The article says "And everyone has to put their phones away and everyone has to interact with each other". I've done two escape the rooms in NYC (got out both times just in the nick of time btw). In both cases the cellphones were instrumental, whether it was for searching or reading QR codes for example. I don't think you should go into some of these rooms thinking you can't use your phone since in many cases you need it.... (short of searching for a walkthrough which is cheating IMHO)