A Fake Phone Designed to Help You Use Your Real Phone Less

© WION
The “Methaphone” is a clear block shaped like a smartphone. It doesn’t work—but that’s the point.
In a world glued to screens, one man is offering a surprising solution: a phone that’s not a phone at all.
Eric Antonow, a former Google and Facebook executive, has created the Methaphone (fake phone) a clear acrylic slab shaped like a smartphone. It has no screen, no apps, and no function. And it just might help people break their phone addiction.

Antonow got the idea while sitting at a coffee shop. He joked with his family that phone users, like drug addicts, might one day need a “methadone” for their phones. That’s how the Methaphone was born.
He asked ChatGPT to generate a mockup. Then, within days, he ordered a small batch of real acrylic prototypes and launched an Indiegogo campaign. The goal: help people “leave your phone without the cravings or withdrawal.”
The first 100 units, priced at $25 each, sold out quickly.
A Culture Hooked on Screens

Smartphones are designed to keep us scrolling. Tech companies have introduced screen time controls, but many users ignore them. During the pandemic, phone use skyrocketed. Even now, the desire to unplug often loses to the temptation of endless content.
Antonow’s Methaphone doesn’t try to compete with tech, it removes it entirely. It’s a symbolic object, a physical cue to disconnect.
Other products in the same space include apps like Freedom, gadgets like Unpluq, and lockable pouches from Yondr. But the Methaphone stands out for doing almost nothing at all.
Viral Fame

When influencer Catherine Goetze posted a TikTok video using the Methaphone, it exploded online. The clip showed her mimicking phone use in a café—but with the clear block instead of a real device. It gained over 53 million views in five days.
Soon after, the Methaphone was completely sold out.
Antonow says future plans include offering Methaphones in public places—like restaurants—so people can eat without phone distractions.
More Than a Gag
Stanford addiction expert Anna Lembke says the Methaphone might help users reset their habits. “It’s like a zero-nicotine vape,” she said. “The motion is the same, but the reward is gone.”
Antonow has added sticker packs to the product. Labels like “Read,” “Daydream,” and “See Friends” turn the blank screen into a gentle reminder to be present.
Antonow sent a Methaphone to a reporter with simple instructions: use it like rosary beads. Touch it when you feel the urge to scroll.
The experience was oddly calming. At a coffee shop, the reporter tapped the acrylic phone instead of a real one. No one noticed. Everyone else was still locked into their screens.
The Methaphone may be just a clear block—but for some, it’s a small, quiet step back into the real world.
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