There's the light.
There's the form factor, there's the ability to use it outside, there's the EMFs, Flickr, there's a lot of components as to why technology is really disruptive to humanity and then especially disruptive to children and then especially, especially disruptive to highly sensitive children that are neurodivergent or have ASD. And going down that list, really it starts with the light.
and the screen because that's the main interface with the digital world. And most of these products are very disproportionately high in blue light, which is the most dopaminergic, the most stimulating form of light for good reason. I mean, you see I'm outside right now, the sky is blue. I'm getting so much blue light right now, but that's okay. It's a good thing. It's providing me energy, cortisol, wakefulness, dopamine to have this great conversation with you.
but it's balanced, it's full spectrum sun out here. There's red, there's infrared, there's UV. And it's a natural emission coming from a broadband, know, black box radiator, the sun, a far distance away. It's not, you know, right in front of my face, like a phone. And it's not very narrow in terms of how I'm being exposed to it. It's broad, you know, how...
I can get addicted to nature. mean, I kind of am out here, but it's not like a singular object that is giving me this dopamine, this blue light, this life energy. It's dispersed, it's full spectrum, it's balanced. And everything in nature is that way and we have just deviated from it. So then at nighttime, of course, you mentioned the sleep component. That's a big one. When you have the same light,
Tristan (08:51.374)
that's very blue dominant being exposed at nighttime to kids, to adults, whoever, you're gonna be stimulated, you're gonna be awake, you're gonna disrupt melatonin, and you're not gonna repair and restore, which is profound for health, it's profound for energy, it's profound for mental wellbeing, and sleep is the foundation of health, and if we disrupt that with blue light, screen time at nighttime, that's a problem.
So that's one aspect. And then another aspect is the fact that the devices, they don't work out here. They don't work well, I should say. I'm in my car trying to block the wind, still see my screen, the battery's gonna die. And right after we finished recording, they're not designed to be used outside. And the whole premise of why I think, and we think at Daylight, technology is really harmful, really disruptive.
is because it disconnects us from what is real, what is actually meant to be consumed as input signals for our biology, for us as humans. And when we are only in this artificial environment, on screens, inside, under fake lighting, eating the fake food, whatever, go down the list, we're not gonna be...
optimal humans because we're completely removed from the environment which is out here, which is in your backyard, which is under the sun, which is eating real food that we evolved in. for a highly sensitive young child, that's going to be an even greater difference in experience, right? So what if technology could be used outside? What if you could...
have it just be a tool instead of this artificial portal into the world that they want you to live in and spend all your time in. And that's kind of how we like to paint the picture is we need to have technology become a tool again, instead of our main source of entertainment, our main source of life and interaction with the world. It's never gonna go back to being
Tristan (11:13.598)
Nothing landlines, know, no phones and that's why I think it was great that you started with that as well that hey Devices technology, they're extremely useful. I mean we're doing this call. It's fantastic. We're on other sides of the country We're building community. We're building this message out there I do all my work. I'm building daylight. The only reason we can sell daylight is because of the internet I've learned so much from the internet in terms of health in terms of engineering and
how the world works, how our bodies work. It's fantastic because we do have this opportunity to plug into the digital world and learn and really be exposed to so much of man's knowledge and in the universe what we know. But then what's the problem? Well, a lot of times we end up on TikTok or Instagram or Facebook or you're toggling between your messages and your email and...
You know, the kids are watching Cocoa Melon and it's not, it's no longer augmenting human experience. It's actually hijacking the human experience. So.
Len Arcuri (12:23.23)
Well, let's hover there for a little bit in the sense that you mentioned about having technology kind of come back as a tool, right? So I think what you're saying there is kind of getting to one of the biggest problems with technology, right? Which is the addiction. And so that addiction is happening for a lot of reasons. And I think you touched on a little bit of it, but that's where, know, with, especially with kids, I mean,
Tristan (12:26.615)
Yeah.
Len Arcuri (12:50.482)
the deck is stacked against them because everything is made to be addictive and extremely enticing. So, you know, if the goal is to have have young kids and even adults start to see technology as a tool, as not the thing, right? I think what your company has done is you've figured out what are all the ways that it is so addictive and finding ways of quelling that, right? Of like of not having a device that's constantly, you know,
bombarding you with the blue light or the pings and kind of taking over and controlling your life instead of you being in control and being able to use it appropriately and yet being able to put it down and go outside instead of being sucked into that addiction vortex.
Tristan (13:23.086)
Mm-hmm.
