{"id":23873,"date":"2025-11-05T12:07:41","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T20:07:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=23873"},"modified":"2025-11-05T12:54:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T20:54:28","slug":"is-that-your-phone-the-dumbphone-trend-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/is-that-your-phone-the-dumbphone-trend-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Is that your phone?\u2019 The \u2018dumbphone\u2019 trend, explained"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Graphic of flip phone | Graphic made by Addison Watts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nov 5 2025 | \u00a0Kiera Roedel | Copy Editor<\/span><\/p>\n

Stop me if this sounds familiar: it\u2019s late at night and there are assignments that need to get done, but it\u2019s impossible to put down the smartphone. This type of situation is all too common for college students, prompting questions about social media addiction and the need to do a \u201cdigital detox.\u201d While some people simply set screen-time limits on their phones and stay mindful of the time they spend scrolling, a growing number \u2014 including myself \u2014 have taken the next step: going back to a time before smartphones.<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cdumbphone\u201d trend has been gaining prevalence online over the past couple of years, mostly due to its nostalgic or aesthetic value. But dumbphones, defined as cell phones without easy access to an app store or modern web-based apps, have legitimate utility as a means to get off social media and spend more time living in the real world.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve spent over a year using a flip phone as my main device. It has access to the following functions: calling, texting, a two-megapixel \u2014 yes, two \u2014 camera, an MP3 player and some basic utilities like a calculator and calendar. It also has a simple web browser that\u2019s too slow and outdated to even load the front page of Reddit. And that\u2019s literally it. No Instagram, no TikTok, no DoorDash, no Google Maps, no Spotify and no way to download or access any of those services. The vast reduction in available apps and connectivity is definitely an adjustment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Regardless, there are some notable advantages to using a dumbphone. For one, it\u2019s apparent immediately upon switching just how much time people spend on their phones. In the time between classes, in the library, at meals \u2014 it feels like nobody even bothers to look up. Recapturing those lost minutes declutters my brain and is very refreshing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Second is the nostalgic or aesthetic value that I mentioned. I won\u2019t lie \u2014 I didn\u2019t initially switch to a flip phone because I felt the need to digitally detox. It was because I felt nostalgia for the time when \u201ccell phone\u201d meant a weird plastic trinket that people could fiddle with in bizarre ways to expose extra screens and keyboards. Using a flip phone nowadays allows me to recapture a little bit of that feeling.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A third benefit is the cost. In a time when a new iPhone or top-of-the-line Samsung can easily run over $800, being able to pick up a flip phone from a department store for under $50 is a breath of fresh air. Mine cost $19.99 from Tracfone, and I\u2019m still using it a year and a half later. That\u2019s just an objectively good deal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not everything is sunshine and rainbows in the dumbphone world. For one thing, missing out on things that people have come to consider basic utilities, like Google Maps, really stings. It can be seen as another part of the package \u2014 learning to navigate alone\u00a0 or by paper map is, in a sense, just another part of the digital detox. And some app-based services have alternatives, like the fact that anyone can call a phone number to get an Uber, no app required.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t totally gotten rid of my smartphone. I still use it for things like my D&D character sheet and for when I need to take a picture that isn\u2019t insufferably \u2014 yet aesthetically \u2014 grainy. But the opportunity to leave that toxic glass brick in a drawer where it belongs the majority of the time is a truly eye-opening experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Contact the author at howlcopyeditor@wou.edu<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1645,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"\u2018Is that your phone?\u2019 The \u2018dumbphone\u2019 trend, explained","_seopress_titles_desc":"A small but growing number of people are embracing a time before smartphones","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[7148,7126,7128,1115,1117,7119,7140,7142,7132,7135,7131,3200,7129,3616,5452,7122,7118,7124,7127,7143,7133,938,7130,7152,7121,7125,7144,7139,54,7147,7146,1617,7136,7151,4125,7150,7138,5708,7149,1118,1271,7123,1937,7120,1151,168,1158,3374,7134,533,7153,7145,7141,7137,684,608,39],"class_list":["post-23873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-2000s","tag-aesthetic","tag-android","tag-app-store","tag-apple","tag-assignments","tag-calculator","tag-calendar","tag-calling","tag-calls","tag-cell-phones","tag-cost","tag-detox","tag-digital","tag-digital-detox","tag-dumbphones","tag-fill-college","tag-flip-phones","tag-google","tag-google-maps","tag-google-play","tag-instagram","tag-ios","tag-iphone","tag-late-nights","tag-limits","tag-maps","tag-mp3-player","tag-music","tag-music-streaming","tag-navigation","tag-nostalgia","tag-phone-camera","tag-phone-prices","tag-phones","tag-prices","tag-reddit","tag-retro","tag-retro-phones","tag-samsung","tag-school","tag-screen-addiction","tag-screen-time","tag-smartphones","tag-social-media","tag-spotify","tag-streaming","tag-texting","tag-texts","tag-tiktok","tag-tracfone","tag-uber","tag-web","tag-web-browser","tag-western","tag-western-oregon-university","tag-wou"],"modified_by":"saragerrick","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1645"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23873"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23879,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23873\/revisions\/23879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}