The Light Phone, the product of a startup from New York, is a phone designed to complement the modern smartphone. It offers users respite from today's app-reliance and addiction to constant connectivity.
The Light Phone is intended to be used as a second phone and it can have the same phone number as the user's smartphone. The phone's sole purpose is to make and receive calls. It cannot send or receive text messages or emails, snap photos, read tweets, or upload social media posts.
The phone is the size of a credit card, and only has a touch keypad, volume controls, and a power button. It has a basic LED display just wide enough to show a phone number, and a USB port for charging.
The product is the brainchild of Joe Hollier and Kaiwei Tang, who envisioned a way to give users an avenue to de-stress and disconnect from the fast-paced world of constant information flow. The Light Phone will also help users be mindful of their peers and not let their attention be pulled into their smartphones.
Ditching the smartphone in favor of something that will not let the user do anything other than make and receive calls is something the creators called "going light."
"There's this huge initial anxiety every time you go light," said Hollier in a report from Digital Trends. "You find yourself tapping your pockets, and you feel, dare I say, physically different — like you have a different air about yourself."
He said that after the initial anxiety of not having the connectivity and instant information that the smartphone provides, users will experience a transition from an anxious feeling to a very relieving and relaxing mood.
The project launched a Kickstarter campaign back in 2015, and has since sold almost 10,000 Light Phone units around the world.
