
Some young adults disconnecting with 'dumbphones' - wyclif
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-01-16/news/ct-flip-phone-met-20140116_1_young-adults-smartphone-ownership-smartphone-users
======
superuser2
My quality of life would decrease significantly without Google Maps. Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, etc. are distracting fluff, but navigation is the killer
app.

I live in Chicago. Google Maps knows when the bus is coming, and which buses
to take to get somewhere quickly. I don't have to plan very far ahead or keep
to a strict schedule to make certain trains, since I know I can just pull out
my phone and figure out a reasonable way to get home when it's time.

As a student from another city, I have only enough understanding of the
geography to read Google Maps critically - for the details, it's
indispensable.

Just uninstalling Facebook might be a nice middle route though.

~~~
kfcm

      As a student from another city, I have only enough 
      understanding of the geography to read Google Maps 
      critically - for the details, it's indispensable.
    

Amazing that those people in ancient times--of what, 5-7 years ago?--could
survive without smartphones and Google Maps.

People used to have maps, or just go out and explore new places. Not only
learn the streets, but find great restaurants, coffee shops, stores, meet new
and interesting people.

I am amazed daily at how these things have instilled learned helplessness into
people in such a short time span.

~~~
GeneralMayhem
I'll be off your lawn in a moment, but first, you might want to consider that
just because something _can_ be done the old way doesn't mean that that's
superior, that smartphones are in fact very good at showing you new places to
go, and that "wanting machines to do tasks that machines are better at than
humans" and "helplessness" are not synonymous.

~~~
growupkids
Navigation is a perishable skill. Overreliance on GPS has been shown to
degrade navigation skills and other brain functions [1].

1\. [http://phys.org/news/2010-11-reliance-gps-hippocampus-
functi...](http://phys.org/news/2010-11-reliance-gps-hippocampus-function-
age.html)

~~~
jamesrcole
So? Using a calculator probably degrades your ability to do sums in your head,
yet a calculator allows many people to do sums they wouldn't be able to do
just in their heads.

~~~
microtherion
And literacy degrades people's ability to memorize texts.

~~~
netcan
It does, and something is lost.

Storytelling is/was a great human tradition, perhaps the defining one in a
literal sense. It's becoming extinct because of literacy. Today it's
considered an eccentric pursuit.

That doesn't mean literacy is bad or that campfire stories repeated and
evolved for generations are better than novels or films. But, oral
storytelling as art or culture has characteristics that just aren't present in
novels just like novels have characteristics that aren't present in TV shows.

If you are willing to be more abstract about it, you might compare it to
working as an Apple engineer and collecting edible roots near a stream. The
former is clearly superior as a way of feeding your family. The latter still
has certain human qualities that are beneficial to people and worth
preserving.

As we move forward we lose some things which may be valuable. Nostalgia and
the desire to preserve is not a bad thing.

~~~
nnnnni
I recently realized that I like plays. Movies have mostly replaced them, which
is a shame.

However, there are things that movies can do that plays definitely can't do,
and the reverse is true as well.

I think that there's room for both!

------
brandonhsiao
The reason I never bought a smartphone was that I don't want what is
essentially a second computer always with me. That's more important to me than
being able to search anything anytime.

I'm a programmer who spends too much time on the computer. And the problem is
not the time I spend but my _mindset_ while I'm on it. I adopt an idleness and
unwillingness to do anything off the computer. Worse, just _having_ access to
a computer makes me less likely to do other things. Should I read a new book,
or go on the computer? If I have a computer next to me, it's simply _more
comfortable_ to go on it than to open a book.

A smartphone would do to me what a computer already does. And for those who
have the same problem as me, I'd argue that in this case the perspective of
someone without a smartphone is less biased than that of someone who does.

~~~
jonasvp
I feel the same way. With my smartphone in my pocket, I ended up whipping it
out at every second of downtime to read... anything. Twitter, HN, news.

That's not an indictment of smartphones but of myself. My wife does just fine
with a smartphone, taking it out only to check her calendar.

My solution: dumbphone in my pocket, Nexus 7 tablet in my bag. If I leave home
without a bag, I won't need more than a phone. Otherwise, I have access to
maps, mail, etc. but need to make a conscious decision to take it out - and
look ridiculous when I walk around with it, which helps with the addictive
part as well.

~~~
kaybe
I have an old smartphone, but I don't pay for internet. That brings my monthly
bill to around 3€, and I have music, maps, photo and video, calender, ... no
mail though, which is fine because I have told everyone to just call or text
me if it's urgent enough.

------
pessimizer
I'm hopelessly hanging on to my N900; ancient OS on obsolete hardware. Neo900
gives me some chance of being able to carry this thing around for a couple of
years longer.

But: I will never own a personal (not for development) Android or iPhone.
They're bad products dominated by vendors who hate their own customers, and
plot against them in order to enable business strategies based on restricting
choice.

Right now, with this 'healthy' market of 2 vendors (for how many billion
people?), dumbphone here I come...

