The Upward thrust Of Dull Phones

So while yes, you can find an OG flipphone, some of the relics on eBay, we're seeing companies develop new models to… Flip phones are hot right now. Flip phone. While it might seem like dumb phones area product of the past, they've actually remained prevalent around the world andstill make up about a quarter of phones actively being used. And yes, this is in large part due totheir affordability in developing countries, but it's also becoming amovement among younger generations.

So it's been an official week on thisguy, the crappy dumb phone, and I'm never going back to a smart phone. We're going to be talking about my dumbphone. Today, we're going to talk about thelight phone two. It's been three years since I've hadthis device. I had been thinking about getting a dumbphone or a flip phone for a while, but then I kind of involuntarily adoptedone. My iPhone broke and I loved it so much,I just I decided to keep it. Despite this, smart phones are stillking.

Even in developing nations where flipphones are still widely used, smartphone usage is growing. Developing countries are definitely someof the places where Nokia has not just as a brand but also with both featurephones and also smart phones, has a very, very strong, strong presence. Worldwide, the feature phone market isexpected to decrease by about 10% over the next five or so years, largelyattributed to developing countries making the switch to smart phones andolder generations refusing to use smart phones could be phasing out as there isa 48% increase in smartphone ownership.

Among those 65 and up from 2012 to2021. But the amount of dumb phones beingused by young people in Western countries is growing. CNBC wanted to explore what the dumbphone trend is all about and see if it can compete with the massive smartphoneindustry. Within the Dumbphone market, there areessentially two avenues most consumers take — one being a classic flip orslide phone, similar to what was commonly used in the early and midaughts, like a Motorola or Nokia. Two being a modern minimalist phone frombrands like Light or Punkt, whose phones.

Are in a way purposely dumb. And these brands are also labelingtheir phones as feature phones, which is like a flip phone with some additionslike a hotspot or a GPS. How do you feel about the term dumbphone? Well, we're trying to do with the Lightphone isn't to create a dumb phone, but to create a more intentional phone, apremium, minimal phone, which, you know, isn't inherently anti-technology, butit's about consciously choosing how and when to use which aspects of technologyadd to my quality of life versus tempting me with all sorts ofvulnerabilities of the smartphone.

In Europe, for instance, you have aculture here in Switzerland and Germany, they call they don't call it a dumbphone or a digital minimalist phone. They call it the weekend phone. One of the biggest reasons some Gen Zersare reverting to a dumb or minimalist phone is the concern with smartphoneseffects on mental health. We all know that what people conveythrough social media, they only convey the best of their life, which makesothers falsely believe they live a lesser life by social comparison, whichin turn negatively affects their self esteem and well-being.

The US Surgeon General even recentlystated that 13 is too young to be on social media, so some are taking theinitiative and switching to a dumb or feature phone incapable of browser andsocial media use. It's definitely a trend that we'venoticed that people have been very occupied with digital social media fora while, and a lot of people want to take a step back and get a bit moredetached from from that part of their life. I take my smartphone with me absolutelyeverywhere. So I decided to jump on the dumb phonebandwagon and test out a couple of.

Different devices. This is the Punkt MP02 phone. It's my first dumb phone ever. Sent over from Switzerland in thismysterious box. It is a T9 layout which I've neveractually used before for typing. So we'll see how that goes. A study found that Americans in their20 seconds are on their phones for about 29 hours a week, equaling about fourhours a day. That was in 2021.

Just for reference, my own screen timetrends about at two and a half to three hours, which is a little bit less thanaverage. The vast majority of my time is spenton messages. Now I'm going to swap out the SIM frommy iPhone to the Punkt phone. The punt phone retails for about $380 or400 if you want it in light blue. You can call, you can SMS, you can calland message through signal and you can make it use as a hotspot forconnectivity. There are other like purposefully dumbphones, like the light phone, which allows for a little bit more leeway, Iguess, on what you can do.

Retailing for about $300. The light phone has a few more built intools. We kind of set these guidelines of let'screate things that have a real utility purpose. So something like an alarm ordirections or a calculator or even, you know, a voice memo and notes tool. These things have like a really clearuse case. There's nothing about punk that isagainst technology. It's about intentional technology. Right now I'm actually waiting on a callfrom somebody who I've been dating for.

