Meet the zoomers who ditched their iPhones for flip phones

Lifestyle

by Ricky Schrott

Everyone flips out, and that can be a good thing.

An increasing number of school districts across the country are banning the use of cell phones. Politicians like Ron DeSantis have banned children under 14 from using social media. In March, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s book “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Driving an Epidemic of Mental Illness” shot to the top of the bestseller charts.

But some people are taking matters into their own hands, in ways that even Zoomer didn’t expect. To reclaim their time and mental health, more and more digital natives are switching from their smartphones to flip phones and “dumb phones” such as Nokia.

The Post spoke to four Gen Zers who are living retro lives with cell phones.

Sammy, 19: I was totally hooked on my iPhone.

Sammy was only 12 years old when he got his first iPhone. And she was the last kid in her entire school year to get her iPhone.

But then she got hooked on Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok.

“The endless scrolling was really addictive,” she told the Post.

And a few years later, when the world went into lockdown due to the pandemic, things got even worse.

“I felt like I couldn’t leave TikTok,” said Sammy, who asked that her last name be withheld for privacy reasons. “I had a hard time putting my phone down because I couldn’t sleep because I was using it for hours on end. That’s when I really felt like I was addicted.”

Now a 19-year-old sophomore, she is spotted on the University of Illinois campus with an unlikely accessory: an AT&T Cingular Flex flip phone.

In first grade, Sammy and a few friends decided to buy a flip phone after a long discussion about how smartphones were ruining their quality of life.

“We were talking about how today was supposed to be the best day of our lives, but we’re just always on our phones. Even when we go out to parties, everyone’s scrolling on their phones. “I’m just there,” she said. “I feel like we are missing out on most of the things that our parents and past generations exaggerated.”

She still has an iPhone, but now, several times a week when she needs to unplug, she only takes her flip phone with her in case of an emergency. And it will definitely be the talk of the bar. ”

Sammy says that even if parents and teachers want to help Zoomers overcome their screen addiction,, It’s probably a losing battle.

“When my mom told me to turn off the phone, it was just annoying. If my teacher told me to turn off my phone during class, I would think, ‘Well, your class is boring. “and.”

Even though she knew they were right, “even if they wanted to help, they couldn’t because I didn’t ask for help from any of them,” she said.

Alena Vandaele, 20: “It’s also a fashion trend”

“I feel like my childhood was cut short because of the iPhone,” 20-year-old Alena Vandaele told the Post. “But when I use my flip phone, it reminds me of my childhood in the early 2000s, and it’s very nostalgic.”

Vandaele, a home goods salesperson in Chicago, got her first smartphone at age 8 and has been using Snapchat and Instagram since middle school.

“I grew up constantly looking at my phone,” she said.

But two years ago, at age 18, she decided to make a change and bought a flip phone from Verizon. She just wanted to get away from the internet. ”

Now she added: “I enjoy the world more. It helps me soak in what I’m experiencing in life.”

Zoomer also predicts that as early 2000s clothing becomes popular again, technology from that era will also become popular as fashion accessories.

“I think this is going to be trendy,” she predicted. “If your style is anything like her Y2K, it definitely makes your aesthetic look more put together. It gives the early 2000s vibe a very authentic feel.”

Aicha Yoda, 25: A conversation starter

Aicha Yoda spoke to the Post via smartphone during a social media cleanse.

“It’s much better,” a psychiatric nurse in Frederick, Maryland, told the Post. “Your reality is exactly what you make it. Just unplug, and suddenly all the pressure of social media is gone. People only exist in your world if you let them.”

Yoda, 25, replaced his iPhone with a flip phone for a month to celebrate Ramadan in 2022.

“It was my own idea. I always wanted to go back to the 2000s, including the style and clothing,” she said.

She decided she wanted to go back to the flip phone she used from age 10 to 14. Because using her flip phone reminded her of simpler days.

“I don’t think having a flip phone affected my childhood at all. We would play outside, go to the creek, walk down cul-de-sacs, ride zip lines,” she recalled. .

But her relationship with her cell phone took a turn for the worse when she got an iPhone at age 14.

“I found myself comparing myself more and more on social media, especially during my teenage and adolescence years when my body was developing and I was a late bloomer,” Yoda said. “It had a huge impact on my self-image.”

After using her iPhone for nearly 10 years, she knew it was time to throw it away.

“I realized I was using my cell phone too much,” she said. “But actually, it was quite difficult for me to get used to using a flip phone. I felt like it was a kind of reflex for me to always reach for my phone at any spare moment when I was bored. .”

After Ramadan, she went back to her iPhone, but decided to keep her flip phone handy for the few days she needed to unplug. yeah, I’m doing it. ”

Now, Yoda typically uses the Flip one day a week when he goes out with friends. “A lot of strangers use Flip as a conversation starter. It actually gets a lot of attention. People act like I’m using a rock for a cell phone.”

Andrew Kim, 22: I finally said goodbye to my iPhone

Andrew Kim was sick and tired of being bombarded with social media photos of his wealthy friends – flashy vacations and luxury cars.

Just as bad, he felt he had to chase likes.

“Every time I posted something, I was constantly refreshing the page,” Kim told the Post. “I was obsessed with it.”

So he took a drastic step and made it impossible to torment himself.

The 22-year-old dental student traded in his iPhone since he was 10 for an AT&T flip phone during his sophomore year at Oregon Health & Science University.

“I really wanted to disconnect myself from my cell phone,” said Kim, who grew up in South Korea. “I didn’t like the idea of ​​being dependent on technology when there was so much more to life than technology.

“Thanks to my flip phone, I stopped comparing myself so much. It was the most present thing I’ve ever felt. My hobbies like painting and crocheting have been reinvigorated. It became easier to pay attention to other things I like.”

He says none of his friends wanted to join him in embracing old-school technology, but “many of them said they wished they had had the courage to do it too.

“I think more and more young people want to live a life rooted in reality rather than in a virtual world.”

However, in today’s real world, it is almost impossible to communicate without a smartphone.

“Navigation was one aspect I never considered,” he said. “I had to look up the places I wanted to go on Google Maps first.” [on a laptop] And take mental notes on how to get there. Traveling alone was unexpectedly difficult. ”

Kim admitted that after using a flip phone for two years, she felt she had to go back to her smartphone at the beginning of this semester. Because without her smartphone, she could not access messages from her professors and classmates about assignments in a timely manner.

However, “I’ll go back to using my flip phone as soon as I graduate.”