Let me start off by saying that I do not want to guide purchasing decisions. That said, I want to point out a new marketing phenomenon - Digital Zen.
What is Digital Zen? Well, don't you feel like you spend too much time on your phone? Too much time scrolling mindlessly? Too much time glued to a screen instead of out in the "real world"? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then well, I have the prodcuts for you! You could buy the Light Phone 3, for only $700. What are its features, why does it cost so much? Well it has android and some built in apps - like a calendar, calculator, notes and voice memos - but it doesn't have an app store. That's worth $700 to your right?
Okay, okay, maybe that's too expensive for your blood? Well you could get a Minimal Phone for only $400. It has an e-ink screen, and the worst keyboard you've ever used. If that doesn't float your boat, you could get the Phone Detox Device. What does it do? Nothing, it's a pink square.
Let me drop the affect here. What I want to bring up is this new marketing tactic - telling people that they're phone addicted - telling people that they're spending too much time scrolling the internet - and that your product will fix their lives. Digital Zen tends to appropriate some of the imagery of the "Mindfulness Movement", several rungs downstream of Buddhism.
Now maybe this is hyperbole - none of the merchants of Digital Zen ever use the term "phone addiction", although the light phone conspicuously mentions "digital detox". This is for good reason, as the DSM-5 categorizes most such 'behavioral addictions' as impulse-control disorders. (The only exception is gambling disorder.) From [1] we see that there is no evidence for the development of tolerance with smart phone usage - moreover classifying problematic smart phone use as an addiction carries the risk of creating a false panic.
It is true, of course, that mass smartphone and social media adoption has caused some tremendous social harms - and some people do in fact use smartphones as a maladaptive coping strategy to other social neuroses. However, a lot of Digital Zen is meant to make you feel bad for what turns out to be fairly common behavior - you are not outside enough - you are not reading enough - you are not living enough. Maybe these are true for you, maybe these are false for you, but part "wasting time" as an important part of the human experience.
Anyway, I have no grand conclusion here - I just wanted to point out this marketing strategy - selling you a phone to make you use your phone less, for only $500. Let me know and shoot me a message if you see any other examples!