Tristan (13:39.278)
Yeah, yeah. And the best analogy here is the casino, the Las Vegas casino. What is the environment that they design when you walk into Las Vegas, if you've ever pulled a slot machine in your life? Well, it's indoors. No natural light is allowed. There's no clocks. They give you alcohol, of course, and there's bright flashing lights everywhere. And then there's the game, right? There's the slot machine, there's whatever, poker table.
The game is where a lot of people focus, the algorithm, the cocoa melon. Don't get me wrong, those are definitely a problem. The algorithm is so good now. mean, we'll probably get an ad for something we talked about in this conversation if you go on social media. That is definitely a problem, but it's also the environmental design. What if that slot machine...
Len Arcuri (14:25.577)
No doubt.
Tristan (14:33.708)
was out here behind me in the real world, out in nature. And you have all this dopamine from other sources. You have the sun, you have this beautiful scenery, and you're not like really constricted to this indoor environment and you don't have all these bright flashing lights. Let's say we get rid of that and the slot machine's just black and white, grayscale. And then the rest of the environment you're outside is nice blues greens.
then would you really be pulling the slots for more than maybe a couple of minutes? No, you would be bored or you would just be focused on doing something that was actually fulfilling. And that's the premise, right? Technology is addicting because they've curated this experience for you. Every new version of your phone, of the tablets, of your laptops, they're more saturated, the processor's better, the content is more fast frame.
the short form, the algorithms are better, and everything is just hitting on your reward system to be coming back for more. And it's too good. It's just too good. It's too good for me. I can't have Instagram on my phone. It's too good. And it's certainly too good for children who, as mentioned before, they're far more susceptible. Why? Well, their eyes let in.
40 to 50 % more blue light. They hold the devices closer because their bodies are smaller. They're getting more intense exposure from that. They have the developing brain and neural circuitry. So they're really susceptible. And then you add the ASD neurodivergent group on top of that and they are ultra, ultra sensitive. So they're gonna get roped in and that's the business model, I think.
I look in these stats and it's almost disbelieving how many young kids have their own tablets. Like 50 % of eight year olds have their own tablet. Now I think it's like 30 to 40 % of five year olds have their own tablet. And why? Well, parenting's hard. Parenting a neurodivergent child is even harder. I'm sure you guys know. I don't even know that well, but I know from...
Len Arcuri (16:29.802)
So it was different from the one that you saw. So was really excited to get to family and date and your children and tell them about it. So, thank you.
Tristan (16:54.974)
experience of interactions with my family, my sister and other members, but I don't have that direct experience. And I know it's the ultimate challenge and it is helpful to have a device that not only can teach your child something, but can occupy them for a short period of time. So you can get chores done or cook dinner even just like simple providing for your family.
And we don't want to take that away. We just want to say, okay, but if you give screen time for cooking dinner, let's say, or learning something for 10, 15 minutes, you should be able to take that device away without it ruining the rest of the day and family time and really upending your child's neural circuitry because they've done these studies and they showcase, I it was in Michigan.
University of Michigan showcase, like the more you give your child a device for screen time, the worse and worse the tantrums are going to get over time because they become so enthralled in that environment and they're going to want more and more and more. mean, it is a drug at the end of the day. It's if you treat it like that, that's how the response is. So you might as well think of it in that in that nature. So, yeah, it's it's definitely concerning because
It just doesn't have to be that way. And I think it is a bit predatory, especially on children. So at daylight, what we did was we took all the reasons why technology is potentially harmful, detracting, not bringing out the best in humanity. And we tried to solve it to the best of our ability in our first product. So we have a monochrome display and yeah.
Len Arcuri (18:39.678)
Yeah, I was going to say, let's go through kind of feature by feature of how, again, just to frame it and forgive me for repeating, but again, this is simply about safer technology because again, what you're doing being outside, do that more, right? Forget the tech if you can be outside, that's like the best first hack. But if technology is going to be used, the key is
Not to vilify it, not to say it's horrible. It's like, Hey, can we use it in a safer way? And at least for young kids in a less harmful way and a less dysregulating way. So I think now that we frame that, yes, I would love to go through the features, what makes it different. And basically the device for people who are listening, it's basically a tablet, right? So this is not necessarily a, you know, a notebook or a laptop. It's, it's a, it's a.
which again for younger kids is really their go-to device. And I know it probably has enhanced capabilities aside from being a tablet, but let's go through the features of how it is safer. And maybe let's just start with what you alluded to with the Vegas example, which I thought was great. Okay. First of all, it's got more of a monochromatic feel, so it doesn't have the vibrant crazy colors. So perhaps people may look at it and say, well, it's a little bit boring, but
Again, that's a key piece of the puzzle where in terms of the impact on the eyes and overall health, what you've created, that visual distinction is an important.
