It’s a well-known fact that phone time before bed makes it harder to sleep. Studies show that a nighttime scroll keeps your brain active, delays REM sleep, and may even disrupt your circadian rhythm. Now, Ikea has created an unusual solution to this damaging habit: designing a dedicated bed for your phone.
The Ikea Phone Sleep Collection is essentially an ultra-miniaturized version of an Ikea bed frame, made in the perfect dimensions to cradle your smartphone on a bedside table. Embedded in the bed’s frame is an NFC chip that tracks how long the phone has been tucked in. If the time exceeds seven hours for seven consecutive nights, the user is rewarded with a shopping voucher of around $27. Despite its diminutive size, this five-piece product, like almost all of Ikea’s inventory, comes flat-packed and requires self-assembly.
“From the masters of sleep comes a new revolution in rest: A complete breakthrough in bedtime that will change the world for good,” an ad for the phone bed reads. “It’s the innovation you didn’t know you needed until now, and that you will never not need again.”
Unfortunately for doomscrollers in the U.S., the agency Memac Ogilvy made the the Phone Sleep Collection exclusively for Ikea customers in the United Arab Emirates, where it’s currently available to locals who spend more than $207 on Ikea products. While the phone bed is clearly a marketing ploy, it’s not exactly an outlandish idea within today’s growing market for “hacks” to reduce screentime.
Why tucking your phone into bed makes sense, actually
Around 2017, dumbphones enjoyed a spike in popularity as smartphone users began to realize just how much their phones dictated their daily lives, with brands including Nokia and Consumer Cellular jumping in on the trend. Since then, though, the dumbphone craze has waned slightly as smartphones have become an increasingly integral and unavoidable tool for both work and life. Instead, luddite hopefuls are turning to creative alternatives to cut their screentime.
Recent solutions have included screentime reducing apps, like Hank Green’s Focus Friend or the Touch Grass app; a “Brick” device that blocks distracting apps; and even a phone case that’s so heavy it’s literally hard to pick up. The Ikea phone bed is basically another concept within this realm, except specifically geared toward the nighttime ritual.
“While the Phone Sleep Collection is a limited launch here in the UAE, its underlying principle addresses a universal challenge,” says Carla Klumpenaar, Ikea UAE’s GM of marketing, communications, HF & retail design. “We believe that small, mindful rituals, like tucking your phone into its own bed, can create better routines that can contribute to improved sleep quality and mental clarity. This initiative transforms an everyday challenge into an engaging lifestyle habit, underlining IKEA’s commitment to offering meaningful solutions that extend beyond just furniture.”
Is it silly? Of course. But if it works to reclaim even a bit of shut-eye, it might just be genius.