~~~
zem
i tried that for a good long while; it was a great phone when i got it, and
even after it started bothering me that the touchscreen was less than
responsive, i enjoyed the OS enough that i stuck to it. however, there were
two major bugs that it was clear would never be fixed after nokia EOLed it:

* sometimes you'd get a phone call, but the phone app would not swap in, and by the time it did the call had dropped

* the gps started taking anywhere from 30 minutes to never to get a lock

the gps bug finally made me say "okay, i can't deal with this any more" and
get an android.

~~~
pessimizer
GPS went completely dead for me probably two years ago. _Huge_ bummer.
Happened at the same time I started to have motorscooter problems (primary
mode of transportation) and until I fix those, it's not critical.

Thinking about getting another from ebay, but I don't know how to make sure I
don't get one of the Hong Kong forgeries (burnt by that once before.)

>* sometimes you'd get a phone call, but the phone app would not swap in, and
by the time it did the call had dropped

This has always been due to overmultitasking for me. I keep my processlist
pretty lean and don't install a lot of daemons - and I haven't missed a call
due to that for a few years now.

~~~
zem
i rely on my gps a lot even when just walking around the city (i get lost
easily), so not having it was really a deal-breaker.

------
mavhc
I got rid of my smartphone, that cost me $5/year to run, now I just carry a
radio, mp3 player, book of maps, gps receiver, flashlight, barometer, alarm
clock, diary, address book, newspaper, tv remote, and camera. Much less
distracting

~~~
qwerty_asdf
I carry a wallet, keys, and sometimes a phone, but not always. Not usually.

Most of the time I just, you know, use land lines at the places where I'm at.

If for some desperate reason, there's something that prevents me from
tolerating a ~30 drive without in-situ communication, I mull over the idea of
carrying a phone, and in the minutes it takes me to arrive at a decision, I
usually just call the person I need to speak to, and square away the details
on the spot.

Yeah, people have to try three or four numbers to get a hold of me sometimes,
but like, that's their problem.

~~~
photojosh
Can't wait until I can get rid of the wallet and keys too.

Almost there... :)

~~~
yaeger
Having a single point of failure? I dunno.

I already have mini hear attacks if I misplaced my phone because of all the
data on it. My mails, my password manager etc. I really don't know if I would
add my keys and my money to this. If lost, you literally are left with
nothing.

------
kh_hk
The definitive phone, a Nokia 1280 [1], featuring

    
    
        - Phone calls
        - SMS    
        - FM Radio
        - Flashlight
        - Snake
        - 528h standby / 8h talking
        - Casual apps: calculator, calendar, countdown, converter, ...
        - SPEAKING CLOCK
        - Can be used as a ball to play catch sports
    

My only cons are having just one alarm and having to little space for sms. Of
course, it would be amazing being able to develop for it. There's absolutely a
market for these phones outside of developing countries.

[1]: [http://www.nokia.com/in-
en/phones/phone/nokia-1280/specifica...](http://www.nokia.com/in-
en/phones/phone/nokia-1280/specifications/)

~~~
bane
Apparently it even has a GPS?

~~~
kh_hk
I thought the same when entered the website, but note that features not filled
in are unavailable (see Radio FM)

------
justinhj
1876, London, England: The enthusiasm about the telephone wasn’t shared in the
UK. William Preece, chief engineer of the General Post Office, declared that
the new gizmo was merely “a substitute for servants”. “There are conditions in
America which necessitate the use of such instruments more than here,” he told
a House of Commons committee. “Here we have a super-abundance of messengers,
errand boys and things of that kind. The absence of servants has compelled
America to adopt communications systems for domestic purposes. Few have worked
at the telephone much more than I have, I have one in my office but more for
show. If I want to send a message – I employ a boy to take it.”

------
carlob
After owning an iPhone and an Android I've recently downgraded to a dumbphone
and I can't recommend more.

I think at some point we'll look at smartphones the way we look at tobacco: a
hard to quit, annoying habit…

~~~
JTon
> I think at some point we'll look at smartphones the way we look at tobacco:
> a hard to quit, annoying habit…

