Who still uses a flip or "dumb" phone?

[kkt]

I have a flip phone.  I only got it so my family could call me in an emergency, or I could call them.  And as others have noted, flip phones are actually better than smart phones for making phone calls.  Better reception in rural areas where I like to hike.

[Roadgeekteen]

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.

I think you can still use a phone with no minutes for emergency calls.

[Otto Yamamoto]

My second mobile was one of the first smartphones, an 8mb(!) Palm, which had a flip form factor, as did a subsequent model. I've had various smartphones over the years, with a break over 2010-2012.

P00I

[sparker]

Still use a flip-phone and basically answer calls when I damn well feel like it (I know who calls me for needed communication and who calls me just to flap their gums).  However, have an essentially "freeby" Moto in a box (courtesy of a fuck-up by my provider); I may have to end up switching to it just because of pressure from my business partners to have our new product line available for view and specifications at a moment's notice -- but I'm putting that off for as long as I can -- hopefully I'll get a couple more months of relative peace & quiet.  My GF has a Samsung smart phone and is constantly texting (how a 56-year-old woman can out-text her 18 y.o goddaughter is astonishing!) -- apparently that's a thing with on-duty nurses; since they can't be babbling on their phones when working, they simply text while moving around the hospital (although doing so in surgery is decidedly NOT considered acceptable for obvious reasons!).  BTW, the only reason I first got a cell phone back in '96 was because I was doing a lot of road trips -- primarily up and down the West Coast -- and thought it would be safer to have that service available -- although back then there were quite a few "dead" areas -- like I-5 from Yreka north to just outside Ashland, further north between Grants Pass and Roseburg (except over a couple of the many summits), and US 97 north of Chiloquin.  I was on Sprint back in those days, and, interestingly, there was always decent cell reception near old Southern Pacific main lines (UP acquired them in 1996) -- but not really that surprising considering that the provider started out as a dedicated communications network for SP, with plenty of trackside "repeater" facilities.               

[kkt]

Still use a flip-phone and basically answer calls when I damn well feel like it (I know who calls me for needed communication and who calls me just to flap their gums).  However, have an essentially "freeby" Moto in a box (courtesy of a fuck-up by my provider); I may have to end up switching to it just because of pressure from my business partners to have our new product line available for view and specifications at a moment's notice -- but I'm putting that off for as long as I can -- hopefully I'll get a couple more months of relative peace & quiet.  My GF has a Samsung smart phone and is constantly texting (how a 56-year-old woman can out-text her 18 y.o goddaughter is astonishing!) -- apparently that's a thing with on-duty nurses; since they can't be babbling on their phones when working, they simply text while moving around the hospital (although doing so in surgery is decidedly NOT considered acceptable for obvious reasons!).  BTW, the only reason I first got a cell phone back in '96 was because I was doing a lot of road trips -- primarily up and down the West Coast -- and thought it would be safer to have that service available -- although back then there were quite a few "dead" areas -- like I-5 from Yreka north to just outside Ashland, further north between Grants Pass and Roseburg (except over a couple of the many summits), and US 97 north of Chiloquin.  I was on Sprint back in those days, and, interestingly, there was always decent cell reception near old Southern Pacific main lines (UP acquired them in 1996) -- but not really that surprising considering that the provider started out as a dedicated communications network for SP, with plenty of trackside "repeater" facilities.               

Yeah, Southern Pacific went into the cell phone business partly because they had all that right of way along their tracks where they could put antennas without having to negotiate with landowners, pay rent for the space, or in most cases even get zoning permission.

[J N Winkler]

I have never had a flip phone--I went from nothing to an entry-level Android smartphone in 2012 and to my current phone in 2014.

As for cyberbullying, being contactable when you'd rather be left alone, wasting time on the Internet, etc.:  while smartphones introduce an element of technological facilitation, the controlling factors are psychological and need to be addressed at that level.

[kkt]

As for cyberbullying, being contactable when you'd rather be left alone, wasting time on the Internet, etc.:  while smartphones introduce an element of technological facilitation, the controlling factors are psychological and need to be addressed at that level.