About a month and we've never actuallycalled before, but we're trying to set up our plans for tomorrow. And texting is just so inefficient on aphone like this. So we're going the old fashioned way,doing a little call. Hello. Hi. So far, I actually haven't run into toomany issues. It's actually kind of nice to be ableto just sit with the uncertainty of things instead of looking them up. And I'm still able to text just, like,kind of poorly.

I'm a little bit more reliant oncalling, but I'm about to have about an hour and a half commute up to ouroffice in Englewood Cliffs because I live in Brooklyn, so. I'm not going to be able to use musicor podcasts, which I usually do the entire time. Instead, I'll have to doing somereading. But maybe that's for the best, youknow? Sit with my thoughts a little bit more. One sort of weird issue that I'mrunning into is directions.

The Punkt phone does not have any sortof map or directional indicator on it. So I'm having to look up directionsbefore I go for certain places. It's no problem like getting to workjust because I have that memorized. But for places that I'm not as used togoing, I have to check before I leave and then just try to remembereverything, which can be a little bit of a challenge. Okay, so I did have tobriefly cheat, was trying to meet my friend at a coffee shop and couldn'tfind it. Got a little lost, so I just swapped my SIM just to pull up the map.

Now I've got my hands on the Lightphone, so I'm going to swap my SIM and see how this one goes. So the Light phone has an actualkeyboard on it, which makes it a little bit easier to use for me, buteverything on it is a little bit delayed because of the type of screen it is. So I'm still struggling a lot. One of the tools that they added to theLight phone two, which I think is actually really nice, is voice to text. And it works pretty well.

You have to go a little slow for it butoverall very convenient. This is the home screen and youactually have to go on your computer to their online dashboard to add anyadditional tools past the alarm. So I went in and added the directions, hotspot, music, notes, podcasting. The directional tool actually worksreally well. I expected to have to put in the actual address, but you can actually just type in the name of something or most of something and it'll figure out the rest from there. The Light phone music tool only allowsyou to upload basically MP3s.

You're using it as an MP3 player, soyou have to download music, you can't actually stream it. So I'm actuallygoing to buy an album for the first time and I want to say like ten years. So I mean, it is working. It's not like the best listeningexperience, but I am listening to music, so it counts for something. Well, I don't really use my phone thatmuch to begin with, compared to most people my age. I decided that a dumbphone really isn't for me. And honestly, one of the biggestnegatives for me was not being able to.

Listen to music and get around supereasily using something like Google Maps. On average, over half of kids in the USreceived their first smartphone by age 11, and that percentage has continuedto grow, making Gen Z the first generation to entirely grow up withsocial media and smartphones. And about half of teens in the US saidthey feel addicted to their mobile devices, which can have adverse effectson mental health. So this is why parents should beencouraging healthy device habits. It's not about prohibiting or banningtotally devices from being used, maybe like encouraging their children to takesome regular breaks.

A recent study found that decreasingteen smartphone based social media use by 50% improves issues with emotionaldistress. But I think you can see it with certainGen Z populations. They're tired of the screens. They don't know what is going on withmental health and they're trying to make cutbacks. And from 2019 to 2022, over a billionfeature phones were sold globally. I think this trend, starting in theUnited States, could very easily move, I would say first to Western Europe andAustralia, and then after that, places.

Like Eastern Europe and even placeslike China. This trend is largely a result of mentalhealth concerns and in part why companies like Light and Punkt said itsdevices are popular among younger audiences, despite having simple andintuitive designs. A study connecting mental health andthe rise of social media from 2008 to 2018 found that 18 to 23 year olds whoreported experiencing a depressive episode increased by 83%. So I wanted to change my lifestyle, youknow, kind of like get into a slower lifestyle instead of like the fast paceof the Internet.

We kind of had this hypothesis that, youknow, taking a break from smartphones and the Internet at large from time totime would yield a really refreshing and positive experience for users. And brands like Light and Punkt that aregeared toward younger audiences have found success and increasing devicesales. From 2021, for example, to the last year2022, we did grow 50% year over year. You know, we are fivefold compared to2018. As for this way, so but you know, weare not in the millions. We are in the 100,000, you know.

