Vitaminwater Offers $100K to Quit Smartphones For a Year

How much would someone have to pay you to give up your smartphone for an entire year? Would $100,000 be enough?

If so, Vitaminwater is running a new contest you may want to enter. The drink seller will give one lucky person $100,000 to ditch their smartphone in favor of a "1996-era cellular telephone" for a full year.

If that sounds doable, here's what you need to do by Jan. 8 at 11:59 p.m. ET to enter: head on over to Twitter or Instagram and create a post explaining what you'd do with your time if you took a yearlong smartphone break and include the hashtags #NoPhoneforaYear and #contest. The contest is open to US residents aged 18 and older and Vitaminwater explicitly states in its official rules that "you cannot be required to use a smartphone for work or other commitments."

A panel of judges will review the entries and select one person to give it a shot, based on the creativity, cultural or brand relevance, humor, and quality of their submission.

if you gave up your phone for a year, you wouldn't have seen our contest. pic.twitter.com/QdBX5Bshik

— vitaminwater® (@vitaminwater) December 13, 2018

"The winner of this contest will be offered the opportunity to break his or her smartphone addiction by remaining free of use of any smartphone for 365 consecutive days," the company writes. "There will be separate rules and timing regarding that contract."

Vitaminwater will give the winner a dumb phone from the 90s, along with an accompanying phone plan, that they'll be able to use for communication during the yearlong contest. The rules state you won't be able to use or even touch any smartphone or tablet for 365 consecutive days, and you'll need to take a lie-detector test at the end of the contest to prove your abstinence. If you only last 6 months smartphone-free, Vitaminwater will give you $10,000.

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Considering nearly half of Americans couldn't last more than a day without their phone, this contest will definitely be a challenge. On the plus side, though, other devices, including laptops, desktop computers, and voice-activated smart speakers such as Google Home ($99.00 at Target) and Amazon Echo are OK to use during the contest.