Meet the new gadgets designed to kill our dependence on gadgets

On our video call, Shreyas Narlanka holds up a 3-inch square screen called Meadow. It looks like a thick, equilateral iPhone 13 mini. It would easily fit in my jeans’ front pocket. I instantly wanted one. The Meadow is just one of a small but growing merry band of devices that want to help people cut their hyperdependency on their smartphones. There’s Ikko’s MindOne Pro, a kids’ phone called Freckle, the Light Flip phone, and even an aluminum case called RePod designed to turn...