Who still uses a flip or "dumb" phone?

[Roadgeekteen]

Just wondering. I don't.

[renegade]

"Smart" phones make you dumb.

[US 41]

Me. I still use a prepaid Tracfone. Tracfone is great as long as I'm in the US. It doesn't work in Canada or Mexico though which is a little inconvenient when I go out of the country. In that case I use my computer somewhere where there is wifi. Getting something better has never crossed my mind. I only pay $20 every 90 days to keep my phone activated. Yes I have minutes, but I don't use my phone very much. My phone only texts and talks. No internet, no camera, no nothing. It's the bare bones phone.

Funny because everytime I go through customs I get dirty looks. I kind of live in the stone age. I still prefer cash over debit/credit cards and I use a Tracfone. Almost everytime I go through customs I seem to get searched for drugs and asked a lot of questions. No one seems to believe that I'm just driving for enjoyment, especially this last time when I just drove to Mazatlan in 3 days (in Mexico) to drive on a road because it has 60 tunnels on it. Yeah I know I'm crazy. But I'm also very frugal with my money, which is why I can afford to do stuff like that at my age.

[jp the roadgeek]

Just wondering. I don't.

For people your age, the question is whether your parents allow you to have a mobile phone.  Many parents, if they allow their kids to have one, allow it for emergency calls only and use parental controls to block offensive/inappropriate content if it is a smartphone.  I got rid of my last dumb phone in 2009.  Have gone from a Blackberry to the HTC Sense to Galaxy s3 to iPhone 6 plus and 7 plus since then.  Wanted to wait for the X, but the screen on the 6 plus was cracked and the battery stayed charged for only 15 minutes so a new phone was more cost effective then sinking $250 into the old one.

Those that use flip phones will often pay by check, use phone books to look up a number, and prefer faxing or snail mail to email.

[oscar]

"Smart" phones make you dumb.

I agree that they can make smart people look dumb. Every time I get an email with a tagline indicating it came from an iPhone, I take that as a warning of possible auto-correct-induced misspellings, and also that the message is briefer than it needed to be.

I was a fairly late adopter for cell phones (took two emergency situations to break down my resistance), and so far am getting by with a flip phone. My smart-ass explanation was that it was to make sure my phone wasn't smarter than I was, but much of it really was weak short-range vision (some of you who met me at an Annapolis mini-meet, and saw me unable to read the text on someone else's smartphone, know what I'm talking about). Cataract removals this year in both of my eyes have improved my vision to the point where I can probably manage a smartphone, though my fat fingers will still be a hindrance. But I'll hold off on smartphone shopping until after the holidays.

[wanderer2575]

I'm still using a flip phone.  Got my most recent (an LG) at a Verizon store; didn't need to be special-ordered.  I have very little use for smartphones and all their @#$%&! "apps."  I concede the (extremely rare for me) occasion that it would be nice to pull up Google Maps or some such on demand while I'm traveling, but not enough to make me want to get one.  I certainly don't need to be "following" people for instant updates of what they had for breakfast or when they last went to the bathroom.

Those that use flip phones will often pay by check, use phone books to look up a number, and prefer faxing or snail mail to email.

I have some automatic payments set up, but I still pay a lot of things by check and I balance my register by hand every month.

[Roadgeekteen]

Just wondering. I don't.

For people your age, the question is whether your parents allow you to have a mobile phone.  Many parents, if they allow their kids to have one, allow it for emergency calls only and use parental controls to block offensive/inappropriate content if it is a smartphone.  I got rid of my last dumb phone in 2009.  Have gone from a Blackberry to the HTC Sense to Galaxy s3 to iPhone 6 plus and 7 plus since then.  Wanted to wait for the X, but the screen on the 6 plus was cracked and the battery stayed charged for only 15 minutes so a new phone was more cost effective then sinking $250 into the old one.

Those that use flip phones will often pay by check, use phone books to look up a number, and prefer faxing or snail mail to email.

I have a smartphone, I got my first on in 7th grade and my current one in 8th grade. I got my first dumb phone in 6th grade.

[Max Rockatansky]

If work didn't force it on me I'd likely still be using just a house phone.  Currently I'm provided a flip phone for work but I bounce calls to a hand me down iPhone SE.  I miss being able to leave the house and not having people be able to track me down. 

[HazMatt]

I'm strongly considering going back to one once my current phone dies (Galaxy S7).  Smartphones are a cool novelty now that I have spare money to pay for them, but they're a massive waste and I end up spending too much time working rather than enjoying my time off.

It's weird seeing kids with smartphones, or phones in general.  I didn't get one until I was 21.

[jeffandnicole]

Just wondering. I don't.

