Roughly 5.83 billion people worldwide own a smartphone; that’s a massive number of folks connected to the Internet. These mobile devices were introduced in the 90s and have since completely changed how people interact, connect across distances, work, and even entertain themselves. The only problem is that this invention might have worked a little too well, with folks finding themselves chronically online because of the perpetual stream of alerts and notifications that’s always coming from their phone. With so many people glued to their devices, it’s no wonder a quiet revolution is pushing everyone to digitally detox. One way Gen Z has done this is by trading their smartphone for a “dumb” one. On TikTok, the hashtag #BringBackFlipPhones gained more than 59.8 million views, and in 2023, U.S. feature phone sales reached over 2.8 million units, showing a surge of interest in retro tech. When one’s cellphone is almost seen as an extension of oneself, this kind of cultural shift is surprising. So, let’s unpack why young people are buying flip phones out of the blue, and hear from a cybersecurity veteran and a podcaster who Bored Panda interviewed to understand whether this trend is here to stay or go. magnific / Magnific (not the actual photo) It seems like the average person spends nearly 4 hours and 37 minutes on their phone every day and checks it about 58 times. Research shows that this adds up to 70 days a year of us just being on our devices. Surprisingly, people in Indonesia tend to spend the most time on their mobiles, with average use over 6 hours per day. People seem to find it hard to separate from their devices, and that’s why 59% of folks use their smartphones while on the toilet, and 27% text when they’re at stoplights. More than half of the folks surveyed also said their main reason for staying online and scrolling was boredom. This constant need to be connected to the Internet is a problem for 3 out of 4 Gen Z, which is why 41% are actively trying to reduce their screen time. More than half of Americans also feel too dependent on their devices and say they need to rely on them less. According to Matt McLear, who is the creator of Beard Laws as well as a longtime podcaster and content creator, “encouraging people to spend less time on the Internet is probably a terrible business strategy. But I'm also a dad of three daughters, and I completely understand why younger people might want a break from feeling like they have to be connected, reachable, and entertained every second of the day. Sometimes boring is underrated.” Owl Illustration Agency / Unsplash (not the actual photo) Anyone who has ever scrolled online has probably come across some low-quality videos that are hard to look away from. This type of content is referred to as “brain rot” for the simple reason that it can lead to a person’s mental or intellectual state deteriorating as a result of overconsuming such material. Although Henry David Thoreau coined the term in his book Walden, published in 1854, it’s more relevant than ever today. That’s because over 4 billion Internet-connected young adults spend hours doomscrolling this content and, as a result, struggle to take time away from their screens. According to National Geographic, young people are spending so much time consuming brain rot posts that they may be experiencing symptoms of accelerated brain aging as a result. This happens because our brain releases dopamine when we watch new, interesting content, and it may begin to crave that “feel-good” chemical even more, pushing folks to keep scrolling. This persistent desire creates an unfortunate cycle that can lead to shorter attention spans and, in the long run, overstimulation. Since young people have grown up in a technology-driven world, they’re also at greater risk for this digital addiction. This could explain why so many are trying to undo the social media damage by trading their smartphones for retro models, as it could help them escape the brain rot. cottonbro studio / Pexels (not the actual photo) Even though we’re thoroughly desensitized to the fact that there are iPad kids or that young children are on social media, a study published in JAMA Network Open found that nearly 70% of people owned a smartphone by age 12. Despite this being the average age most folks are given mobiles, the research noted that having a device that young was associated with more eating disorder symptoms. Of the 6225 smartphone-owning participants in the study, 9% experienced binge eating as adolescents. Around the time they reached 14, 24% of the kids reported having at least one eating disorder symptom. This figure was a not insignificant 8% lower for children who received devices a little later in life. The culprit behind this problem is the exposure to social media, which can affect a young kid’s self-esteem and self-worth. To learn more about this issue, we reached out to Tom Eston, a 20+ year cybersecurity veteran and the founder and host of the Shared Security Podcast. He mentioned that “Smartphones can have a real impact on a young person’s time and mental well-being when use becomes constant or