Can't say I see that happening. As many users already mentioned smartphones
add great value to people's day to day.

~~~
lelandbatey
Indeed, I feel like I'm one of the few people that uses my phone almost
entirely as a tool. I don't use any social network for entertainment (only for
messaging), and though I do use it browse the web, my use there is largely
negligible.

However, I do get a HUGE amount of use out of my phone as a tool. I handle
email, keep notes, use the camera for notes, manage files using Dropbox, and
listen to music/podcasts (which help me be productive). I don't feel like
phones are a bad thing.

------
T-hawk
Dumbphone aficionado here too. I know full damn well I'd be a smartphone
zombie glued to the thing constantly if I had one.

I do have an iPad which serves as a great middle ground, portable nearly full
featured computing when I need it, but it's not quite so temptingly convenient
to pull out and distract myself in the middle of a conversation or restaurant.

(Actually my phone is a fairly well provisioned feature phone, an AT&T Z431
with a browser and email and GPS and camera, but I don't have a data plan to
use any of it. All I do is voice calls and text on AT&T's cheapo prepaid
plan.)

------
eschnou
A major advantage of dumphones over smartphones is battery life.

Hence why I'm using combination of a dumbphone (that I must charge weekly) and
a 7'' wifi tablet. This gives me best of both world and also makes it easier
to 'disconnect' from the twitter addiction while staying reachable for
emergencies.

------
kfcm
Never have had a smartphone, and don't really want one. Can they be handy?
Yes. Can they be useful business tools? Yes.

In the end though, they are way more problematic:

Standby and talk time battery life just isn't there.

I don't want to be tracked not just by the phone company, but by Apple or
Google, or any other company with an app on the thing.

Security is another issue, especially if you're connecting to a VPN or other
business resources.

When I'm meeting with someone, they and the topic at hand are the subject of
my focus. Smartphones destroy that focus.

Smartphones are making us dumber, ruder and less considerate of others. I've
watched twenty-something couples out on dinner dates never speak, but
completely focused on their smartphones--even when eating. Someone you want to
introduce yourself to? They're doing something on their smartphone. And
there's nothing more irritating than speaking to someone about a project and
they whip out their smartphone to text or update/check statuses. "It's ok, I
can multitask." Yeah, right.

~~~
megablast
None of what you say has to be a problem, as long as you return home every
night or have a car you can charge it up.

Don't use a VPN.

Turn your phone off or on silent when meeting with people.

As far as tracking, should you be worried about Apple and Google, when the NSA
has access to all of this.

------
logn
I use a Nokia dumbphone. 30 days of battery life. Turns on in 2 seconds. Costs
$.05/min $.02/text.

I also have a pager. Because of the frequency spectrum it's on, it almost
always has connection.

~~~
bertil
Serious question, about the practicality of using a technology most people
forgot still work: Do your friends _know_ how to reach your pager?

~~~
logn
Not sure. Mostly just used by my clients who are normally older.

------
sarjonilla
Although I do agree that disconnecting with 'dumbphones' mitigate your risk of
easy distractions, I do not agree, however that the 'dumbphone' user is in
fact better off with any advantage over a smartphone user. One can easily
compare the personal computer to the mega computers we used to have that used
to take up a whole room. If there was a consensus to retreat and not embrace
new technology then we may be still in a day without personal computers.
Innovation would have stagnated and seized to evolve. Whether or not this
individual decides to ever embrace a smartphone he may find himself forced to
eventually embrace the smartphone as 'dumbphones' begin to be obsolete just as
fixed car phones or beepers have become.

~~~
vezzy-fnord
I don't think most people stick with "dumbphones" out of ideological
primitivism, but rather out of disillusionment with the current choices that
are available.

------
tibbon
I've had a friend do this. He had all the smart phones from Palm ones up
through the iPhone and then just decided no more. He's got a basic flip phone
that's cheap and the battery lasts forever. Features include talking, sms and
a calculator.

He's more than able to afford any phone out there, but just doesn't like the
constant connection. He does own an iPod Touch that he uses on occasion with
wifi, but mostly keeps it in his bag.

~~~
angersock
Things I like about dumbphones:

    
    
      + No email--no, fuck you, you can't bug me during dinner because of something that just occurred to you.
    
      + No touchscreen--I can text without looking at my phone because I can feel the buttons.
    
      + It actually works as a phone, comfortably.
    
      + Battery lasts many days without issue.
    
      + I don't have to worry about it running arbitrary programs or getting viruses.
    
      + My old Nokia candybar was basically indestructible and waterproof. Even if it broke, replacing it was dirt cheap.
    

Do one thing and do it well.

~~~
sillysaurus3
FYI your text is cut off: [http://imgur.com/hyhwJLr](http://imgur.com/hyhwJLr)

(Mobile users get it even worse.)

~~~
jmduke
If you weren't aware, you can scroll left-right on the <pre> tags.

~~~
sukuriant
Indeed you can; but it's a generally unpleasant experience. The original
poster might not have noticed this; and it was a nice help to show them that
it couldn't be seen. In the future they may take that into consideration when
posting information with the <pre> tag :)

~~~
angersock
I keep hoping that eventually pg will fix the css for the <pre> tag.

One day, one day!

------
gphilip
One distinct advantage that smartphones have over simple phones is the ability
to make unlimited, essentially free [1] phone calls and messages to people who
may not be in the same region as you are. Think Viber.

It takes just one significant person in your life, who lives outside your
range of unlimited-call phone plans, for this to be a serious argument in
favour of using a smartphone.

[1] At the cost of a data plan which also takes care of internet needs.

(Edit: Grammar)

------
jonathansizz
Interesting. This month I got my first ever smartphone, and only because I
found out about Republic Wireless and their $10/month plan with unlimited
talk/text everywhere, but data on wifi only, using the awesome Moto X.

