Healing your smartphone addiction with a "Substitute Phone"
Addiction to smartphones is, undeniably, a thing nowadays. Apps like Tinder, Facebook and Instagram are studied so to provide you with a nice dopamine rush every time you get a match, like or notification in general.
That’s why Klemens Schillinger has launched a line of Substitute Phones.
We’re basically looking at plastic phone-shaped objects, in which stone beads have been embedded in linear positions to give you the possibility to swipe them. Sure, they’re not going to send you messages or anything like that, but the compulsive nature of scrolling, swiping or zooming is taken care of by three different versions, respectively allowing one or the other motion. “This calming limitation offers help for smartphone addicts to cope with withdrawal symptoms.”
Schillinger also explained that he was inspired by Umberto Eco, who stopped smoking his pipe by replacing it with a stick. “It was the same thing, but without the nicotine, just the physical stimulation. I remembered this and thought to make phones that would provide the physical stimulation but not the connectivity.