compulsive. The biggest concerns are often fragmented attention, disrupted sleep, pressure to be always available, social comparison, and less time for in-person relationships, hobbies, exercise, or simply being bored.” He mentioned that young people might be moving toward flip phones and other “dumb” phones because they want more control over their attention. “Smartphones are incredibly useful, but they are also built around constant connectivity: notifications, social feeds, group chats, streaming, and shopping, all compete for attention throughout the day. For some people, it is less about rejecting technology entirely and more about setting healthier boundaries with it. I'm seeing this a lot with the younger generations,” he added. Hert Niks / Pexels (not the actual photo) Since social media and mobile phones seem to take up so much of our time, attention, and energy, it’s no wonder young folks are striving for peace and calm. That’s probably why the r/dumbphones community has over 190k weekly visitors and has grown exponentially since it was created in 2014. Even though it promotes simple living by embracing “dumb” technology, this idea seems more appealing to Gen Z. Even in the early 2000s, schools, institutions, and workplaces often organized “cellphone-free” days to push back against the expectation that people must always be “available.” Now, even though people’s entire lives are tied up with their devices, using a retro phone helps them set a clear boundary against the relentless barrage of incoming notifications. It also allows them to escape social media burnout and persistent algorithms. Matt McLear also mentioned: “I think younger people are discovering something those of us who grew up before smartphones accidentally had: the ability to disappear for a few hours without everyone assuming we'd been kidnapped.” He explained that mobiles are amazing, but also exhausting, as every app wants our attention. The constant barrage of texts, notifications, and the feeling that we always have to pick up our devices to check silly videos and posts never leaves. “A flip phone eliminates most of that. You can call. You can text. You can take a picture that looks like possible evidence of Bigfoot. That's about it, and honestly, there's something appealing about that,” he added. josieelias / Magnific (not the actual photo) Young people aren’t just buying retro phones; they’re also turning to a lot more physical media like cassettes, records, and books. Even hobbies like knitting, woodworking, pottery, and crochet are making a comeback. According to research by the Archbridge Institute, nearly 68% of Gen Z report feeling nostalgic for eras before their generation, and 73% said they enjoy media, styles, hobbies, or traditions from earlier times. Nostalgia definitely fills people with a warm, gooey feeling about the past, and helps folks appreciate ideas, traditions, and ways of living they might otherwise never have experienced. The “boring” phone is built on this longing for simplicity and a hope that we could replace our powerful smart devices with something as brick-like as the Nokias we all had before. Matt Mclear explains that “the funniest thing is that some younger people are nostalgic for a time they never actually lived through. They're discovering flip phones, digital cameras and wired headphones, while people my age are standing in the background thinking, ‘Guys, that was just our stuff.’ My first cell phone was a Nokia with a green screen. We had Snake. That was basically the entire entertainment department.” He mentioned that before smartphones, you could call someone’s landline and make plans before you left the house. If you reached their place and they weren’t home, you just figured you'd eventually find them in the area. Matt also shared: “I think that's what younger people are actually nostalgic for. Not necessarily the flip phone itself, but what it represents. Less noise. Fewer notifications. Less pressure to always be available. We spent the last 20 years figuring out how to put our entire lives inside our phones. Now younger people might be discovering the greatest technological innovation of all: closing the phone.” user15959949 / Magnific (not the actual photo) Have you ever talked about a product you wanted to buy or an activity you wanted to do and then slowly started seeing advertisements for it on your social media feed? Many folks have had this eerie experience, which can make it feel like digital platforms are eavesdropping on us all the time. In fact, companies and businesses have gotten so good at tracking our online behavior that they can use it for targeted advertising. That’s why a report by Usercentrics notes that nearly 60% of consumers are concerned about how much data is collected on them. Another 63% feel businesses aren’t transparent about what personal information they collect. This constant online surveillance is exactly why younger folks are taking matters into their own hands and looking for ways to limit their screen time. Retro phones seem to solve this issue as they are mainly built to facilitate simple messaging and calling, and keep