We traded our smartphones for flip phones for 4 days—and learned that ditching modern technology is harder than it sounds
Key takeaways
- For many people who got their first cellphones in the late 1990s or early 2000s, flip phones were chrome and neon portals into pop culture and newfound social circles with your peers.
- Some Gen Zers and millennials use apps or hardware to block their access to social media, set their smartphone screens to grayscale, or purchase "dumb phones" that can't access the internet.
- Their phones could only call, text and take low-resolution photos.
For many people who got their first cellphones in the late 1990s or early 2000s, flip phones were chrome and neon portals into pop culture and newfound social circles with your peers.
Now, the digital world — a constantly accessible gateway to millions of other people, information on every subject and breaking news from around the world — feels frustratingly cluttered to a growing number of those same one-time flip-phone enthusiasts.
Some Gen Zers and millennials use apps or hardware to block their access to social media, set their smartphone screens to grayscale, or purchase "dumb phones" that can't access the internet. Reddit's "r/dumbphones" forum has 185,000 weekly visitors, as of Friday afternoon, and "offline groups" offer 30-day dumb phone challenges that encourage groups of participants to meet up in person.