A Plant That Dies If You Look At Your Phone

14 · bookofjoe · Aug. 9, 2026, 12:22 p.m.
Summary
Simone Giertz invented a humorous gadget: a plant inside a bell jar that needs a grow-light activated by placing a phone in a slot. If the phone stays in for four hours, the light goes off, and the plant dies. Giertz reflects on the poetic implications of phone use detracting from both personal life and the plant's life. Though it's just a prototype, there's potential for marketability.