So now I can go for a walk/bike ride/drive and be off the grid for an hour or
two, but I'm never far from a wifi network if I need it. I also save a lot of
money each month.

To me, this is the best of both worlds.

~~~
ams6110
Wow, I had heard of Republic Wireless but never really checked them out. I'm
also a long-time "dumbphone" holdout but my Verizon Samsung candy-bar has
about had it. Just recently its earpiece speaker failed so now I can only
answer voice calls in speakerphone mode, which is often awkward. And I have
recently been in a few situations where maps or navigation would have been a
great convenience.

Republic's upcoming Moto G (April availability) looks ideal for me as a basic
smartphone.

------
ctdonath
There's a need for an iPhone Nano (and like competitors).

Most dumbphones sold now seem designed to urge owners toward smartphones.
They're thick (an _inch_?!), the UX is stupid (staring at Verizon), syncing
with anything is a hassle, and include other features as bullet points but
barely useable.

They _should_ be very thin (less than an iPhone 5), small as practical for
holding, elegant attention-to-detail calling nuances, auto-sync with other
devices where appropriate, and anything else it does should be limited and
excellent. Voice dialing should be of high quality/accuracy. When on a call,
should still show the time. There's a host of other nitpicky things that most
phones suck at but are overlooked as the norm and no viable alternatives.

If I'm carrying around a tablet, why bother carrying a phone which is nothing
more than the same thing shrunk? I'd rather a phone which is an excellent
_phone_ , and is aware of & connected with the other devices I'm around much
of the day.

~~~
maxerickson
Basically all the smart watch features in a candy bar phone.

------
servowire
After 10 years of PDA/iPhone use (having destroyed, lost of worn out over 5
PDA's and 8 iPhones - 2G, 3G, several 3GS, 4 and 4S) I'm now on the lowest and
smallest form of Android I could find. Just for calling, emergency telegram or
maybe tethering for my laptop when really needed.

Why? Because the constant checking my phone was starting to get counter-
productive. Working and typing for a phone does not provide a wholly dedicated
experience.

At concerts, shows, events, etc. I started to take notice in the last years
how everyone hunched into their phones instead of enjoying what was going on.

We are simple beings and can only experience so much - having constant feeds
of information erodes your mind. It takes years but this will be a hot topic
in the coming years.

When I lived at home 15 years ago my mother would taunt me "Get away from the
computer some more" \- Now I have to taunt her to put away her
smartphone/facebook when I'm visiting her. The late majority of phone-users
need to learn to control themselves.

my 2 cents.

------
grahamburger
What I want is a waterproof dumbphone with good wifi tethering LTE wifi
tethering. Maybe even in a wearable form factor.

~~~
XaspR8d
That sounds like an excellent class of hypothetical devices. Sadly a niche
market at the moment though.

------
weland
I'm one of _those_ people. I don't have a smartphone and don't want one. My
phone is the cheapest piece of shit Nokia I could find. The online shop I buy
computer stuff from had it on sale. I paid something like 15 EUR for it;
completely unlocked, no carrier contract and the like, and got a couple of
spare batteries for it.

For the lack of a better word, it's perfect. It can use it to talk to people
and send SMS messages, which is precisely what I need a phone for. E-mail and
Facebook happens on my workstation (or on my laptop if I'm away); I _am_ a
programmer though, which means that at least one computer is bound to be on in
my home at any given moment. Work e-mail happens only on my work computer, and
anything work related happens during work hours. I'm paid to worry about work
for exactly eight hours of day, after those eight hours are gone they can
stick it.

I also get a good week of battery life (to the point that I actually end up
frantically searching for the damned charger because I misplace it). No
updates break my phone, because there aren't any. I can also write an SMS
without developing arthritis. The only thing I'd upgrade it to is a dumbphone
with QWERTY keyboard. I've had it for about two years. Prior to that I was
using a Nokia 1100 whose charger broke at a time when they weren't so easily
available outside E-Bay and the like and I decided it's really not worth it.
The small SMS limit was also bugging me (I had room for 50 messages or so and
I'd regularly forget to clear them up).

As for the "always connected" part, I really think part of it self-inflicted.
I've had e-mail and IM clients with sound alerts, on broadband (or at least
permanent) Internet connections for far longer than smartphones have been
around. If I hear the e-mail chime and don't feel like checking my e-mail, _I
don 't check it_. I know the poor guy at the other end of the line can't see
I'm reading and therefore can't answer his e-mail, but hey, it's the risk of
remote communication. Facebook chat alert while I'm in the shower? I finish
showering, then check it. This isn't really that a big deal. My friends know
that if something is urgent, they can reach me on the phone at any hour of day
or night.

I know "society is offended" nowadays if you don't answer their IMs
immediately, but I'm really not friends with all society, only with a handful
of people (which is why my Facebook friend list also has, well, a handful of
people!)

------
vikp
I wish that I could switch back to a "dumbphone", but as a web and mobile
developer, it would be infinitely harder to effectively make tools targeting
the smartphone audience if I were not a part of it. So while I hate the
productivity loss, I think the insight gain offsets it.

