- [Matt] Since Alexander Graham Bell
first snagged the patent back in 1876,
the telephone has undergone a radical transformation.
- Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone.
(audience applause)
(upbeat rock music)
- Today, the phone isn't what it used to be.
We can use it to video chat,
order late night eats and find a date.
But as all of this innovation has been happening
with rapidly evolving tools, advancing technology,
and consumers frothing with each new development,
one tiny company decided to take a huge leap backwards.
This is the dumb phone.
Oh sorry, actually, it's called the Light Phone.
The phone that's been intentionally stripped back
to just a few basic apps.
- FaceTiming grandma, it's like,
yeah, that's amazing, everyone wants that.
But checking your email before you brush your teeth
is like a side effect of having that technology with you.
- [Matt] That's Joe Hollier,
the designer and co-founder of the Light Phone.
As much value as we get from our smartphones,
they obviously cause a lot of headaches.
(phone crashing)
I've documented my own struggles
with my phone addiction over the years
and I've conducted a number of experiments
to try to bring technology into my life
without it making me completely miserable.
I've tried turning my iPhone screen black and white,
hiding tempting apps into folders buried on my phone,
I implemented digital minimalism rules,
quit social media twice,
and even tried a flip phone for a month.
- You should get a smartphone.
They're a game changer.
- I know about smartphones!
I'm trying to be a good person, you dumb bitch!
- But none of these solutions ever worked for me
in the long run.
The rules were broken,
the fasts were forgotten,
And the flip phone,
well, it was just a little bit too dumb for me.
So right now I'm trying to get Google Maps working.
Could not determine your precise location.
I was excited about the potential of a Light Phone.
Do you have any advice for me
as I ditch my iPhone
and I use a Light Phone instead?
- I mean, patience is probably one of the biggest things.
- Will this phone be the solution to my problems?
There's only one way to find out.
I tried using a dumb, sorry, Light Phone for 30 days.
The Light Phone 2 currently retails at $299.
But luckily my friend had one, so I just borrowed it.
I am going to put in my SIM card.
Ooh, this is exciting.
How does it take so long to load?
I clearly have zero patience.
This is not gonna be good.
Greetings, welcome to your Light Phone.
Let's create your Light account.
It kind of feels like a mini Kindle.
We have phone, we have alarm and we have settings.
There are just three apps installed on this phone
from the very beginning, which is amazing.
I mean, that's what you want out of a Light Phone.
All right, now that I've got my phone set up,
let the experiment begin.
So my first impression of the phone
is pretty much in alignment with my expectations,
but if I'm being honest, right from the beginning,
I'm a little bit worried it won't be useful enough for me.
All right, so this obviously makes phone calls.
So, let me give it a test here
by calling none other than the Natalie Pidding.
- [Natalie] What's up?
- Hey, how are you?
- [Natalie] Good, how are you?
- I'm good, why are you being so nice?
- [Natalie] Because you were nice to me!
- It's nice that I can actually
make phone calls with this thing,
but who actually calls people anymore?
Most of us prefer texting, which this phone has,
but when I really start to think about it,
my communication these days is fragmented
into a half a dozen different apps.
I'm frequently having conversations between text,
WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger,
Instagram DMs, and other places.
This phone has just basic texting.
So the texting on this thing is so slow.
I don't think I can handle it.
Nope.
Seen my.. (mumbles)
It took me a whole 43 seconds to type this text.
N-V-M found it.
All right, so I just got an email
from Australia Post saying they have a package for me
and they gave me a QR code
and they said just bring your phone into the store
and then we'll scan the QR code.
Obviously, I can't do that.
So right now what I'm gonna do
is print out my QR code
and then bring that to the post office
and see if I can get my package.
The barcode worked and I got my package.
Also a strange look from the posty behind the counter,
but I have to admit, it was pretty inconvenient
to have to print it out.
What was it that Joe said about patience?
My first couple weeks using this phone,
I absolutely hated it.
It honestly caused so much more friction in my life
than I was expecting,
but I will say that the more that I've used it,
the more that I've come around to this phone
and the more that I've actually started to enjoy it.
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When you first launched the Light Phone,
I remember the features were even more pulled back
than what you've currently got on it.
Was there feedback there?
