PERTH, AUSTRALIA / RankWire.AI / – New research from Edith Cowan University links interest in retro phone accessories with efforts to create distance from smartphones. Researcher Dr Jess Hardley examined how people manage devices that have become constant parts of daily life. The work covers wall-mounted smartphone docks and handsets with old-style coiled cords. It also examines practices that make phones less accessible. Hardley’s research draws on more than a decade of work with Australian smartphone users.
The research focuses on how people physically separate themselves from their phones rather than simply limiting screen time. Participants described leaving devices in another room or locking them away during parts of the day. One participant kept a phone inside a work drawer after mobile gaming began affecting concentration. Hardley also documented app restrictions, greyscale screen settings and other changes designed to reduce immediate access. The findings center on deliberate changes in how people keep and handle smartphones.
Retro phone accessories form another part of that pattern. Some products allow users to place smartphones in fixed locations instead of carrying them from room to room. Others connect modern devices to handsets modeled on traditional landline phones. Hardley examined these accessories alongside phone-free events and locking pouches used at concerts. The research does not measure whether individual products improve concentration or wellbeing. Instead, it documents how users are changing the physical relationship they have with their devices.
Physical distance becomes part of smartphone use
The paper places these practices within a longer history of mobile phones becoming closely integrated into everyday routines. Smartphones combine communication, entertainment, work tools, cameras, payments and internet access in portable devices. Hardley’s research examines what happens when users deliberately make those devices harder to reach. The study describes physical distance as one method people use when adjusting smartphone habits. It also considers how device restrictions can operate in homes, workplaces, events and other shared settings.
The paper, titled Revisiting the ‘Snug Tether’: Smartphones in an Era of Scroll-Free Social Events, Landline Accessories, and Device Bans, appeared in M/C Journal. It examines scroll-free social events, retro landline accessories, phone jails and smartphone restrictions. Hardley revisits earlier academic ideas about mobile phones as devices kept close to their users. The new work focuses on practices that interrupt that proximity. It also looks at who can take part in different forms of smartphone distancing.
Phone restrictions extend beyond individual users
The research arrives as smartphone restrictions also operate in Australian schools. Australian education ministers agreed to ban or restrict mobile phones in all public schools from Term 1 of 2024. A 2025 survey involving almost 1,000 New South Wales principals reported changes after restrictions took effect. According to the federal education ministry, 87% reported students were less distracted in classrooms. It said 81% reported improved learning. Those measures represent institutional limits on phone access during defined parts of the day.
Hardley’s work remains focused on how people manage their relationship with smartphones as the devices stay embedded in daily life. The research identifies physical separation, reduced accessibility and phone-free settings among the approaches users have adopted. Retro accessories sit within that wider group of practices rather than as a standalone technology category. Edith Cowan University published its summary of the findings on Aug. 18, 2026. The research adds documented examples to ongoing study of changing smartphone use in Australia.