I can remember my first mobile phone. It was a Nokia, but I can’t remember the model number. It was Christmas 1997 and I was surprised to receive it. It had a clip on the back but I swear to God, I never wore it on my belt. Remember those dickheads?
As you well know, those phones were just, well, phones. You could make and receive calls and send text messages. Camera phones were unimaginable then. I made very few calls on mine because it was incredibly expensive at that time.
It seems the old phones or “dumbphones” as they are called now, are making a bit of a comeback.
According to the BBC:
Dumbphones are continuing to enjoy a revival. Google searches for them jumped by 89% between 2018 and 2021, according to a report by software firm SEMrush.
And while sales figures are hard to come by, one report said that global purchases of dumbphones were due to hit one billion units last year, up from 400 million in 2019. This compares to worldwide sales of 1.4 billion smart phones last year, following a 12.5% decline in 2020.
Meanwhile, a 2021 study by accountancy group Deloitte said that one in 10 mobile phone users in the UK had a dumbphone.
“It appears fashion, nostalgia, and them appearing in TikTok videos, have a part to play in the dumbphone revival,” says Ernest Doku, mobiles expert at price comparison site Uswitch.com. “Many of us had a dumbphone as our first mobile phone, so it’s natural that we feel a sense of nostalgia towards these classic handsets.”
Mr Doku says it was the 2017 relaunch of Nokia’s 3310 handset – first released in 2000, and one of the biggest-selling mobiles of all time – that really sparked the revival. “Nokia pushed the 3310 as an affordable alternative in a world full of high-spec mobiles.”
He adds that while it’s true that dumbphones can’t compete with the latest premium Apple and Samsung models when it comes to performance or functionality, “they can outshine them in equally important areas such as battery life and durability”.
However, battery life and durability are not the only benefits of owning a dumbphone. The BBC spoke to 17 year-old Robin West. She decided on a whim, to bin her smartphone a couple of years ago,
She told BBC business reporter Suzanne Bearne:
“I didn’t notice until I bought a brick phone how much a smartphone was taking over my life. I had a lot of social media apps on it, and I didn’t get as much work done as I always on my phone.
I’m happy with my brick (dumbphone). I don’t think it limits me. I’m definitely more proactive.”
Psychologist Przemek Olejniczak got rid of his smartphone five years ago, He replaced it with with a Nokia 3310. He told the BBC:
“Before I would always be stuck to the phone, checking anything and everything, browsing Facebook or the news, or other facts I didn’t need to know.
Now I have more time for my family and me. A huge benefit is that I’m not addicted to liking, sharing, commenting, or describing my life to other people. Now I have more privacy.”
I think this is a perfect solution for parents who are worried about smartphones taking over their children’s lives and affecting their mental wellbeing.