~~~
ciquar
I'm in the same boat. Though, I've held off on personally using a smartphone,
and probably to my own detriment like you suggest. I keep tablets and
smartphones around my desk but never in my pocket. Work stays at work. I
probably don't have that competitive edge, but I'm not freelancing either so
I'm not too concerned.

------
wyclif
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the Nokia 515. Good design, and 33 days
maximum of battery standby.
[http://www.nokia.com/global/products/phone/515/](http://www.nokia.com/global/products/phone/515/)

------
Cyph0n
The way I see it is that there is a clear overlap of functionality between
phones and tablets. I'm of the opinion that owning a tablet, such as a Nexus
7, makes many of your smartphone's functions redundant. So why have both smart
devices? Why not have one device that does the bulk of the work while the
other does the few functions that are unique to it as a device?

To clarify, I haven't yet completely made the switch to a "dumbphone", but I'm
getting there I think. I currently own the absolutely phenomenal, yet to-the-
point, Nokia Lumia 520. Next step is something much more rudimentary.

~~~
sliverstorm
The reason they have so much overlapping functionality is because they are
built with the same general-purpose hardware & operating system. That saves
money.

The reason both exist is because a big screen is great but it doesn't fit in
your pocket (and it looks dumb when you hold it to your ear)

------
austinz
I like my smartphone, but I am a strange person who despises both talking on
the phone and sending text messages. So the fact that my smartphone is so bad
at doing both those things is, to me, a net positive.

------
debt
I use to sport the Motofone F3. It was Motorola's answer to Nokia's domination
of the feature phone market. The phone was amazing. It used e-ink for the
display, super lower power, and texting completely sucked on it, but it had a
really crisp design.

[http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/wireless/detail-
page/mo...](http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/wireless/detail-
page/motofone-f3.jpg)

~~~
rsync
Motofone F3 is my current phone. I've been using it for 2.5 years now. It does
nothing but make calls. No other wireless signals (no bluetooth, no wifi, no
GPS).

About as small of an attack surface as a GSM device can have, I think.

------
bobbles
I disabled all notifications on my phone that are not SMS / phone calls.

IMO it makes it a much more enjoyable experience and I never feel like im tied
to my phone.

------
shearnie
I wonder how many people who have "downgraded" phones do so, in all honesty,
for the shock value for fashion's sake just for the attention.

Often they are the arty type who try to stand out from the crowd even though
they have a nicely intellectual justification "I'm get too distracted, I lose
out on quality of life". The cynic in me thinks they just want to be
different.

~~~
llllllllllll
There's a ton of legit reasons to not have a smartphone.

Most of the "arty" types you see probably just can't afford one. As someone
who over the years has lost their phone a couple times and dropped it many
more times, no way am I going to shell out hundreds of dollars for a new one
every time that happens.

I also don't own a smartphone because I already spend enough time at my
computer, and doing all the same things on a tiny screen with no
mouse/keyboard/etc. would feel like a massively downgraded experience.

For me, the only appealing features of a smart phone are tethering and GPS.
I'm fine without them though. I moved to a new city ~6 months ago, and I
already know my way around much better than most (especially useful because
most of the city is not well documented on Google Maps / OpenStreetMap).
Probably would not be the case if I had GPS everywhere.

------
netcan
It feels a bit off chopping and quoting a PG essay on his site but this bit
stayed with me. I may have been thinking along those lines when I read it:

" _the world will get more addictive in the next 40 years than it did in the
last 40… …as the world becomes more addictive, the two senses in which one can
live a normal life will be driven ever further apart. One sense of "normal" is
statistically normal…_

 _…someone trying to live well would seem eccentrically abstemious in most of
the US. That phenomenon is only going to become more pronounced. You can
probably take it as a rule of thumb from now on that if people don 't think
you're weird, you're living badly..._"

 _…People commonly use the word "procrastination" to describe what they do on
the Internet. It seems to me too mild to describe what's happening as merely
not-doing-work. We don't call it procrastination when someone gets drunk
instead of working._

 _… Sounds pretty eccentric, doesn 't it? It always will when you're trying to
solve problems where there are no customs yet to guide you._

\-
[http://paulgraham.com/addiction.html](http://paulgraham.com/addiction.html)

This topic is very fertile for insight, personal or general. Most people would
probably figure something out if they started writing about it. I think the
crux is that surprisingly little of what we do is deliberate, and
underexamined. Your choice of university or job might have been a grand
crossroads choice that you made deliberately but many more choices are not.
Impactfulness isn't really the trigger for deliberation in most cases,
immediate commitment is. Choosing one book over another only impacts a few
hours and a few dollars. A decade of book choices affects your personality,
the things you think about and the way you talk.

Many of our major maladies and deficiencies are related these undeliberate
choices. I agree with PG on his insights about technology and "accelerating
addictiveness" and the distillation of less addictive predecessors." Even more
insightful is the idea that we can't rely on society and culture to guide us
in the right direction concerning new things.

That's probably where these dumbphone people are coming from. Sensing that
there are cumulative bad choices related to carrying around a smartphone and
making a deliberate choice to avoid them.

