“I think you can see it with certain Gen Z populations: they’re tired of screens.”
brick renaissance
Nostalgic members of Generation Z are resurrecting a ghost from tech’s past: flip phones or “dummy phones” from a bygone era that predates the age of smartphones.
“I think you can see it with certain Gen Z populations: they’re tired of screens,” José Briones, a goofy phone influencer who moderates the r/dumb phones subreddit, said CNBC. “They don’t know what’s going on with mental health and they’re trying to make cuts.”
Honestly? We understand. Today’s kids have grown up surrounded by more technology than previous generations could only imagine, and while phones and social media have become an integral part of everyday life in a way that changes society, a batch Recent research has suggested that constant exposure to screens and social media could be really bad for people, especially young people.
In short, reclaiming a life without screens, or at least fewer screens, makes a lot of sense to you. We say: dumb phones for everyone!
minimal phones
According CNBCGen Z’s apparent affection for dumb phones isn’t reflected so much in sales as in social media tags. Still, experts don’t discount the idea that we could see an eventual rebound in sales.
That being said, the advancement of dumb phones is also reflected in a different way: the emergence of dumb phone-adjacent products like the light phonewhich is marketed as “minimal”, instead of, you know, idiot – alternative to smartphones.
“What we’re trying to do with the Light phone is not to create a dumb phone, but to create a more intentional phone, a premium, minimal phone, that’s not inherently anti-tech,” Joe Hollier, co-founder of Light, said. CNBC. “But it’s about consciously choosing how and when to use what aspects of technology add to my quality of life.”
It’s a nice sentiment, though it’s a decidedly healthy take on the anti-smartphone movement.
The growing affection for Gen Z, on the other hand, feels more like the result of an outright rejection of a quintessential symbol of modernity rather than a desire for a sleek reinvention of the cell phone.
So before you get too worried, teens are, at least for the most part, fine. Instead, pray for millennials, who are letting their iPhones make them derived from the dream crypt keepers.
READ MORE: Dumb phones are on the rise in the US as Gen Z looks to limit screen time (CNBC)
Another reason to use a dummy phone: Guy discovers a way to unlock any Pixel phone without the passcode