But I think this Light phone Punkt andbrands that are that are new, I think could make a much bigger impact,particularly in the Western world, because it's not apologizing for beingnot a smartphone. In 2021 just 61% of Americans 65 and upwere using smartphones, while 29% were using a dumb or feature phone. The biggest question that that I wantedto figure out is will they age out or will they move to something different? And as with most technology, oldergenerations were slow to adopt smartphones in 2012, when smartphoneshad picked up some serious steam, only.

13% of those 65 and up had asmartphone, compared to 66% of 18 to 29 year olds. What's assumed is that oldergenerations are still using feature phones because it's what they're usedto and have no need for the updated tech. And just 45% of them said theyever use social media. I do believe we'll see higher adoptionof dumb phones even when folks like I age out. If nothing else, the dexteritythat it takes to touch the screen of a smartphone when you get older is tough. Your eyes go and directly you cannotoperate a smartphone without having some reasonable eyesight.

The older generations are sticking withNokia phones and still doing that. But I think that's also where we reallytry to bring on top of that innovation. So so they can still function in a in amodern society. Older generations are clearly shiftingaway from dumb phones. And despite the growing movement amongyounger generations, 85% of Americans have a smartphone. And that percentagehas grown every year since their inception. But some think the dumbphone industry will grow as well. In North America, the market for dumbphones is pretty much flatlined, right over the past 4 or 5 years.

But I could see it getting up to, youknow, 5% increase in the next five years. If nothing else, based on themore public health concerns that that are out there. The problem is that humanity is not yetready for this fast evolving software. Children are not yet ready because theyare going through the the very important developmental age. So they're not yet prepared to face allthe challenges. That are currently available on theInternet, video games or even the social media platforms.

I think in the next five years we willhave major CDC warnings about the dangers of smartphones and collectivelythat the smartphone industry wasn't able to manage on its own. And I could see there being somerestrictions. And that alone, I think, will willbring out likely parents not giving kids smartphones, but more dumb phones in ininto the future. There's a reason why there's 15,000 subredditors on the dumb phone subreddit like that's not a small I mean it'ssmall when you compare it to like Android subreddit or Google or iPhone.

But it's a trend that is catching onand a lot of people are really interested in for sure. This is actually one of the best thingsI've ever done for my mental health because I've decreased the stimulation. I've created more space to feel my ownideas and to touch in with my emotions and just to kind of feel like what'sgoing on with me without all of the noise. The smartphone market in emerging ordeveloping countries has grown rapidly. The global smartphone market was valuedat about $485 billion in 2022 and is.

Expected to reach nearly 800 billion by2029. And the Middle East, Africa and Indiamade up about 80% of feature phone sales in 2022. But these countries are also becomingconcerned about the mental health impacts of increasing smartphone usage. A survey conducted in 11 developingcountries found that 63% of adults were concerned that mobile phones werehaving a bad influence on children. But despite this, mental health isn'treally the reason people in developing countries are opting for dumb phones — price is.

That has very little to do withcapability and parents watching their kids. It has everything to do with thethe price point and the reliability. In that same 11 country survey, 70% ofrespondents said that mobile phones have been overall good for society. A lot of folks in areas like India they'll run their entire business on a smartphone. And therefore I do see the numbers going up for a country like India. And the makers of Nokia phones saidthey're still selling millions of feature phones globally every month.

However, the US is one of few marketswhere they noticed growth in feature phone sales last year. While feature phones do make up most ofthe cell phones actively being used in India, new phone sales are heavily infavor of smartphones. Of the roughly 200 million mobilephones shipped in India in 2022, only about 57 million were feature phones. And while feature phones are decreasingin developing nations, the industry does have a steady following elsewhere incertain niche markets and could see some growth as mental health concernsassociated with social media and.

Smartphones rise. While my experience wasn't terrible andI really don't use my phone that much to begin with, it's definitely somethingthat I decided isn't really for me, and it remains to be seen whether it'll bemore than just a trend in the U.S.

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