For people your age, the question is whether your parents allow you to have a mobile phone.  Many parents, if they allow their kids to have one, allow it for emergency calls only and use parental controls to block offensive/inappropriate content if it is a smartphone...

It's almost surprising to see kids over 10 withOUT a phone.

By middle school, I think a high percentage have them.

[index]

Just wondering. I don't.

For people your age, the question is whether your parents allow you to have a mobile phone.

When I got my first phone earlier in 2017, my parents actually had to force me to get one. (I was 14 at the time) I have never really been on board with social media, phones and all that. I didn't start with some flip phone and work my way up, I just got a smartphone right then and there.

These days I'm fine with having a phone, and the one thing I use it the most for is reading the news. I occasionally use it to talk to a few friends (via other messaging applications) and I don't think I've ever made a call on it before. I seldom use it to text. It comes in handy for other small things as well.

I can go without it for a while on end, unlike a lot of people my age.

[PHLBOS]

Those that use flip phones will often pay by check, use phone books to look up a number, and prefer faxing or snail mail to email.

I still have a flip-type cell phone, I do pay most if not all my bills by check & will use a phone books to look up a number if I can't get on a computer right away.

However, I haven't used a fax machine for at least 6 years & I do use email; so your generalization is slightly off... at least with me.

Just wondering. I don't.

For people your age, the question is whether your parents allow you to have a mobile phone.  Many parents, if they allow their kids to have one, allow it for emergency calls only and use parental controls to block offensive/inappropriate content if it is a smartphone...

It's almost surprising to see kids over 10 withOUT a phone.

By middle school, I think a high percentage have them.

Man, have times have changed since I was that age.  For elementary school, we just went to the secretary's office to use their phone (for local calls to home).  For later years (jr. high, high school & college)., we just carried change and used the school's pay phone(s).

I don't think I've ever made a call on it before.

Ouch!  Such was the original intent of the phone... any phone; to make calls.

[index]

I don't think I've ever made a call on it before.

Ouch!  Such was the original intent of the phone... any phone; to make calls.

Main reason why, at the time, I told my parents they shouldn't bother with getting me a phone. They'd be wasting their money as I wouldn't really ever use it for what it was intended for. (Or anything productive.) I'm sure it will come in handy one of these days... I use it a lot when I'm traveling though.

I think if I didn't have one now I'd be more susceptible to harassment or bullying at school from various imbeciles.

[PHLBOS]

I think if I didn't have one now I'd be more susceptible to harassment or bullying at school from various imbeciles.

Ah, some things don't change... peer pressure.

If one doesn't have a phone; any bullying they receive is of the face-time variety.  If one has a phone (w/its benefits); bullying via texts and cyber bullying can also be had.  Such actually makes me glad I'm not a teenager today.

[jp the roadgeek]

I didn't have my first phone till I was 23 and in college.  If I wanted to use the phone in elementary and middle school, there was a phone near the front desk or in the nurse's office.  In high school, it was a pay phone.  I had a landline in my college dorm freshman year.  If I wanted to talk to an out of state friend, you had to set aside a time where you had to be by the phone and you couldn't leave that location when you talked.  Now, even as I type this in CT, I'm getting group chat iMessages from friends in Houston and Salt Lake City.

[hbelkins]

I had a cousin who was using a "dumb" phone a few years ago and said he had no plans to upgrade his phone because he had a tablet that allowed him to access the Internet when needed.

It's been my experience, having owned both, that "dumb" phones are better for phone calls than smartphones. It seems they get a better and stronger signal and are not as susceptible to dropped calls. Plus, you don't have to worry about whether your data connection is 1x (Verizon) or EDGE or 2G (AT&T). All you have to worry about is overall signal strength.

Texting on a "dumb" phone is a pain. To me, a full keyboard (whether real or screen-based) is a necessity for texting. But even with an iPhone, I'm not a two-thumb typist. I only use the thumb of my right hand, in which I'm holding the phone, for texting.

Texting while driving on a "dumb" phone is even more difficult than texting with a smartphone.  (Waiting to see who'll bite on that bait...)

[kphoger]

 :rolleyes:I had put off getting a smart phone for quite a while, much to the (jovial) ridicule of my wife and my friends, because I knew I would spend way too much time on the internet on it and I wanted to avoid that.  Now that I've had a smart phone for a few years, I find myself trying to force myself to stop spending too much time on the internet on it. 

[jeffandnicole]

It's been my experience, having owned both, that "dumb" phones are better for phone calls than smartphones. It seems they get a better and stronger signal and are not as susceptible to dropped calls. Plus, you don't have to worry about whether your data connection is 1x (Verizon) or EDGE or 2G (AT&T). All you have to worry about is overall signal strength.

