More people than ever before are ditching their latest model iPhones and Androids and instead using “dumb phones” or burners which only let them make and receive calls, says new research.
Sales of so called “dumb phones” — straightforward handsets which have no internet connectivity and just let users make and receive calls — are up by 5% in the past year, according to Sky News. Also known as feature phones or burners, these no frills devices outstrip sales of smartphones in the same period, which rose only by 2%.
The resurgence of the simple phone has been heralded by some as a move away from social media and the pressure to be constantly online, connected and in contact. It comes as a new report from Ofcom found that 78% of British people believed they could not live without their smartphones. According to the same, Ofcom found we collectively spend a staggering two hours and 28 minutes on our phone every single day.
But while millennials, who grew up in the age of dial-up internet and shared family computers, are now beholden to social media and the smartphone, Gen Z are more skeptical. Concerned about their digital footprint, a 2015 report in the New York Times says many Generation Z teens will avoid being photographed in compromising positions that may appear online, and i-D spoke to many who are deleting their social media, taking their lives offline entirely.
So if your phone contract is about to run out, maybe think twice before renewing it. Grab yourself a burner and relive the simple joys of not scrolling through Instagram every day on the train. Or better still, dig out your old 3310, load up your pay-as-you-go sim and play a game of Snake instead!