~~~
vvvv
While I wouldn't downgrade to a dumbphone just yet, people keep poking fun at
my old Blackberry. I do hate it a lot of the times when it crashes, when the
GPS signal fails, when my thumb has to cover 500m distance on the annoying
little square to read one webpage. However, it does (barely) what I would like
my gadget to do: calls, emails, occasional map check and sending of a dropbox
link.

The experience is painful enough, that I don't treat it like a toy and hence
feel no compulsion to baby it in my hand all of the time.

Sometimes I feel like I miss out on all the apps and general development in
the area, but that hasn't gotten acute enough yet for me to get a smartphone.

------
lastofus
Up until a year a go, I had a "go phone" in my pocket. You know, the $20 Nokia
based on tech from 7 years prior (aka. the drug dealer/burner phone/pay-as-
you-go-POS). This was in my pocket for years as I tended to break phones every
18 months or so.

It's amazing how everyone around me was constantly looking at their phone all
the fucking time. From my technology-hipster POV, it was easy to see how
people were missing out on, or just plain ignoring where used to be common
social interactions.

Then I got a bloody iPhone as an xmas gift. I've done my best to resist but...
I don't think I could go back.

I still have the common courtesy to not bust out the phone when other people
are in the room, but I've lost count the times Google Maps has saved my ass,
or having a distraction has saved me from hours of boredom.

I think people forgot how to find balance between having the intorwebs in
one's pocket, and not being an asshole.

------
smprk
What are the 4-5 top apps that you use on your smartphone and what % of time
usage does that make?

Currently the only apps I use (99% of the time) on my smartphone are - *
Contacts, * Camera, * Email, * Maps. In that order.

Confession:

When smartphones had just hit the scene, I would stuff mine with new and shiny
apps all night long, but in the long run, none of them stuck around.

~~~
maxerickson
I think a big win from apps is that the system default software has to compete
with something (and I guess it lowers the bar for trying new ideas).

Cheap time waster games are also nice, and there seem to be niche apps where
people that need them really benefit.

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sanoli
Is this going to become the new "I don't own a tv", where people think its hip
and they feel the urge to tell others about it?

Here's one of the few jokes I ever came up with:

Q: What do you do if you want to find out whether somebody owns a tv? A:
Nothing. If they don't have one, they'll tell you.

~~~
nnnnni
I recently bought a TV and discovered that MTV is nothing but shows about kids
having kids! What ever happened to the music? Matt Pinfield? Kurt Loder?

Your joke is a good variation on "how can you tell if someone is vegan?"

~~~
sanoli
Hadn't thought about vegans, but you're right, they're prone to the same joke.
However, I do know vegans who don't make a point of saying it, whereas all the
no-tv people (ALL of them) had the urge to mention it, although this was more
in the 90's, when TV was still what the internet is today, entertainment-wise.

------
gtirloni
One has to ask if this 'disconnection' is not compensated elsewhere (by
getting distracted with the same things in other places, like laptops, and/or
watching more TV, etc).

The important thing is what you are doing with the newly discovered free time.

------
gioele
> That's because the 24-year-old carries a $50 flip phone — the Samsung Gusto
> 2. There's no touch screen or apps. No Web browsing capabilities. No
> collection of music to enjoy through earbuds.

I'd like to point out that that phone [1] can browse the web (using Opera Mini
Brew), can install apps and games (using the Samsung Brew store) and can be
used to listen to music via a common 3.5mm jack (even though it only has 128MB
of storage). It even has A-GPS.

"Dumbphones" have not been dumb for at least 10 years.

[1]
[http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=3614](http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=3614)

------
robocaptain
How long until "I only have a landline" becomes the ultimate hipster creedo?

------
bmj
I had a dumb phone for a very long time, but after trying to navigate a cross-
country road trip with a flip phone, I succumbed and upgraded to an iPhone. I
can _kinda_ be persuaded by the argument that we give up some of the adventure
of traveling when we have the full details of the road before us, but I am
more persuaded by having a gluten-free family who will need to eat at some
point in the next hours and dammit, where is next Chipotle?

It is also interesting to me that many of the folks in the article admit it's
not a problem with smartphones, but rather their own shortcomings--they can't
not be distracted.

------
simias
I use a "dumbphone", although for me it's not a political or psychological
thing, I just hardly ever used the smart functionalities of my android
smartphone back when I had one. The only feature I sometimes miss is GPS
localisation and google maps.

On the other hand a smartphone is expensive, you always risk breaking
it/getting it stolen. Nobody will bother stealing my 20euros Samsung and if I
get it gets destroyed I'll just buy a couple more. Oh and as TFA mentions the
battery lasts for like 10 days of normal use.

The irony is that my job involves porting Android to embedded devices.

