New smartphones come out every year, but some younger Americans would rather have flip phones.
“Literally everyone and their mom is going to have a flip phone in 2023,” declared one TikTok influencer in a post published late last year, showing her followers her green AT&T Cingular flip phone.
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With an increased awareness of mental health problems — and an understanding of how social media in particular can worsen those issues — Gen Zers are looking for ways to curb their screen time, according to CNBC. The answer, at least for some, has been flip phones, or “feature phones,” as they’re now called.
As social media apps continue to demand more and more time, a burgeoning consumer base in the U.S. is pushing back, with younger users opting for “dumb phones” incapable of accessing such content.
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HMD Global, the maker of Nokia phones, reported strong sales in the U.S. in 2022, with the company selling tens of thousands of feature phones every month. The trend is growing so quickly, there’s a Reddit thread dedicated to discussing the phenomenon.
“I think you can see it with certain Gen Z populations — they’re tired of the screens,” Jose Briones, moderator of the subreddit r/dumbphones, told CNBC. “They don’t know what is going on with mental health and they’re trying to make cutbacks.”
With 18,000 active members, one Reddit commenter said his son switched to a feature phone “because he has an addictive personality and will waste countless hours surfing the net when he has a smartphone.”
Others in the community have explained they chose “dumb phones” over smartphones because the phones with limited tech capabilities help them to use them more effectively, rather than spending time mindlessly scrolling content that could inspire anxiety, fear, or dread.
Of course, it’s important to note, this trend is still developing. The vast majority of feature phone sales — some 80% — came from outside the U.S. in 2022, namely from the Middle East, Africa, and India.
There are, nevertheless, an increasing number of social media influencers, ironically, who are promoting the use of “dumb phones” over smartphones, and younger Americans are apparently paying attention.
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Companies like Light and Punkt — feature-phone producers — are picking up on the trend.
“What we’re trying to do with the Light phone isn’t to create a dumb phone, but to create a more intentional phone — a premium, minimal phone — which isn’t inherently anti-technology,” said Joe Hollier, cofounder of Light. “But it’s about consciously choosing how and when to use which aspects of technology that add to my quality of life.”
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