Tristan (20:14.914)
Yes. How I like to explain it is if you use the Kindle, a lot of parents familiar read on a Kindle before, or the newer e-readers, remarkable, they're doing very well, digital note taker, paper-like experience, those devices are great. They're actually the inspiration to our product, right? Because they don't vie for your attention. They're purely paper-like, analog-type feeling in a digital form factor. But the problem with those devices is they...
They're too slow. They don't do anything besides reading, note taking, writing. That's about it. And that's because there's limitations in the display technology. So at daylight, we're like, what if you could build a Kindle on steroids that when you do that, inherently you then have a healthier iPad because a Kindle on steroids is a paper-like display that's monochromatic, that is low stimulation.
but can now be used fully functionally as a tablet computer. And that ultimately then becomes a healthier iPad. And that's what the daylight is. So we invented a new display technology that has a paper like display, but 60 to 120 frames per second for parents that have no idea what that means in terms of refresh rate. It just means it's as fast as like a normal tablet or phone or computer and Kindles and other e-readers are like five to 10 times slower.
And yeah, so what that unlocks is now we have a full tablet, a full computer, versatile experience, because you can use it as a tablet, you can use it as a big phone, you can slap a keyboard on it, use it as a versatile mini laptop. That's why tablets are great, because they're kind of the epicenter of all the devices that we have. And I think Apple actually came out with a tablet before their first iPhone, but then they decided to release the iPhone first.
Not that that matters entirely, but it's cool because it's our first product we're just getting started and there's a lot of versatility, especially for children, that tablet form factor has become very popular. So the daylight, why it's different, that display, and you can see it here, I'll pull up a PDF, but it is inherently a reflective monochromatic or grayscale display. So right now I'm outside and trying to show you in direct sunlight,
Tristan (22:38.7)
You can see the screen very well. And of course the angle matters, but there's no light being emitted from the screen right now. It's purely reflecting the light in the environment. And that's working with nature instead of against it. The reason why you can't see your phone or your MacBook very well on a sunny day is because it's competing with the brightness of the sun. Good luck competing with the sun on anything. Yeah, you're gonna lose.
And that's the problem with so much of our technology is that it's working against nature. It's working against our biology, which is rooted in nature. And we could simply work with it and be more synergistic to get a better experience. And that's what it is. And that's how light is really happening in nature. The trees behind me and grass are green because they're reflecting sunlight. This daylight is illuminated because it's reflecting sunlight.
and that's easier on the eyes. There's no artificial spectrum and it's not flickering because there's literally no light coming from the actual device itself. And that of course allows you to be outside in the real world, which is great in general for health and wellbeing. Then at nighttime or in indoor ambient light conditions, which maybe aren't so bright, we have a backlight and that backlight is custom made with blue light.
free LEDs, which we call amber in color. So it's a hundred percent blue light free. It has the ability to change the warmth to this like nice warm amber tone, which is better than, you know, going in your settings of your iPhone or wearing the blue light blocking glasses, because those are really band-aid solutions and they're not truly indicative of, you know, an experience in nature either. When you're on full red, you can't see much and
We never really have this full red experience where we're trying to emulate a fire or a camp, sorry, a candle like light spectrum, which is more full. It's warm. You can still see your page. It's just amber in tone. It's calm. It's low stimulation because it doesn't have any of the high energy visible blue light, violet spectrum, which is gonna light up your brain. And especially important at nighttime, especially important for sensitive kiddos.
Tristan (24:58.286)
And that's another core component. Then you have the backlight LED driver, which we purposefully designed to be flicker free. So most folks don't know about flicker. The ASD community should 100 % know about flicker because if you look up LED or just light flicker in general, one of the first symptoms that comes up, side effects is aggravation of
ASD like symptoms or sorry, aggravation of any symptoms in ASD children. And it's because flickering light is very stimulating to the nervous system. And you touch upon that in the introduction. And I think that's such a great way to explain it is that there's these invisible inputs that are really keeping us kind of stimulated on edge in our nervous system to where we're just a little bit stressed out. It's not like we're super stressed out, but it's just this baseline.
and light flicker, whether it's from our phones, our computers or tablets, or the fluorescent lights in buildings, which are horrid from both a light spectrum and a flicker perspective, that is contributing to this. And so what we did is we went and designed the LEDs to have no flicker. instead of being the bright, and the reason why flicker exists is because it's a better way to control brightness.
Len Arcuri (26:06.826)
about things that are contributing to this. So, it's not really designed to help people see how they can affect certain stuff.
