The mobile phone was meant to be a way to connect with people no matter where we were. It has become a way to disconnect from people. People are, however realising that real human connections serve a purpose and having, rather than observing, experiences is actually rather rewarding.

Interesting, two agencies – on in Canada and one in Sweden have come up with very similar ideas to get people to let go of their mobile phones for a while. A couple of weeks ago, Canadian agency, Mosaic, developed a bread box that stores mobile phones so that people could talk to one another while “breaking bread” together.

Mosaic: The breadbox that takes mobile phones away from the table

Now Swedish agency, Stendahls, has created a storage box, De:Vice for insurance company, Länsförsäkringar, that “parks” mobile phones so that people can interact without them.

Stendahls and Länsförsäkringar (which sees itself as a “wellbeing company”) have developed a number of life balance products, including the Skärmfri Lamp. which monitors screen time usage. Stendahls installed the lamp in the Hotel Bellora in Gothenburg, Sweden, where it was used to assess the price of a stay. Lower screen time – lower price.

Stendahls: The hotel suite whose price is determined by how much time you spend on social media

Hinting that mobile phone use is a hot topic in Sweden, De:Vice was named Christmas present of the year by Radio Sweden, so the partners built on their idea, producing 100 3D-printable models of the box and offered them to people willing to take up the challenge of putting down their phones for a while. The 3D templates were also released so that everyone could print out their own box once the physical examples run out – which happened in just a few minutes.

Credits:

Creative Agency: Stendahls

Chief Creative Officer: Martin Cedergren

Copywriter: Mikael Andersson

Art Director: Alexander Skoglund

Account Director: Peter Ohlsson

Account Manager: Anna Lotto

3D Artist: Joakim Lindblom

Photography: Karl Vestklev @ Studio Mint

Client: Länsförsäkringar