Posted by 
Last weekend, I went to Seattle, and when I went out during the day, I didn’t take my smartphone with me. Why? I had another phone. It wasn’t as high-tech as my smartphone. It couldn’t text. It couldn’t show my email or apps. It was a great experience.
What follows is an honest review of the Light Phone, and is not sponsored.
How Does It Work?
The light phone is a phone that can only call. It is the size of a credit card. When you turn it on, the facelights up with the numbers zero through nine, a call icon, and an end call icon. You are able to program in a few speed dials. It works with your smartphone using call forwarding. And that’s it.
A Simple Weekend
On the first day I used this, my family happened to be waiting in a line for a big concert for about six hours, so this was the perfect time to try out my Light Phone. I went to a coffee shop, read, went to a bookstore, bought a book, went to another coffee shop, read some more, then waited in line with my family. Six hours may seem like a short time to go without a phone, but it was quite the stretch for me with little other entertainment.
The second day, I got to connect with my family without the distraction of a phone, while we explored Seattle.
But the third day was when my favorite thing happened. I was on a train to the airport, and due to my weekend of light phone use, I decided to look out the window instead of stare at my phone. I started thinking of writing ideas, and I came up with an idea for a piece of fiction. Just yesterday, I finished that piece. If I had looked at my phone, I would never conceptualized one of my favorite stories yet. This is the real beauty of the Light Phone. It forces you to be with your own mind.
But…
So why would someone spend money on something like this? I read a few articles and comments about this product, and people seem to have strong opinions on it. They seem appalled at the price for the limited amount of features. I thought this over, and if someone is disappointed by the things this phone is able to do, I don’t believe they’re the target audience. The product has a good design, and I appreciate this. I could get a flip phone from the 90’s and I would be fine, but I enjoy the look of the phone; I don’t think that’s a problem. People spend similar amounts of money or more on fashionable headphones and accessories for their smartphone that will not give nearly as many benefits as the Light Phone. Of course, they could buy cheap headphones, but they don’t, because of design. So, I don’t see this as extravagant.
Also, many comment that we should just have self-control instead of buying another phone. This is a good thing to discuss, and would be the solution if humans were 100% disciplined all the time. But, unfortunately, they’re not. And I’m sure some people are disciplined enough to stay off their phone most of the time. But I think we all know that phone-checking is a cultural epidemic. I mean, look around the next time you’re at a restaurant. I’ve seen two people at one sit across from each other staring, not at the other person, but at their phone the whole time they were there. I know myself, and I easily forget my good intentions and spend hours wasting time on my phone; I’m not alone in this. Of course, I’d love to be able to show boundless self-control and never check my phone when I should be having a conversation, looking out the window, or being with my family, but I’m not perfect. I’m willing to take some extra measures to make sure I’m not lost in the digital world, missing the most important parts of my life.
Should I Get This?
I would recommend this phone to you if you fit into one or both of these two categories:
1) You like the design for the price
Yes, there is an extra price on this phone due to the good design, but if you are okay with that, then great! If not, by all means, don’t buy the phone. Personally, I like the design and would pay for it, but if it’s not worth it to you, then I’m the last one to coerce you to get it. Different people place more importance on some features than others; that’s okay. There are other, cheaper versions of a similar concept that do most of the same things, and that could be the right choice for you.
2) You think it would truly help you
If you don’t think that you’re on your phone too much, or you know you have enough self-control to stay off of it without the help of the Light Phone, then be careful about getting this phone. Getting something just to have it or just because it’s trendy or cool is never a good reason to buy. I would recommend getting this if it would have a positive impact on your life. If not, then don’t get it.
It’s Not About the Phone
You can find more about the Light Phone here.
The benefits you receive from this phone have nothing to do with its features. They have everything to do with the space you make in your life that can be filled with creativity, connection, care, and courage.
This has really got me thinking. I wonder what ideas I might have if I allotted more time for just being comfortable in my own thoughts… On our recent trip to Amsterdam, on which I couldn’t use my phone except for in wifi hotspots, I found that much more often than not, I was aware of my surroundings in a way that I am not here at home. Without the ever-present distraction of Instagram or internet-browsing for information, I noticed houseboats in canals, geraniums dripping from window boxes, and the way the gabled buildings were sometimes leaning alarming right or left–maybe about to crumble into the canal?
My favorite thing that happened while I was in this self-induced, smart-phone paralysis was a conversation with a Uruguayan man on the train between Belgium and The Netherlands. We talked about his favorite American actor (Clint Eastwood) and his knowledge of Idaho potatoes! He told me about undiscovered mountains in Uruguay, and we connected over similarities in our rural locales–cows and farmland and picturesque rivers. What a delight to find I have something in common with someone in the southern hemisphere. And if I had been tuned into Netflix on my smartphone while riding that train, I certainly would have missed out on this joyful exchange.
**alarmingly