‘If this isn’t addiction, I don’t know what is’: Light Phone’s founders get real about screen time and building for the anti-smartphone generation

With the Light Phone, Kaiwei Tang and Joe Hollier have spent over a decade exploring the value of simplicity in our relationship to technology, partnering along the way with players like Andrew Yang, Kendrick Lamar, and Pete Davidson. Now, with a new flip phone and a growing wave of “attention activists” pushing back on big tech, they think the rest of the world is finally catching up to them.

On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Amanda Silberling talks with Tang and Hollier about the company's newly announced flip phone, why they think the anti-smartphone backlash is only just getting started, and what it takes to break an addiction that fits in your pocket.

Listen to the full episode to hear more about:

• How the design lessons from the original Motorola Razr shaped the new Light Flip

• What the "Summer of Ludd" attention activist movement says about Gen Z's relationship with big tech

• Why Light Phone is opening up an SDK so users can build their own tools instead of opting for an app store

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

0:51 Building Light Phone

3:10 The user shift: why people are finally ready to unplug

7:54 Designing outside the Silicon Valley bubble

9:54 Why simple tech is making a comeback (CDs, iPods, flip phones)

13:50 From the Motorola Razr to the Light Flip

17:54 Pricing and the Noble Mobile phone plan

19:44 What actually happens when you switch (and the Flip Your Life program)

23:13 Building an open-source app library for Light Phone

26:38 Outro

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