Gen Z's New Fascination With Flip Phones

[vtqhtr413]

Content source

https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/23/01/15/2010245/gen-zs-new-fascination-with-flip-phones?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed

Slashdot reader quonset writes: In what is becoming a recurring theme, Gen Z keeps harkening back to nostalgia. Whether low-rise jeans or disposable cameras, they can't seem to get enough of vintage technology from the past. Their latest obsession? Flip phones. Why this fascination? Several reasons. Flip phones are far less expensive than any smart phone, easier to operate as they have few, if any, software included, there isn't the incessant need to see who messaged you or who said what and, perhaps just as important, privacy. For a generation which grew up on being tracked wherever they go via their phone, a flip phone's simplicity allows them the freedom to simply enjoy their life. HMD Global (the company which owns Nokia) said many people like the idea being less available. "We attribute this shift to many smartphone users beginning to recognize they are spending too much time glued to their devices and having a strong desire to disconnect and 'be fully present' to improve their quality of social connections," Kates said.

Gen Z's New Fascination With Flip Phones - Slashdot

Slashdot reader quonset writes: In what is becoming a recurring theme, Gen Z keeps harkening back to nostalgia. Whether low-rise jeans or disposable cameras, they can't seem to get enough of vintage technology from the past. Their latest obsession? Flip phones. Why this fascination? Several...

mobile.slashdot.org

 

[HarborFront]

Use of flip phone or not you are also being tracked, right? It has nothing to do with the flip nature of the phone

Also, current folding phones still suffer from a crease at the folding line

 

[vtqhtr413]

Use of flip phone or not you are also being tracked, right? It has nothing to do with the flip nature of the phone.

I'm sure you're correct, once you sign into your favored reseller, MS, Google, Meta, etc, you will be used, no other way to put it, but I think the thrust of the article {which I posted for general interest, we have to go off topic from time to time}, is this, and I hope it is the case, "We attribute this shift to many smartphone users beginning to recognize they are spending too much time glued to their devices and having a strong desire to disconnect and 'be fully present' to improve their quality of social connections". which leads to my belief that there is a global epidemic of loneliness and I further believe it is mostly due to our spending so much time on our devices that we are neglecting what is most important to every living thing, socializing. I read an article recently from an elderly woman in Ukraine and she said that when she was young her neighbors were family as much as her blood family { my experience also } but today her neighbors, although friendly, wouldn't know she was dead until they smelled her body decomposing and as sad as that is it is largely our current reality, something is definitely missing between us.

As to your second point, the phones discussed in the article are, I believe, traditional flip phones without creases, seems. Thanks for reading and posting @HarborFront .

Rosco P. Coltrane - Slashdot User

 

[Stopspying]

I wonder what Gen Z makes of the clamshell phones from the mid noughties, roughly the same concept - screen folded out of sight and basically dumb-phones with a few bells and/or whistles, but with far less screen real estate? I'm not totally sold on these folding screens yet, agreeing with

Use of flip phone or not you are also being tracked, right? It has nothing to do with the flip nature of the phone

Also, current folding phones still suffer from a crease at the folding line

but I like the idea of the screen not attention-seeking all of the time through being visible, which is why my phone case has a wallet type design.

 

[oldschool]

I like the idea of the screen not attention-seeking all of the time through being visible,

Which, as @BryanB said, is the whole point of the article. It said nothing about privacy, etc., only implying that there is less tracking from installed apps, due to the flip phone's bare-bones nature.

 

[entropism]

I wonder what Gen Z makes of the clamshell phones from the mid noughties, roughly the same concept

That's literally what this article is about.

 

[Stopspying]

That's literally what this article is about.

I read that article thinking they were talking about the new type of flip phones, don't know why, not concentrating maybe, thanks for sorting me out!

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/20/tech/samsung-flip-3-bespoke-smartphone/index.html

 

[entropism]

Yeah, the new foldable smartphones are a joke. Great in theory but they break if you glance at them funny.

Edit for context: I owned a Samsung Z Flip3, and currently have a Z Flip4 and Z Fold4 sitting on my desk. I've since moved on, as the 4 series are infinitely more delicate than the 3, and I was scared of having the 3 break on me. The 4s are nightmares.