The project developed by [brenpoly] aims to reduce smartphone use by leveraging human empathy and the bond formed with virtual pets. The ESP32-based device is housed in a cute 3D-printed case; reactions such as becoming ill based on phone use, along with other virtual animal behaviors, run on the ESP32 through hard-coded instructions. A local LLM running on the phone accesses both screen time and notifications. Thanks to the Whisper model, which connects to the microphone on the device via Bluetooth, users can receive the content or a summary of notifications without looking at their phone; it is also possible to ask the device for a joke. The local Piper model gives the animal a voice and encourages users to put down their phones when usage limits are reached. The project files were shared on GitHub. Phone stands and smart cases are also among the alternatives for limiting phone use.
Why it matters
The project expands tools for reducing smartphone use beyond phone stands and smart cases that merely limit usage time, toward an interface that interacts with the user. Access to notifications and voice responses aim to reduce the need to look at the screen without completely disabling the phone; for this reason, the solution attempts to change the behavior of users who want to keep up with the flow of notifications. The combined use of local LLM, Whisper, and Piper models establishes a technical setup in which functions are divided between the phone app and the ESP32 device; the hard-coded animal reactions form the behavioral layer of this setup. An open question is to what extent these behaviors and audio prompts will resonate with different users’ habits of setting limits; the files shared on GitHub make it possible to examine the approach.