Tristan (26:22.808)
for devices and this is just what happens when engineers are in charge and they're over optimizing for every little thing. They want the best color performance, the best efficiency, the best way to control their circuits and they invent pulse width modulation which is the main contributing factor to Flickr and you don't need to know any of these terms but it's really just unnecessary. So what we did, we have a direct current controlled backlight. So if you wanna increase the brightness,
Len Arcuri (26:30.25)
as public performance, the best efficiency, and so you can control your circuits and count on the same function. It makes a significant difference.
Len Arcuri (26:43.69)
So, we're going to do a quick recap of the current Gipsy,
Tristan (26:51.512)
pushes more current through the diodes. If you wanna decrease it, it pushes less current through the diodes. So simple, but very, very important. And I, as I mentioned, I had too many concussions. That's why I went down the rabbit hole of health. And I am really, really sensitive to flicker. I actually currently use an iPhone 11 because it is the last iPhone that is LCD before they moved to OLED. And then the flicker got really, really bad. OLED displays.
Len Arcuri (27:02.41)
I'm scientist, I found that I have a path that I will be really sensitive to flickering. I actually can't be using iPhone writing because it's the life iPhone that is ICB. People don't get my language, so I forgot to flicker a little bit. I don't like these things. I'm going to put link to that box, put link that in the first, and if you've got any good advice, just let me know. I'll a that in I'll flicker to the next. Thank you.
Tristan (27:19.822)
It depends, but in general are significantly worse and there's very few devices that have DC dimming and no flicker. So that's another thing we did with the daylight that's really powerful. And then of course there is the software environment and you mentioned.
Len Arcuri (27:36.634)
Well, hold on one second if you could, because I just want to go back to the lighting piece of it, which again, I'm nodding in agreement with everything you're saying. But I didn't know a lot of this not that long ago in terms of the fact that LED lights have that flicker, which good luck trying to find an incandescent bulb now in any store.
Tristan (27:40.035)
Yeah.
Len Arcuri (27:58.154)
but those are much better. They don't have the flicker and they're a much better option, but they're hard to get. So just the idea that the LED has the flicker. Some people are so sensitive, like perhaps like you, that you can see, like you can sense it. But even if you're a child or you don't sense that flicker, it doesn't mean it's not dysregulating. And it could be so bad, the lighting, that if you have a really sensitive kid, I mean, it could actually contribute to seizure type activity.
because of that stress. So I think the whole importance of lighting that you touched on is a very easy to overlook area of what's happening in your environment. And the great thing about lighting is you can take control, make changes like you've done with your product.
Tristan (28:39.084)
Yes, the side effects of flicker are headaches, ice strain, aggravating those ASD symptoms, panic attacks, epileptic episodes potentially. It depends, the flicker on each light is different and some are better than others. But if I had a child with ASD where there was really sensitive, like I've done for myself, I would go full incandescence. You can still find them on Amazon. They are more expensive to heat, but it's also emitting infrared light, which is very important.
Len Arcuri (29:05.257)
Thank
Tristan (29:08.014)
I mentioned the beginning full spectrum sunlight. So if you combine your indoor lighting environment with incandescents, you're getting a much closer approximation to being out in the sun or in the shade really. So that's one, and that's where we're trying to go. We love to like have an incandescent type backlight, obviously from a thermal dissipation perspective, not yet feasible for a tablet, but that's the direction we're heading. How do we get back? Because that's real. It's basically,
a filament that's on fire, it's tungsten on fire. So it's the same as a campfire, it's the same as a candle. And that's the direction of light we wanna head, especially at nighttime, after hours, that's huge. So that's a lot of the hardware interface. We also, it comes with a stylus, you really need to write on it. It's a paper-like experience down to the sound. And there's all these studies coming out, memory retention.
Just overall learning capability when you physically write something down as opposed to digital note takers, AI note takers, reading on a paper book versus reading on a digital screen also increases memory retention and learning. So what we're trying to do is position ourselves in that sweet spot. like, hey, we want the convenience of the digital world in an analog type form factor.
And that's where the hardware really is, I think, incredible. But as I was saying, it doesn't stop there. So the software, as most people know, is extremely important. We're talking about the algorithm, the apps, the notifications, that. The benefit of us being a full blown computer company, meaning we do the hardware and the software, is that we can create a whole product centered around well-being, productivity, et cetera.
There's good trends out there with digital minimalism, et cetera, and software apps that exist, but most people are not doing the whole solution. So they might have cool parental controls and app timers and things on software, but they're still on an OLED display that is just like blasting this highly saturated flickering light at your kids or vice versa. The software doesn't add up to the hardware. So.
Tristan (31:29.442)
What we're working on is we have a custom software environment and we're continuing to build on that and iterate on that. We also just launched Daylight Kids, which is a specific offering just for children to have its own software environment, a kid's case, pencil stylus, et cetera. And the goal there is there's more parental controls, there's a fun UI, UX, user experience.
