Hello! Hope you’re having a great week. Let’s do a little calendaring: Today’s paid-subscriber newsletter is a bit shorter because tomorrow we have a special edition column with a video we’ve been working hard on. Then I’ll be back again on Friday. So many newsletters.
Below, some exciting anti-smartphone gadget launches that have caught my eye, including a “callback” to the Commodore. Plus, Snap’s new Specs might just crush it—and by it, I mean your ears.
CREDIT: Snap, Commodore
There are two camps in the anti-smartphone movement right now.
The first wants less technology. They cheer for flip phones! MP3 players! Point-and-shoot cameras! And really anything that can’t send a push notification.
The second camp wants different technology. They aren’t trying to go backward, they’re trying to move beyond the smartphone. Their vision involves AI glasses, earbuds, pendants, pins and whatever gadget can eliminate or at least cut down our dependence on rectangular screens.
These two groups probably don’t agree on much—I haven’t tried to get representatives from both sides together at Camp David to confirm. But they do share a core belief: We spend way too much time looking down at glowing slabs.
Around half of Americans want to reduce their screentime, which averages around five hours a day, according to a YouGov survey last summer. The last 24 hours brought two fresh gadget announcements from both camps that I thought were really interesting. Let’s review them.
This newsletter was written and curated by Joanna Stern and Adele Lowitz. Don’t miss us too much. We’ll be back tomorrow!
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