Try using Google’s “anti-addiction” smartphone, I’ve only survived 48 hours but realize how much people are dependent on technology.

Not only an ordinary smartphone user, I have been a phone reviewer for many years. Having always been paid to use technology, I am now being asked to do the opposite. It was a new and delicious experience for me.

I plan to take the challenge for 24 hours, with the goal of completely restricting usage. However, I quickly had to lower my expectations.

Use a smartphone just to … hear the call and see the time

When participating in a project called “Envelope” initiated by Google, users will receive a Pixel 3A smartphone. The device will be wrapped in a case with a thickness of only 0.1 mm in black and white, so they can not text, surf the web, watch Youtube, take photos … In other words, the smartphone can only now listen and see time.

After opening the settings app, I only had 10 seconds to completely seal off the Pixel 3A. Since then, I have only been able to access the dial pad with 4 standard rows, a call button and a watch button. When someone needs to be contacted, the call button will turn green, then turn red during a conversation.

Photo: Cnet

If you want to see the time, each digit representing the hour on the dial pad will light up one by one. Watching time flickering through thin paper has become my favorite part of the app.

Because I rarely call anyone and often chat with my friends on Messenger, I easily passed the challenge. When I go to work, I check my messages and listen to music on my computer. When I got home, I thought it was not too difficult. Leaving the phone in the bedroom, I spent the next few hours cooking, having dinner, and watching Netflix in another room. The only thing that tempted me was to surf Twitter before I went to bed, but I could resist the night.

Then I suddenly received an invitation to have dinner at your house. As it turned out, the problem was not not being able to use Twitter or Instagram, but not being able to use Google Maps. Because I didn’t want to have to drive while searching the road, I decided to pause my challenge for a while and use an extra phone to find my way. Admittedly, without the extra phone, I would have given up after only 5 hours.

Over the next 24 hours, I used this Envelope phone to make a phone call (a bit hard to hear), try to avoid the rain (it’s not waterproof too well) and check the clock a dozen times.

However, after 3 attempts of using the secondary phone, I decided to stop the challenge. I used it as an alarm clock, then I used it at the cinema to receive a phone telling me an email confirmation code. The last time I used it was to check the bus time.

Before I took up the challenge, I imagined I would take the envelope away in a state of relaxation, adequate rest, and getting ready to return to the world of technology. However, things are not so ideal. After 48 hours of wrapping the Pixel 3A and under a lot of pressure, I had to take out the phone.

Whether people can “detox” smartphone success?

Over the years, many studies have shown the harmful effects of excessive phone use. This habit can disrupt sleep, make you eat and drink uncontrollably, and increase your risk of blindness. Not to mention, spending hours surfing social media can affect your mental health.

As a result, phone manufacturers have begun to offer software that informs you about how much time you spend on your device and limits the amount of time available on certain apps. Apple has Screen Time, Google has Digital Wellbeing; There are also some third parties like Siempo, Space and Flipd.

Envelope is not the first project to prevent people from blatant smartphone use. However, what interests me is that it uses physical barriers and is completely free. Because this is not a real product, but only a Google project.

“We wish every phone could do this,” said Adrian Westaway, co-founder of the Envelope project. “We want the whole community to join hands to develop it so that more phone users can reach it.”

However, it is difficult for us to stop relying on smartphones, because not everyone can disconnect from work, study and society. In addition, the fact that we use smartphones for our own safety is also worth paying attention to. I don’t want to put myself in a dangerous situation like when I was waiting for the bus.

However, I still hope that everyone will still try to experience away from smartphones and other electronic devices, even for a few short hours.