And then there is really like this curated app selection that's for learning, for entertainment, but it's not, you know, the full blown, you know, again, cocoa melons of the world. It's curated so that it's more beneficial for your children to consume and then kind of works well with our hardware. So that's something we just launched, which is really exciting. But the premise is, you know, having an OS that
is not blasting you with notifications. It makes staying in your workspace or your learning space very easy because we're doing the OS and the hardware. We have first party apps. have like our PDF reader up for example, and it is our app. So we can integrate, let's say an AI assistant. And now AI is great if you use it as a tool. It's not great if you use it to outsource all your thinking.
But if you have a question when you're learning something or your child does, and they're trying to learn, they wanna know what the capital of France is when they're reading a book or they have a fun question to ask. What we can do now is instead of, I need to Google that or I'm gonna go to Chad GBT, which takes you out of this space, takes you out of the app, it takes you out of that interface. Now your context switching.
you go there, all of a sudden you got an ad or you're checking your email or you're on another platform or you're on social media or you're on YouTube and your kids are watching something else. We can keep it all in the same surface so that there is no context switching. You're just, you know, hey, what's the capital France? And then it answers your question and you continue working or you continue learning. So we're really excited. would say I'm, you know, on the hardware side, really fired up.
Tristan (33:45.054)
That's what I kind of lead and that's where it's really exciting because we already have innovated so much on that. But the software is almost the long term where we can really make a difference and we're just getting started on that. We just launched Daylight Kids and you know, we have a solo S for the main product coming out as well. And it's exciting because like I said, we're just getting started and there's so much with these tools now that can really, really make a user experience that is
highly focused on learning, highly focused on removing the distractions, removing all the negative aspects of the digital world.
Len Arcuri (34:22.598)
All right, great. Well, I know we're only scratching the surface on a lot of those differences. So let me just ask one question on from an EMF perspective, the EMF component, right? So in terms of what might be coming off of the device, whether wireless, you know, in terms of radiation or electric fields, magnetic fields. So if you could talk about that. And then after that, I'd like you just to kind of talk about the use cases, right? I know this is a device that can benefit.
pretty much anyone, whether you're on the spectrum or not, whatever age, but can you talk about more like who you're really focusing? it really been designed mainly for kids or is that, I know there's use cases, whether you're an adult, teenager, my son's just taking college courses. I'd like to know, is this a device that he could use in that type of environment? So if you wouldn't mind, hit the EMF thing first and I just want to better understand the use cases.
Tristan (35:17.782)
Absolutely. And you're talking to someone who is, know, EMF connoisseur of understanding why these non-native electromagnetic inputs are affecting our biology. And I, you know, do the whole thing and hard wire and really minimize. And I will say at the hardware level, nothing has been done on the Gen 1 Daylight Computer really to optimize EMFs, but.
There inherently are things that we can do that just happen to exist and I'll talk about what we have coming as well. So in general, you can hardwire the daylight ethernet. You do that all the time, then you're eliminating it. It's a lot, actually has a older chip set. the wifi is, if you bought a brand new iPad and compared it or your brand new iPhone,
to the daylight, the WiFi chip is inherently weaker because it's older. So this is true with all devices in general, because again, we didn't wanna go top of the line with the WiFi chip, think that was necessary, it's just good enough. Also, we're a small startup, so that's an unintended consequence, I would say, which is kind of funny. In general, we are working on software solutions. So in final testing right now, and it should be rolled out in the next month or so, is what we're calling smart airplane mode.
So anyone who's aware of EMFs knows airplane mode is your best friend because you can just kill your device, your phone, your tablet, your laptop, but what's the annoyance of airplane mode? Well, you have to do it manually. You have to go in your settings, you go in the shortcut, you turn it on, and then 10 minutes later you have to turn it off, and that's when, that's a known issue. And for us, something really easy and something we're gonna build upon is
Most of the EMF mitigation actually probably come from the software firmware side of things. So having smart airplane mode, meaning, hey, I'm just talking to Len here. This daylight isn't doing anything. It's sitting next to me for two minutes and standby. Or I'm just reading. OK, the device is just going to turn into airplane mode on its own. So if your kid's reading something or they downloaded a video or you download a program offline, or it's just sitting next to them and they're not even using it,
Tristan (37:37.41)
the device will just go into airplane mode. So the wifi antenna will be disabled, the EMFs will be disabled. And from the radio frequency perspective, which is probably the biggest concern from these devices. And that's such an easy thing that anybody could do. Now we're just, again, the first ones to do it deliberately. And then building on top of that, you think going forward, we can have an airplane, smart airplane mode, we'll have a...
low EMF mode probably, or just like in general low output mode. Not only is this helpful from an EMF perspective, it's also great from a battery life perspective because yeah, it saves power. So think of when you actually need peak wifi or peak connectivity. It's downloading, uploading tablet users, reading, writing, learning basic apps. You don't need peak output power. So we're gonna design baseline.
to be a lot lower on the output of the antennas and that'll be coming soon. And then in future products, I have like a whiteboard of ideas on how we can get directional antennas to where it's sensing the body and outputting only away from you. There's a lot that can be done when you just say, hey, this is a issue that we want to address. And like I said, a lot of this is almost beneficial from a power usage perspective.
