Light Phone: You can buy an excellent phone with no camera, no Internet.

Every kid should get a dumb phone.

Why?

Having the ability to call home, text home, is good.

I have come to the conclusion that most of us, especially me, need a “dumb phone.” We need to be able to call, get directions (perhaps), but we do not need to be in constant contact with vast social networks all day, every day. Nobody makes us check our phones all day, but the temptation is there and for younglings, the social media giants spend their jillions of dollars psychologically inducing participation.

Saying “no” can be hard, so the “dumb phone” . . .retro-tech is helpful. You can only do what you can do and the “dumb phone” cannot do too much. It is the Mary Poppins of phones: sufficient. 

The trouble is that my old solution: carrying an older flip phone is dying out as an option. My own flip phone ceased to function on up to date networks and had to be thrown away.

Light phone has come to the rescue and I can report it is most excellent. 

Why?

I can make calls, get texts, use speaker phone, connect to Bluetooth headphones and so leave this tiny little piece of plastic in my pocket. The good news is that this is all I can do. This is the smartest dumb phone ever made.

Today, as an experiment, I took this phone on a date with the Fairest Flower in all Christendom. If there was an emergency, my adult children and parents could reach me. If there was a crisis, anybody could text. There was no crisis, nothing happened but sweet conversation between Hope and me while my temptation to play Star Trek Timelines on a date was gone.

There was no temptation to multitask and check my email, the Light Phone receives no email.

There was no ability to keep working and bring up Word . . . Light Phone doesn’t do Microsoft applications.

All of this liberty came in a package that weighs about the same as my business card carrier, a hunk of black plastic with a “Kindle style” e-reader screen. In bright sunlight the screen outperforms most smart phones and in the dark: I should be asleep. The Light Phone can be used in the dark, of course, with the bonus that the light from the phone will not keep you awake after your call is done.

The news on this product is entirely good. My provider set up the SIM card and phone easily and the entire service will cost less than ten dollars a month. The lack of a camera means that privacy breeches (intentionally or unintentionally) are minimized. The phone makes calls easily and the speaker is clear. Texting is much harder than on an iPhone and so while one can do so, one will not wish to do so for long.

Excellent.

The good people at Light Phone have provided a very basic small chunk of external plastic and internal tech that does a few things well: phone, text, alarm (eventually mapping).

You may not need any mobile, but Light Phone is the device you need if you wish to stay in touch with the office while not being a slave to the job.

Well done!