A video of a woman using a transparent 'phone' went viral. But can it actually help curb your smartphone addiction?
Is that transparent 'phone' you've spotted on TikTok legit? It may be, in the future — but at the moment, it's just a piece of plastic designed to make us reflect on our relationship with our real phones.
It all started in May, with a TikTok of a woman holding what appears to be a transparent phone while standing in line at a boba shop. But the video — which received millions of views and had people describing the phone as something out of Black Mirror or a sci-fi movie — didn't actually involve any real tech. Instead, it was part of a social experiment spurred by tech content creator Catherine Goetze — aka CatGPT — who appears in the video. It was all to create a buzz around the 'methaphone,' a piece of acrylic shaped like an iPhone.
'My friend is actually the inventor and creator of these and he told me that what he wanted to test was, if we're all so addicted to our phones, then could you potentially curb somebody's addiction by replacing the feeling of having a phone in your pocket with something that feels exactly the same,' Goetze explained in a follow-up TikTok, which revealed the truth behind the acrylic 'phone.' She credited toymaker Eric Antonow with creating the methaphone on her website.
On his website, Antonow explained that the toy's name, the 'methaphone,' is a nod to methadone, a substance used as a harm reduction tool in the treatment of morphine and heroin addiction.
'I include myself among people who do not like the current relationship with phones and their apps,' Antonow wrote. 'I wanted a device that would make you think. It is a mirror for your phone feelings. You turn it over in your hands and questions might start to arise. Woah, how can this thing have such power and presence in my life? What would it be like to carry it around with me all day?'
Goetze's website now links to a form you can fill out if you want your own methaphone. In exchange, Goetze asks that people share feedback about their experiences using this piece of non-tech.
'We're all just individuals up against, what? The entirety of big tech?' Goetze asked in her TIkTok. 'I think that's why this little piece of acrylic feels so empowering. I mean, honestly, look, have I used my phone less in the past week that I've been carrying this around with me? Probably not. But just the idea that I could have something in my life — something I can touch and hold — and the conversation that this little guy is sparking online ... that's what really matters,' she said.
People in Goetze's TikTok comments are skeptical that the methaphone would help people curb a smartphone habit. One wrote, 'I'm addicted to TikTok, not my phone.' Another added, 'Nobody is addicted to holding phones, they're addicted to the apps.' And a third noted that 'As an older millennial that would not work for me. I grew up when there were no cell phones, so I'm addicted to the access to information, not the idea of holding the phone.'
Kostadin Kushlev, an assistant professor at Georgetown University who explores how technology affects happiness, told Yahoo News that there has not been enough research on objects like the methaphone to say definitively that it will or will not help people curb their smartphone habit.
There is some precedent for the methaphone, however, Kushlev noted, in that some people who quit smoking may wean themselves off of cigarettes or vapes by choosing to use nicotine-free devices that have the same feel as their preferred smoking device.
However, Kushlev added that there are many reasons why people are so attached to their devices, and it doesn't have to do with the physical object itself.
'We live in an attention economy, and our attention is very valuable in terms of selling ads — and ultimately, the platforms we use, like social media and gaming platforms, know how to hook people,' he explained. One way they do this is through 'variable reinforcement,' which is a concept that's similar to how slot machines work. Since you never know when you'll get a like or a comment, that unpredictability keeps you checking in and scrolling, in hopes you'll get a notification that triggers a hit of dopamine. That makes the behavior more addictive over time.
And the ability to create engagement is 'the main metric by which these platforms judge success, and the main metric that can be measured,' he explained — meaning there's a major incentive from companies to keep your eyeballs on your phone.
So while the methaphone may be an interesting conversation starter, it's likely not going to be the thing that helps you kick a smartphone habit for good.
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