The benefit and a side note, I will just say on EMFs is I think because of AI, inherently the big tech companies are going to do this as well. Not because they care about your health, but because they care about battery consumption and battery life. AI is, battery technology is the limiting factor of a lot of things. And I would say if we cracked the code on batteries,
Len Arcuri (39:16.564)
Bye.
Tristan (39:27.438)
We might all have more cancer because the output power of the radio frequency realm would be way higher, way more consistent. So saving grace is a battery technology, perhaps. So that's a really exciting front. And again, no one else is saying like, hey, you know, the studies, I think there's thousands of studies showing harmful effects of VMFs, RFK, and people talk about this as well, children's health defense.
And what's the point of like playing this experimental game when we can actually just minimize it. We can engineer solutions that are inherently less of an exposure. And that's also why I like to come out here to get somewhat of a baseline. I bring my RF EMF meter out into the wilderness and it's zero. That's the baseline of nature is zero radio frequencies. So if we can get closer to those levels being less, then that's a win.
Len Arcuri (39:59.53)
So, I that's a way
Great.
Tristan (40:22.764)
Now on the use case front, that's a really fun question because again, we have a very versatile product. We have a tablet. I'll say my personal use cases and you know, I'm working a lot, startup grind, all that stuff. I find the most beneficial time to use the daylight is first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Why? Because your brain is most sensitive during those times. You're just waking up.
Len Arcuri (40:33.93)
So, I'm going to start with a little bit of a step to ease the way in front of
Tristan (40:48.408)
You know, your brain waves are changing from sleep mode to wake mode, and you're ultra sensitive to inputs. That's why when you first wake up, I almost preach, do not grab a piece of technology for like 30 to 60 minutes, if you can. Of course, not all of us can go outside, go for a walk, just think, grab some water, you know, get some food. My first device I always grab is the daylight, always. And...
Len Arcuri (40:51.434)
with the military, and all the troops that sit in the base, that plane, that plane, that plane, plane, these are currently doing it. think that's taking a few from the 30 to 60 years, if we can, to push that on this cap, doing some of the work that we just did, regularly, and to the full
is the impact of this pandemic on the world.
Tristan (41:15.624)
If I wake up and grab my phone within 10 minutes of waking, my mental state for the entire day is really in disarray. It's like more frantic, it's more on edge, nervous system, super sympathetic dominant. And it's, I don't even know the full explanation. I mean, you could guess as to why, but it's real. So I love it for that. I use it as both a big phone, you know, I'm typing on it, I'm writing notes on it. It is.
above and beyond the best digital note taking experience and amazing reading experience. So for any age, I think that's fantastic. And especially if you have a kiddo who's getting into reading, getting into drawing or writing that I think it's perfect for that. And you can also then, because it's a tablet, connect to keyboard. You know, I like to hardwire the keyboards, any USB-C keyboard or adapter works. And as a digital typewriter,
It's fantastic writing emails. If you just have like two hours of emails, you're writing a book, child's writing an essay, lot of work in college and high school is written. Google Docs, again, the software environment is Android based. So any Google ecosystem in terms of access to Google Docs, it's all synergistic. You can download any app. So that's what I love it for.
And the messaging is fantastic. I use it as a big phone and then you know doing all that stuff in the morning and at night is when I find it really Fantastic because at night you get the backlight. That's amber not disrupting your sleep, etc and then of course I Like to work outside as much as possible as you can tell so having a device that doesn't overheat is easily as much as a MacBook I would say in like 80 degree Sun MacBook last like
20 minutes, daylight lasts probably an hour, hour and a half. And you can see it in the sun, the battery life is way longer. We're talking days of battery life, not hours, depending on your usage. And that's what I love it for. In terms of end audience, it is for everybody. Some people need the color, some people need the juicy CPUs and they're running, you know, crazy simulations or...
