With American adults increasingly tied to their smartphones – for calls, for the camera, for music and social media – musicians are increasingly asking concert-goers to put them away.

“I want to ask you to stop filming me,” Adele said to a fan during a concert in Italy. “I’m really here in real life.”

People accustomed to the camera in their pocket expect to be able to use it just about anywhere.

“I like to enjoy the show, and when I get home, tell my friends about it and show them what I saw at the show,” said Fallon Ward.

Melissa Douglas said there’s a benefit to the artist as well.

“I understand it from an artist’s perspective, but isn’t a social media post free publicity for your concert?” she asked.

A quick post is one thing, but some fans will record entire songs, the modern equivalent of bootlegging, and artists are beginning to resist. For those who need a little help to disconnect, an inventor with a Duke University connection has a solution: the Yondr bag.

Graham Dugoni played soccer for the Blue Devils from 2005 to 2008. Since then, his San Francisco-based company Yondr has developed a simple way to lock up cellphones at concert venues.

“There’s just a pretty big gap between social etiquette and norms and where new technology is,” Dugoni said.

People are ready for it,” he said. “They’ve been feeling the pinch of modern life, the sense that everyone is running faster and staying in the same place and feeling like there is no way to step out.”

The Yondr bag allows just that. Slide the phone into the bag, and it is electronically locked. If a concert-goer needs to use the phone, he or she can step out to the lobby and have it unlocked.

“Fads come and go, and I think that maybe endless phone use and social media is more of a fad than has been understood at first,” Dugoni said.

With that sea of phones securely locked inside the Yondr bag, the artist on stage may again become the center of attention.

“The experience of playing to a sea of smartphones has got to be surreal,” Dugoni said.

For Douglas, it’s worth a try.

“It’s a good idea because it will help the customer enjoy the concert more, and it will help protect the artist,” she said.

Phones set on vibrate can be felt through the bag, so emergency calls from the babysitter can still get through.

The Yondr bag is not just for concerts. Schools are using them for students during class, and Dugoni said he’d like to hear from his former Duke professors if they’re interested.