Everybody’s got one—maybe you’re even one yourself: the family member who, for the love of Baby Jesus, won’t put down their smartphone for a single minute to spend some quality time with the family this holiday season.
For that tech-addicted person, we suggest you give them the gift of Realism: the self-proclaimed “smart device for the good of humanity.” For clarification, this isn’t an actual gadget; it’s a smartphone-shaped frame whose large, empty center is meant to emphasize all the real-life things you’re missing when your face is glued to a screen. It’s kind of like Kickstarter’s famed NoPhone, another tech-free smartphone-shaped rectangle.
“The Realism™ smart device allows you to truly connect with the people and things most deserving of your attention,” the product’s website says. “Realism removes the digital barrier that disables your ability to be present and gives you the freedom to take part in your life once again. Welcome back to reality.”
The site goes on to explain Realism’s reason for being:
We share with our smart devices, eat with them, drive with them, and sleep next to them. But as smart devices get smarter, they create a digital barrier between us and the world right in front of us. Will we look up from our smart devices one day to realize we’ve missed something?
It also shares some statistics that are both alarming and unsurprising all at once, like that children 8-18 spend over 50 hours a week using smart devices and watching TV, and that 51 percent of people check their smart devices continuously while on vacation.
“Realism is for quality time with friends and family,” the site says. “For human interaction. For being present.”
The device—or, rather, the empty rectangular frame—is available in black, red, white and clear for $24.95. It seems a little pricey for a gag gift, but hey, it’s way cheaper than actual technology.