the Internet at bay, which can sometimes be a relief. The smartphone emerged as a way to avoid having multiple devices for different tasks, like a radio for music, a VCR for movies, or a phone for calls. The problem is that this one mobile device also left many folks overstimulated, since it could do just about everything, and we simply could not look away. Ironically, this has been the biggest reason behind the push for digital minimalism and the return of single-use tech. This includes dumb phones with limited functionality, film cameras, books and e-readers like Kindle, MP3 players or iPods, and even physical planners. According to TechRepublic, another reason why these minimalist devices are becoming so popular is that they’re free from online advertisements, notifications, or pesky algorithmic recommendations. That’s why Gen Z users, many of whom weren't even alive when many of these devices first came out, are embracing the technology’s limitations as strengths. MilaAraujo / Magnific (not the actual photo) Gen Z is a term that covers folks born between 1997 and 2012 who experienced technology's growth and development firsthand. Even though they’re the first generation to grow up with smartphones, they’re leading the rebellion against them, possibly because they're fatigued by constant connectivity, attention fragmentation, comparison anxiety, and notification-driven stress. Research by Scult India also suggests that parents and educators support the dumb phone cause because they worry about increased screen time for children. Since kids are also bringing their smartphones to school, many institutions are pushing parents to get them retro flip phones instead to keep little ones from constant distraction. Research by dumbphone.in mentions that most folks are going for minimalist phones like the Light Phone III, Punkt MP02, Mudita Kompakt, or the Nokia 2780 Flip. Some aspiring clamshell owners even try to get vintage devices like the Motorola Razr V3 from online marketplaces, but this can be risky, as there is no guarantee a used phone will work. For people who want a slight detox from their smartphones but still want to embrace the trend, models like the Nokia 2660 Flip offer better battery life, GPS, a larger display, and cellular network access. An interesting option is the HMD Barbie phone, which many teens seem to like because it combines simplicity with a kind of retro-futuristic flair. Many youth are trying to replace their smartphones so they can live a more “switched-off” life. Just as chronically online people are told to ‘touch grass,’ this movement also encourages people to reconnect with the physical world rather than get trapped in a digital one. Research by AARP notes that when adults were told to remove Internet access from their phones for 2 weeks, 70% reported good mental health and 73% said their well-being improved. Folks also found their attention had risen significantly. A study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology involved over 600 randomly selected individuals, who were divided into three groups. One group wasn’t allowed to use their smartphones for one week. The next group had to cut down their mobile usage by an hour daily, and the final group used their devices as normal without changing their behaviors. After collecting data for over a year, they noted that reducing screen time by an hour a day has been shown to help folks sleep better, feel less anxious, and be more satisfied with their lives. This technique proved more effective than not using social media at all or being chronically online. So, a small digital detox can help people, rather than completely switching to a dumb-phone lifestyle. SkelDry / Magnific (not the actual photo) Let’s face it, dumping your smartphone for a dumbed-down model might not sound appealing to everyone, and it might also be hard to switch off so easily. That’s why we’re sharing a few ways you can try doing the tech detox in a simpler way: Start with a device-free weekend and see how long you can go without reaching for your phone. During this time, try fun hobbies, do crafts, go for a walk, cook a few dishes, read a physical book, or draw. You can also attend digital detox retreats in off-grid cabins or rural areas that help you escape being online along with other folks. Start using more single-purpose devices, like a physical alarm clock, an e-reader, an iPod, or a television to watch shows. Some people even use apps like ‘Brick,’ which monitor screen time and can temporarily lock distracting apps on your smartphone. Even on your device, you can install greyscale mode or minimalist launchers that make the phone seem less distracting or attractive for a while, especially when you need to concentrate. What you need to understand is that the great logging-off trend isn’t about going back to the past and embracing old tech; it’s about being intentional with how we spend our time online. Rather than getting lost in our smartphones, young people are deliberately making time to slow down and smell the roses, while also probably slamming flip phones shut on each other, just like we all did.