In the grand scheme of things, the phone part of a smart phone is a relatively little-used accessory.  Texting, Social Media, taking pictures and Internet use are all used much more than using the phone to talk to someone.  Of the various options, I do agree that while they could make the voice phone part of the phone better, they seem to care about other things that people gravitate to.

I read a stat a while back showing how much talking on the phone has been reduced.  Even though everyone has a phone number dramatically increasing the total phone numbers in use, (versus the days when most families had just 1 phone number in their home for the entire family),  phone calls are down something like 25% from the 1990's when actual talking had to be done to communicate with others.

Texting on a "dumb" phone is a pain. To me, a full keyboard (whether real or screen-based) is a necessity for texting.

I hate screen-based keyboards.  I can write an entire text (or, comment in this forum) without getting a single word right.  Often, I'm holding my hand up just a little too far, and windbupbwithbthis or somethingvlikevthis because I hit the b or v instead of the spacebar when using the normal qwerty two-hand method of typing.  Not to mention spellcheck that can't understand what I typed, or thinks I meant another word instead of what I actually did type.

[kphoger]

Every so often, my friends and I will talk about the fun days of T9 text messaging.  We still call each other a fork, because someone's phone thought he meant "fork" instead of "dork" once.  I still call one of my friends Korean, because my phone thought I meant "Korean" instead of "Jordan" once.  And sometime's we'll purposely text "monkaw" instead of "mmmkay" for a similar reason.  And then there's the fact that my old T9 phone always thought my boss's name was Rat instead of Pat.

[index]

I think if I didn't have one now I'd be more susceptible to harassment or bullying at school from various imbeciles.

Ah, some things don't change... peer pressure.

If one doesn't have a phone; any bullying they receive is of the face-time variety.  If one has a phone (w/its benefits); bullying via texts and cyber bullying can also be had.  Such actually makes me glad I'm not a teenager today.

Good thing for me, is since I'm not on social media, I don't have to deal with that online. Face to face, in the other hand... There are a handful of people who I have to put up with.

[TheArkansasRoadgeek]

Just wondering. I don't.

For people your age, the question is whether your parents allow you to have a mobile phone.  Many parents, if they allow their kids to have one, allow it for emergency calls only and use parental controls to block offensive/inappropriate content if it is a smartphone.  I got rid of my last dumb phone in 2009.  Have gone from a Blackberry to the HTC Sense to Galaxy s3 to iPhone 6 plus and 7 plus since then.  Wanted to wait for the X, but the screen on the 6 plus was cracked and the battery stayed charged for only 15 minutes so a new phone was more cost effective then sinking $250 into the old one.

Those that use flip phones will often pay by check, use phone books to look up a number, and prefer faxing or snail mail to email.

Through my years of school I have seen 3rd graders have the most up-to-date phone each and every year. Me, I have an iPhone 3GS. But, I still see kids totting around iPhone 10's! Crazy isn't it? I would like a new phone. Mine has become so slow! At least an iPhone 4 or 5, or a Samsung

[Scott5114]

Funny because everytime I go through customs I get dirty looks. I kind of live in the stone age. I still prefer cash over debit/credit cards and I use a Tracfone. Almost everytime I go through customs I seem to get searched for drugs and asked a lot of questions. No one seems to believe that I'm just driving for enjoyment, especially this last time when I just drove to Mazatlan in 3 days (in Mexico) to drive on a road because it has 60 tunnels on it. Yeah I know I'm crazy. But I'm also very frugal with my money, which is why I can afford to do stuff like that at my age.

That's probably because people doing illegal stuff tend to use Tracfones (often paid for with cash, if I remember correctly). They're cheap, so if they need to ditch evidence of being involved in illicit deals they can ditch the phone and conceal their connection to the number quite readily.

[kphoger]

In Mexico, I've seen that a lot of teenagers have a nice cell phone, but they don't actually have any minutes on it.  They just have it to look cool and to use the camera feature.

[formulanone]

In Mexico, I've seen that a lot of teenagers have a nice cell phone, but they don't actually have any minutes on it.  They just have it to look cool and to use the camera feature.

Wouldn't a late-model iPod do the same thing? Camera, WiFi, browser, apps, music...but no cell capability?

I let my daughter use my old iPhone (Facetime still works) for photos and apps.

[kphoger]

In Mexico, I've seen that a lot of teenagers have a nice cell phone, but they don't actually have any minutes on it.  They just have it to look cool and to use the camera feature.

Wouldn't a late-model iPod do the same thing? Camera, WiFi, browser, apps, music...but no cell capability?

I let my daughter use my old iPhone (Facetime still works) for photos and apps.

But then you couldn't pretend you're cool enough to actually have a cell phone.