~~~
gerbal
I would be in the same boat, but I have found that a Moto G with a prepaid SIM
is a good middle point. Just cheap enough phone I can afford to have it
stolen, and still with the Smartphone features that make me want and need a
smartphone. (Navigation and messaging).

~~~
simias
Yeah, I haven't looked into cheap smartphones (I bought my current dumbphone
maybe two years ago and things move quickly).

But of course at time goes buy the low end phones get more and more
featureful. That being said I doubt the Moto G has 10 days battery life and is
as solid as my current brick phone.

Still, it's a good recommendation, I'll look into it when my current phone
stops working.

~~~
sliverstorm
It absolutely does not have 10 day battery, but it does have one of the best
battery lives of the crop. If mostly left asleep, it could last several days
for sure.

I do grimace more when I drop it onto a stone floor, but it has already
survived that once.

------
davidgerard
[http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/science-
technology/nokia-...](http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/science-
technology/nokia-with-broken-screen-is-best-phone-of-all-time-2013040464681)

AFTER 40 years of mobile telephones, a Nokia with a broken screen has been
declared the greatest ever.

Experts described the battered 2003 phone as ‘not taking any shit’, and ‘the
only phone you’ve ever wanted to have a pint with’.

Telecoms analyst Martin Bishop said: “It’s got buttons, a speaker, the game
‘Snake’ plus you can drive a Panzer tank over the fucker and it still works.

------
Datsundere
Still have my n95 from 2008. I don't understand when people say things like "I
can't use a phone for more than a year. I need to upgrade!"

really? my n95 has wifi, gps(although hard to get satellite), 5mp camera with
flash. Symbian OS was the thing back in the day. People were using the
camera's gyroscope to do a lot of cool stuff. I've seen videos of people
controlling RC Cars with the gyroscope. I also have python installed in it.
Granted it takes a long time to type, but I sometimes open up the interpreter
and use the math library!

------
whyme
I turned the data plan off on my smartphone about 1 month after I bought my
first tablet. What sucks is finding a phone, in today's market, having a
decent screen plus keyboard for texting. It's looking like Im going to have to
buy a blackberry Q10, even though, really, I'm overpaying for my actual needs.
Anyone know of other more affordable options out there that don't make me look
like I'm on the A-TEAM? Is it possible there's actually a really big
opportunity for phone makers that's being missed here?

~~~
deft
No clue if it's even available yet, but asha has a hardware keyboard and is
fairly cheap. The Q10 is great though and personally I'd recommend it if you
mainly use your phone for typing.

------
Shivetya
I am in the boat of having a smartphone only because it was required of me for
work. I am required now to be in contact via email at all times. I certainly
would never buy a smart phone if not simply because the contract costs for
them are so obnoxious. Really, seventy five to a hundred a month, for a
phone?!?!?!

The features and abilities provided aren't worth a thousand a year to me, the
loss of freedom certainly isn't.

------
danans
I've been pondering a phone that is just smart enough that it did:

1) 4G+Tethering 2) Contacts Sync 3) Maps/Nav 4) Email/SMS

It could even have a small screen and physical keypad. I don't think any such
phone exists, but it would be an interesting exercise to chop down android to
those elements.

If we're moving towards wearables, I imagine that many narrow use cases might
move towards watches, etc, that seem like tethered devices anyways.

~~~
honestcoyote
It's a little too old to do 4g, but the Nokia phones which ran s60 / Symbian
would do what you want. Many of them had GPS and could run Google Maps, most
had wifi, and all were solidly built with several days of standby time. Look
for the Nokia e71, which was probably the best one and I still see it for sale
here and there.

If you want something made in the last couple of years, Nokia's Asha line of
phones would probably work, though I don't know if Google ever made a version
of maps to work with s40-based devices.

~~~
maxerickson
Nokia has pretty reasonable maps for their phones. You can even store regions
on the device.

(Here and Here.com are their current brand for it, I think the purchase of
NAVTEQ was a big piece of their puzzle)

------
mratzloff
It just takes willpower, guys. Turn off the parts that annoy you and don't
check your phone every few minutes. Bring a book. Done.

------
grecy
Disconnecting means no phone.

I currently have an old POS dumbphone, my first one since ~2006. I will get
rid of it in the coming months.

The convenience factor is not high enough to justify the cost, inconvenience
of work calling whenever they want and the hit to my conventional skills.

Going to a bar where everyone has their smartphone on the table and checks it
every 3 minutes is painful.

------
protomyth
I wonder what the percentage is young adults who are on pay-as-you-go plans?
Smart phones without a contract are not cheap.

~~~
long
I'm on T-mobile's $30 per month prepaid plan.

You only get 100 minutes but you also get unlimited talk, text, and data at 4G
speeds up to 5 gigs.

It's... okay.

The reception can be truly appalling around Palo Alto.