Tristan (43:36.972)
design where they need fancy software and a big display. That's not what this is for. This is for an intentional device for reading, writing, messaging, typing, using outside as a break. And then what we realized is we always knew the healthier iPad for kids angle was gonna be our biggest audience long-term, but we kind of accelerated that because we...
Len Arcuri (43:49.822)
Cut.
Tristan (44:04.674)
we started talking to more parents and teachers and again, just realized this issue was so known and there was no solution. And you know, like I said, half these eight year olds have their own tablet. Most of them are iPads. And now guess what? They go to school and they get Chromebooks or iPads as early as kindergarten. So it's screen time all day long, screen time for the learning, screen time for the entertainment, screen time for the family time.
And that's a problem. So we've recently doubled down as mentioned and just launched Daylight Kids to just focus on being a healthier tablet. And we have the different software, the app curation. So whenever you're ready, I just want to make this point, don't know, audience has children, probably various age groups. I'm not here to tell you that you need to give your child a device at any age.
I probably would wait as long as possible. But the thing is, like I said, it's an inevitability and it's a tool and you want them to be ahead in this world. So whenever they are ready, you are ready and it's gonna be small bite size at first, right? It's not just gonna be like you give a kid advice and they're gonna use it for four hours a day. It's gonna be like, here's 15 minutes there and in four days maybe you get another 15, 20 minutes. It should be a play-based outdoor-based childhood.
But if you wanna give them exposure to the digital world so they can be prepared to learn in it over time with the lowest amount of stimulation and detractions, that's what the daylight is for. So, yeah.
Len Arcuri (45:36.106)
Yeah. Okay. Yeah, no, that makes sense. And I think as you're talking about all kids getting, you know, in schools, iPads, Chromebooks, would the daylight be, if a school issues a Chromebook as an example, let's say, you know, know, child's 12 years old, 13, they get Chromebooks. Could the daylight fully replace the Chromebook for purposes of school? In other words, the functionality, the Google type apps.
Is it something that could be placed or would a child still need to use the Chromebook and then they augment it with the daylight as much as possible?
Tristan (46:11.022)
Yeah, that's a great question. would say it depends on the school. We're talking to a lot of schools. We have a lot of pilot programs going. And this is going to be a big push getting into school. So if anyone listening works in education, wants to connect, please shoot me an email, tristan at daylightcomputer.com. the premise is for the majority of things, yes. And again, you can connect a keyboard. We're actually coming out with a keyboard case in like two months. And the difference is,
Schools, especially public schools, they just have a lot of red tape and IT. So it has to get approved for certain systems and certain ways for the teachers, let's say, to control what the students are viewing, et cetera. And we have basic parental controls and all that. So from an actual Google classroom or what Google environment they're learning in, it's almost always gonna be compatible. There might be various apps that
or web apps that need a desktop operating system. But in general, Google is moving away from that. In the next, I think, year or two, Android and Chrome OS are gonna be one in the same. So it's a benefit for us. But it's more so gonna come from the school's protocols and approvals. Sometimes you have to get approval at the state level to be a device that the school can issue. However,
I don't know the rules with like a child bringing their own device into the classroom that might vary, but I would say for sure you can do 90 plus percent, maybe more of what a Chromebook can do. And think about it, how old are these kids? Like what, what like functionality I can do like 99 % of my work on a daylight. Like obviously there's things that maybe are just more optimal on a Mac book, but
if an eight year old, you know, they're not, they don't have quarterly performance reviews to the extent. It should be introductory to technology and still be mostly physical in-person learning, I think, at that age.
Len Arcuri (48:21.662)
Yeah. Okay. I think that answers the question. Yeah. It largely can be used again, whether the school is supportive or not, whether they'll let you bring your own device, you know, that, that pack may vary, but, no, I just was curious about that. And I know, you know, again, with my son, he's taking college courses, I think for him to have it as a note taker, for him to have it in terms of the information that's conveyed with the Google apps. think it should be something that it could easily be something that he could have instead of.
a MacBook as an example or a Chromebook. So yeah, so lots of applications. And again, I think the totality of everything you've shared and what your company is all about for people who listen to this podcast, we've talked about the total load theory over and over with some dynamite guests. And that's basically the way to look at the daylight is it's a computer that has a less of a total load that's coming at you or your child. And I just love that you guys have thought of all the different ways.
that we can make a tablet more biologically compatible, less stressful, less dysregulating. And I think we only scratched the surface of the features. So yeah, I'd encourage people to go and check it out for themselves. Where should they go, Tristan, to find out more about your tablet and your company?
Tristan (49:37.516)
Yeah, well, appreciate it. And I think the total load theory is fantastic. And that's something I think about. Because when you have a concussion, it's the same deal. You only get so much stimulation for the day. Some of it's physical, some of it's cognitive. And guess what? A lot of it's environmental. So if you can reduce the environmental stimulus, you have a lot more to give from the physical and the cognitive. And that goes for kids, that goes for ASD children, that goes for us. And I think it's fantastic framing.
