Thanksgiving Reflections: Family, Gratitude, and the Quest to Unplug

A message from Joe Weil, CEO of Unplugged

Dinner time in my house is never calm or quiet. With six kids ranging from 1 to 11, the moment the food hits the table and grace is said, you have a choice: eat fast or surrender your plate.

Within seconds of sitting down, pandemonium unfolds. Someone loudly declares they don’t like the meal before even tasting it. Another launches into a never-ending dissertation on sharks. There’s a debate brewing about homework. Someone asks an existential question while another cracks a poo joke. By the time we’re finished, our toddler is wearing more of her dinner than she ate.

And every bit of it is a blessing.

Our kids are still young enough that they don’t bring phones to the table. That leaves my wife and I with the responsibility of showing them what real presence looks like. But I’ll be honest: we don’t always get it right.

Leading a startup spread across time zones means dinnertime for me is someone else’s start to the workday, late night, or urgent moment. There are evenings when my phone buzzes and I’m instantly staring at a glowing screen instead of the seven faces who deserve all my attention.

It’s in those moments that I hear a familiar voice in my head: You’re missing this—it won’t happen again.

Before I joined Unplugged, that voice was asking even harder questions: What am I giving away about my family every time I use my phone? Who's tracking us? What kind of digital future am I accepting for my children?

That tension—between connection and surveillance, between being present and being tracked, between family intimacy and corporate intrusion—is exactly why Unplugged exists.

Unplugged can't just be a corporate and product philosophy—it must be a personal discipline. Every phone we build, every privacy protection we build in by default—it all stems from a fundamental belief that our families and loved ones deserve both our full attention and protection from the pervasive surveillance that has become normalized in modern life.

It’s only been 6 months since I left a comfortable position at Apple to join Unplugged—yet it’s already been the most meaningful, challenging, and energizing season of my career.

After a decade in Big Tech, I deeply believed the world needed a different kind of technology that is truly aligned with human values—not stock price. I had the recurring, nagging feeling that technology isn’t something that should be happening to us—we should all feel we have agency to play a proactive role in shaping its impact on our future. But we need the tools to make that possible—and that is the opportunity Unplugged offers.  

It’s been overwhelming to see how deeply our mission resonates with people everywhere. This isn’t just about a new smartphone option—it’s a growing movement of people who are choosing privacy over surveillance, freedom over manipulation, and a healthier relationship with technology vs Big Tech’s pull. This movement is proof that a different future isn’t just possible—it’s underway.

I’m profoundly grateful for the mission I’ve been entrusted with, for the incredible team I get to work with every day, and for every customer who believes in a more human digital future where our rights are protected and not violated. Together we are showing the world that there is another way forward.

This Thanksgiving, when my family gathers around the table and we give thanks, my phone will be in another room. Not because I've achieved some perfect balance, but because those chaotic, beautiful, private moments with my wife and children are exactly what I'm fighting for—and exactly what our customers deserve to protect in their own lives.

Wishing you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving.  

With gratitude,
Joe