Light Phones help curb screen addiction. Courtesy | Facebook
A growing number of students are ditching their smartphones and picking up a Light Phone in an attempt to distance themselves from social media.
“The biggest thing is the time,” said senior Charlie Kacal, who switched to the Light Phone this past year. “You really do gain your time back. If you are picking up your phone whenever you are bored or something isn’t happening, even if it’s email or texts, you’re still wasting time.”
The Light Phone, produced by the company Light, is an “unlocked 4G LTE mobile phone,” according to the company’s website. It’s small — about the size of a credit card — and users can only make calls, listen to podcasts, keep notes, send messages, and navigate with the GPS.
“It’s kind of a hassle to use, and that’s the point,” senior Brett Schaller said. “I first got rid of social media, but I was still finding ways to be on my phone. The Light Phone has fixed that for me.”
The first Light Phone debuted in 2017, and within a few months there was a 50,000-person waitlist for the product.
“The interest in the Light Phone seems to be part of the wider, counter-cultural trend of being suspicious of the supposed goods that the modern world offers us, technology being one of them,” Schaller said.
Excitement, however, has somewhat abated since the steep price and impracticality of the product have scared away potential customers.
“It does cost about $300, plus some extra for the case, which makes it somewhat of a hype thing,” junior Max Aylor said. “But it really has been great to use while at school. If I am really needed, someone can always call me.”
Administrators at Buxton School in Williamstown, Massachusetts, banned smartphones across campus, distributing Light Phones to all students and faculty instead.
Since enacting the policy in the fall of 2022, the boarding school of 60 students reports that it has seen excellent results. Teachers are finding students are more engaged in class. Students are realizing the ban isn’t so bad after all.
At Hillsdale, the phone’s popularity is increasing among students.
“I’ve had three people ask me about mine just in the past week, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see more people switch over,” Kacal said.
The creators of the Light Phone have addressed the concerns of previous users, and newer models are equipped with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Because of the phone’s size, the battery can also last two to three days.
“It’s honestly nice how small it is, and also necessary for its mission of making texting so hard that you don’t want to be on it because it is a pain to use,” Kacal said.
Schaller said that at the end of the day, it’s the disposition toward cell phones that matters.
“Light Phones are definitely not for everyone,” Schaller said. “But ideally, they can be part of a wider trend of recognizing that we do have to make choices about our technology, and the lifestyles we lead with them, because they are exerting influence and control over us.”