Len Arcuri (49:45.93)
Good health.
Tristan (50:06.042)
And yeah, for us, we have DaylightComputer.com is our main website. That's for anyone, any ages buying a Daylight, checking it out. We have awesome designers, awesome storyline there. And then we recently launched Kids.DaylightComputer.com where we have curated different software and a kids bundle with like a protective case. And that's on sale now because we just launched that. So we're really excited to get out into the community.
And as mentioned with the education piece, if there's any other people that wanna reach out and offer kind of insight, we're looking to learn, we're looking to get in front of educators, parents, teachers, because we know that's where we can have the biggest impact. As much as I love selling to a Silicon Valley tech professional that has disposable income to use this as his third device in reading, writing.
that doesn't really get me going as much as, know, changing the trajectory of the next generation's relationship with technology. So I really appreciate Len, everything you're doing, the voice you have, and for having me on.
Len Arcuri (51:12.334)
Absolutely. Now my pleasure and yeah, I think the key to the change, you know, I love what your company's doing. Parents, you listeners, you can be part of that change in terms of demanding safer tech for your kids. And this gives you one option. And I also love that you're focusing on the schools. I mean, that is absolutely a phenomenal place to start and the right schools will listen and be part of the change going forward. So Tristan, I really appreciate you being on and sharing this.
So wishing all the success in the world to you and your company and all the people at Daylight.
Tristan (51:44.472)
Thanks, Len.
Len Arcuri (51:52.596)
All right, so hang on for a little bit. Yeah, it's been in a state of trying to reconnect like two minutes into our conversation. So I'm trying to even stop the recording and it won't let me. So let's see, how do I do this? I've never had this particular issue before. Like it should still be recording locally and.
Tristan (51:55.714)
Yeah, that 99 looks like so.
Len Arcuri (52:19.658)
Worst case, since I can't stop the recording, that's really weird. Let's see. Yeah, it's just been perpetually trying to reconnect. The worst case is it might be if you jump off, you might need to jump back on with the link and then maybe that'll complete the upload. But let's just give it a minute. I know you're probably running low on power.
Tristan (52:43.395)
Got it.
Tristan (52:48.43)
Yeah, I'm all right getting close, but I think it says my other tab says 100%. So it may just be.
Len Arcuri (52:54.89)
Oh, then maybe it's just me refreshing. So I'll get back to you terms of, and I thought this was dynamite. I'll get back to you when it's going to be released. Like I said, you'll get a link to a Google drive with the final episode, audio and video. I don't post the video, but you can use it for your own purposes. And then you let me know if when I send out a newsletter, you know, with the episode, if you have a discount or anything like that, that you want to offer, just let me know.
Tristan (53:20.418)
Yeah.
Len Arcuri (53:22.154)
And and otherwise, yeah, the wind was kind of a problem at certain points. We'll see if we can get rid of that. But I thought It's a trade-off I'd rather you be in a healthier place and then you know, think we're practicing what we preach right the episode may not be crisp perfect quality But the trade-off is well worth it
Tristan (53:29.312)
Okay, sorry about that. Yeah, I tried to be, tried to move as best as I could.
Tristan (53:45.41)
Thanks, Len. Yeah, well, definitely let me know on the newsletter front. We can get you on our affiliate program and all that. So OK.
Len Arcuri (53:51.498)
I signed up right away as soon as I got back from the Autism Health Summit. So now this gives me an ability to share the link. So again, I'm happy to do that. If you sweeten the pot with some kind of discount for the listeners, great. Not no worries. And yeah, at some point I would still like to try it. And I think, I think it makes sense for me to see if I'd like my son to try it with his college courses. so, so again, yeah, let me, you know, I know with the affiliate program.
Tristan (53:59.308)
Got it. Perfect.
Len Arcuri (54:19.09)
I can earn commissions, but yeah, otherwise if I were to purchase outright, just let me know what that could be.
Tristan (54:24.428)
Yeah, for sure. Let's post the episode and then we'll see how goes and we can discuss. But definitely open to whatever, give a discount or seeing what that's like. So just reach out when that time is you're ready for that and we'll go from there.
Len Arcuri (54:39.252)
Sounds good, then I'll email you if somehow it didn't upload and you need to jump back on Riverside, otherwise if you're seeing 100%, my guess is we're good. All right, thanks, Kristen. Take care.
Tristan (54:48.158)
Awesome. All right, Len. I appreciate it, man. Thanks so much.
