According to The University of Maine, about 92% of internet users are on social media apps such as TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and many others, often for hours each day. The average person in the United States spends almost two and a half hours a day on social media alone. Many people simply can’t control picking up their phone and spending hours a day on it.
Social Media is very addictive, and that is why people are switching phones. According to a 2022 study from Harvard University led by Kelsey Hansen, social networking sites trigger the same part of the brain that is triggered while taking addictive substances. There have also been many different studies linking social media usage to negative mental health effects. According to the World Health Organization, 11% of adolescents showed signs of negative effects from social media and struggled to limit usage. Some of these effects include anxiety, depression, or lower confidence. Also, according to Exploding Topics, daily screen time has increased by over 30 minutes per day since 2013, and the average American spends seven hours and three minutes a day looking at a screen. This is why some people are replacing their smartphones with dumb phones.
A dumb phone is like it sounds, the opposite of a smartphone. However, it is not actually dumb; it just doesn’t have the features that a smartphone has. It has all of the features that you would need, like making calls, sending text messages, alarms, a keypad, and a very long battery life. What makes them “dumb”, however, is that they don’t have features like mobile games, social media access, or a touch screen. These features are things that people may think they need on a smartphone, but really, they are just for entertainment. Not only do people not need them, but they can also be bad for them, with addiction to their phones, as shown in the study by Harvard.
In recent years, many more people have been buying dumb phones. According to an article by CNN, between 2022 and 2023, Nokia’s brand of dumb phones sales have doubled. This has also led to a protest campaign on Social Media using the hashtag, “#BringBackFlipPhones”. People are turning to dumb phones for various reasons. The most popular reasons are limiting screen time and social media usage, which are both very big problems for many people. Although the changing of their phones has been more popular among kids and teenagers, there are many adults who are buying dumb phones as well to stay more connected with their families. They will be able to focus more on helping their kids out at home and maintaining strong relationships with them. Another reason for its popularity is its simplicity, which can be helpful for many reasons. It can be an easy phone to use for the elderly or people who just want a phone for their needs. It can also be used much more easily in an emergency situation where you just need to call 911 or a family member very quickly.
With all of the negative effects of social media and the positives of dumb phones, it is exactly why people are buying them. Popular dumb phone brands like Nokia, Punkt, and Light Phone have increased in sales recently. All of these brands of dumb phones may have seemed like they were going out of style, but actually, they were not going anywhere.