I used to have a dumbphone and the 10 cents per minute plan but it's hard to
be a young adult without Google Maps.

------
WalterBright
I have a dumbphone, too, and surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) quite a few
of my programmer friends also carry a dumbphone.

Besides the advantages others listed, I simply like the smaller size of it. It
fits in my pocket without being annoying.

I also wear a wristwatch. Gosh, I'm old!

~~~
iLoch
I never understood why people say "I don't need a watch, I have a phone in my
pocket!" You know why watches were invented, right? Personally I've been
thinking about getting a pager.

~~~
WalterBright
Yeah, I don't get it either.

With a watch, I can read the time in 1/10 of a second, I don't have to dig it
out of my pocket and turn it on, I can surreptitiously check the time, I can
read it without my glasses on, I can read it out of the corner of my eye, it
doesn't bounce around annoyingly in my pocket when I jog, it lasts a year on a
charge, it works on an airplane, I can read it when my hands are full, I can
check the time without taking my hands off the steering wheel, it works in the
rain, etc.

The only thing I don't like about a watch is I have to remember to take it off
when working with rotating machinery.

------
RALaBarge
I find the best thing to do is just disable all notifications except text
messages and calls on my phone.

------
mzr
I rarely check my phone. I would like a tough phone to carry for emergencies
while hiking. I couldn't completely switch because there is no way I am typing
out a text with a phone keypad. That is the main reason I resisted getting a
cell phone in the first place.

------
davidgerard
My phone is a £25/mo music player and book reader. I have NEVER read so many
books as when I finally got a smartphone.

Occasionally I switch the radio on and see if I have any messages or
voicemail.

It also has every variant of Angry Birds. Bad piggies to kill, you understand.

------
Gracana
I have a dumbphone because the plan required for a smartphone is enormously
expensive. I just can't afford it. Hell, if I _did_ have the money, I'd rather
spend it on my motorcycle than on yet another way to view facebook.

------
debacle
Best part of my dumbphone is that I can use twitter via SMS.

That's actually the second best part. The best is that I can use it as a dial-
up modem should the need ever arise. I'll probably never need it, but I still
think it's awesome.

------
unsignedint
One thing I like about smartphone is a way better international language
support. Those feature phones, at least anything sold in states wouldn't
support anything beyond latin charsets, so to me, there is no going back...

------
vezzy-fnord
My last smartphone was an N900. If I'm going to buy a portable computer,
well... I'd actually like some modicum of control over that computer out of
the box.

However my primary telecommunications device is a cheap flip phone.

~~~
voltagex_
I swear there needs to be a recovery/assistance group for former N900 users. I
haven't been able to find a device to replace it yet and yes I know about the
Neo900.

------
sixQuarks
What % of eligible young adults actually forgo a smart phone? By eligible, I
mean they can actually afford to buy one. I would say less than 5%.

In any system, there are always outliers. This is just one of them.

------
elwell
Dumbphones are too distracting; pen and paper is superior.

------
0xdeadbeefbabe
Dumbphone ought to be an adroid mod. I'd work on it.

------
coliveira
People who do this just don't know how to use technology. I have a smartphone,
but don't spend any time using it for music, and very little for web browsing.
In particular, I never synch my phone exactly to avoid any dependency on its
contents. However, I am glad to have it because I know that in an emergency I
can use maps, or even search information. And sometimes I use the camera to
store temporary information. I think it is just a matter of avoiding that the
technology become an addiction.

------
rohanpai
Does anyone know if it is possible to get a dumb phone that uses nano-sim?

I want to try this out without switching permanently.

~~~
tirant
You can just get a nano sim card to mini sim (2FF) adaptor.

------
andyidsinga
without reading the article .. I'm going to guess that some of these young
adults are headed out to portland to retire dB{>

( ...for the downvote-no-bad-humor-allowed-HNers - I can take it :) )

[ edit: for the downvoters - no, I can't really take it - stop - for the love
of my very small amount of karma ]

------
willvarfar
If a back-to-basics backlash takes off, will it worry Google, Apple and other
social miners?

~~~
Gobitron
It won't. We have many decades of evidence that 'back-to-basics' will never be
more than a niche movement. The world is very large, and Google, Apple and co,
are much more vested in the folks coming 'up' (3rd world developing) than in
the tiny minority of people who can even afford to think about back to basics.

------
drdeadringer
I describe mine as a "Captain Kirk phone".

Huh?

I whip it out, flip it open, and before I can ask Scotty to beam me up --

Ooohh!

------
will_lam
I toy with the idea of purchasing a dumbphone at least once a month.

------
mhd
I'm getting a "Hipster PDA" deja vu.

------
Dewie
Dumbphones are great for communication, right? You've got the phone and SMS,
what else would you need? Well, what if people start getting annoyed at you
because you use SMS instead of a chatting application? At some point I didn't
have a data plan and I would have to call/SMS people, and they would keep
urging me to get Whatsapp so I could message me in that app rather than the
historically vastly overpriced SMS.

