This Indie Game Simulates Using a Smartphone

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who instinctively opens and closes apps, like browsing through virtual displays, giving myself the illusion of actually accomplishing something.

Enter IAIYWOYP, which imagines a scenario where you’re merely pretending to be on your phone. This platform gives you random commands and actions to carry out:

“Widen your eyes and then frown,” it might say.

As you engage, you tap circles as they appear, swipe when prompted, and sometimes you’re instructed to clean your screen.

Together, these actions craft a perfect little dance that might convince the people at the next restaurant table that you’re absorbed in your phone and definitely not listening to their conversation.

What really intrigues—and slightly unsettles—me is just how satisfying this whole process is. I enjoy double-tapping that pink circle and thoughtfully pressing my fingers to my lips. Perhaps it’s the role-playing, or maybe this straightforward feedback is practically all I need from my phone. I’m a habitual phone user, with little to show for it besides almost 2,000 wins in Sawayama Solitaire.

If following orders from a quirky phone game holds my attention just as much as, say, scrolling through Bluesky, then I have to ask myself, what am I really doing?