Like, do you think that maybe it was almost too simple
and like, there wasn't enough of what people want
out of a newer, modern phone?
- The original Light Phone only had phone calls
and it actually only stored nine speed dials,
but it was never intended to replace someone's smartphone.
And from the early feedback we got,
you know, the users that were really loving going light,
they told us they wanted to go light even more.
They wanted to ditch their smartphone,
but you know, they need to get a text from a bank to,
you know, setting an alarm.
We had to really kind of think like
is having something like directions on the phone
a distraction or is that actually, you know,
a utility, a peace of mind?
- Since the first version of the phone launched in 2015,
they've added new apps, like directions,
hotspot, music, podcasts, and even a calculator.
So I've installed a few new apps on my phone.
They definitely seem like they'll be helpful.
Now to see if they actually work in practice.
Yeah.
All right, so I'm venturing off
and using the GPS for the very first time.
All right, let's go into the menu, directions.
All right, so I got the GPS loaded up here.
Let's give it a go.
Wow, look at that, perfect fit.
I wish I knew the metric system. (laughs)
I should have changed this to the Imperial system.
- [GPS] Now turn right.
- Okay, I missed that turn.
- [GPS] After 350 meters, turn left onto Mitchell Road.
- Okay, it's recalculating now.
I gotta turn around.
The Directions app, well, let's just say
that it has room for improvement.
My first trial was nerve wracking and a bit unpredictable.
This is gonna be absolutely impossible.
(laughs) Do you see this?
I honestly have no idea how to even read this thing.
I tested it out five or six more times after this
and the results were scattered.
Sometimes it worked without issue.
Other times, it would get me totally lost.
To me, like the whole idea of this phone
is to reduce stress in your life
and this navigation system
seems to add a little bit too much stress for me right now.
And so, I think in the long run,
I don't know if it's something that
I could actually get used to.
So, score one for the smartphone.
So, I'm over three weeks into this experiment now
and if this phone had an app
to track my time spent on it,
it'd probably be less than 10 minutes per day.
I honestly barely ever use it.
I've definitely found myself
having far less screen time than I typically do.
I would say I'm more mindful around technology.
Now my time used on my phone is so significantly reduced
that I would have to say that it is
improving my mindfulness
and my wellbeing throughout the day.
So, score one for the Light Phone.
I've tried out all the apps on the phone
and the results were pretty good overall.
You can download your favorite podcasts
and connect your headphones via Bluetooth.
For music you need to manually upload tracks.
Unfortunately, there's no Spotify.
Also only one gigabyte of storage.
For context, the first iPod ever had five gigabytes.
You can record notes via a voice recorder
or take notes manually.
Typing on this thing is really clunky,
so it's often frustrating to write down ideas or notes.
All right, so I'm nearly finished
with this 30 day experiment.
And if I'm being completely honest,
I cannot wait to get back to a smartphone.
I entered this experiment really wanting it to work,
really wanting to find a phone
that would give me all the tools I needed
while removing the headaches my smartphone causes.
But unfortunately, I don't know if I'm ready
to make the switch full time.
Not having a camera, the spotty directions
and the clunky typing are the biggest deal breakers for me.
Now that's not to say that this phone
might not be right for you.
Now, if somebody has a much simpler life than I do,
if you don't live between two countries,
if you generally go to the same places every single day,
then you could probably get by with this phone.
It's an insanely ambitious challenge
to literally invent a phone, custom apps,
and to show the restraint they did when building it.
After all the phone is what it isn't.
I just think it needs to smarten up a little bit
for me to actually make the switch full time.
This is a technology that is intentionally stripped back
and yet I'm almost like waiting for these updates from them
that might actually make it a little bit more usable for me.
If you're thinking about adding
a little more intentionality
with how you use technology,
Joe's got some advice for you.
- Getting a Light Phone is obviously one option,
but I do think if you want to try
going light for an afternoon,
like leave your smartphone at home.
We forget that we used to do these things
all the time with no phones on us.
It's something I'd encourage everyone to try
at least for one Saturday.
- Thanks so much for watching.
Don't forget, Simple Habits closes in two weeks.
So if you wanna get your habits in the shape,
go to slowgrowth.com/simplehabits.
There's a link down in the description below this video.
Hope to see you there.
See you next time.