There have been changes in manners and social customs that go along with cell phones.  For instance, socially, you made plans for who to hang out with a day or two before, and then breaking it at the last minute was rude unless there was some good reason.  Now it seems to be fine to change plans at the last minute as long as you call.  However, for myself at least if I've reserved the time and place, I can't always make an alternate plan to use that time that's as fun, interesting, or necessary as if I'd known a few days before.  Maybe I could have gone to see a show, but not if I didn't get tickets until an hour before; maybe I could have taken my car to get its oil changed, but not if I didn't have an appointment already; other friends are often booked.

[hbelkins]

As for cyberbullying, being contactable when you'd rather be left alone, wasting time on the Internet, etc.:  while smartphones introduce an element of technological facilitation, the controlling factors are psychological and need to be addressed at that level.

I've never understood the whole concept of being bullied via text. Why give your number to someone you don't like, or who doesn't like you? As for other platforms -- Facebook, Snapchat, etc. -- there's always the block function.

[hotdogPi]

As for cyberbullying, being contactable when you'd rather be left alone, wasting time on the Internet, etc.:  while smartphones introduce an element of technological facilitation, the controlling factors are psychological and need to be addressed at that level.

I've never understood the whole concept of being bullied via text. Why give your number to someone you don't like, or who doesn't like you? As for other platforms -- Facebook, Snapchat, etc. -- there's always the block function.

Even with the block function, you still have to see the message once before you can do anything about it (otherwise, you wouldn't know there's a problem to begin with).

[Scott5114]

As for other platforms -- Facebook, Snapchat, etc. -- there's always the block function.

Not necessarily–there's always the possibility that Person A could put defamatory or salacious messages about you ("I heard H.B. Elkins loves Louisville") on Person B's Facebook feed, or something like that, in which case there's no real way to remove it directly. You can try to get Facebook to delete it, but that takes time and could require effort to prove you were the person being talked about, etc.

[US 41]

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.

There's probably not too many people my age that drive across a foreign country for no real reason either. A high percentage of people my age are broke and can barely afford to gas their car up once a week.

[Duke87]

I've never understood the whole concept of being bullied via text. Why give your number to someone you don't like, or who doesn't like you? As for other platforms -- Facebook, Snapchat, etc. -- there's always the block function.

Well, it wasn't necessarily you that gave the offender your number. They can get it from someone else who has it.

And yes, when harassed on social media, blocking is the better route to take, but it is not necessarily the route many young people do take. An insecure 15-year old can easily feel compelled to reply to messages which are deliberately crafted to push their buttons. Or they may be afraid to block the offender lest this escalate matters and get themselves harassed by other means. Victims of harassment, especially young victims, often do not feel empowered to take action to try and stop it, and often find themselves responding emotionally rather than rationally to the harassment - they are under duress, after all.


As for the original question, I was a smartphone refusnik at first, but I switched in 2011 - replacing a rather beat up flip phone I'd had for over five years. It still worked so I didn't want to spend money replacing it. Eventually my coworkers managed to convince me that it was functionally obsolete and needed replacing even if it still worked.

[Roadgeekteen]

I have never had a flip phone--I went from nothing to an entry-level Android smartphone in 2012 and to my current phone in 2014.

As for cyberbullying, being contactable when you'd rather be left alone, wasting time on the Internet, etc.:  while smartphones introduce an element of technological facilitation, the controlling factors are psychological and need to be addressed at that level.

Can't you just block the bully?

[Beltway]

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.

I have a simple SAMSUNG flip phone that is about 8 years old, but it includes texting with the combo keyboard which is cumbersome but fine when like me you text rarely.  It has a contacts list, a calculator, a calendar which is useful for posting and tracking upcoming events, a stop watch, an internet-server-controlled clock, a camera, an alarm clock, and can reach the internet albeit with a rather small window, and it can be configured for e-mail.  And of course the phone and voice mail itself.  My minimal data plan has a cost for accessing the internet so I rarely do so; and I have not needed to configure for e-mail.  I use all the above features.  I don't think you could call this phone "dumb", actually it is a minimal smart phone.  It meets my needs.  My daily-used features are the calendar and the clock (which eliminates the need for a wrist watch).

[J N Winkler]

As for cyberbullying, being contactable when you'd rather be left alone, wasting time on the Internet, etc.:  while smartphones introduce an element of technological facilitation, the controlling factors are psychological and need to be addressed at that level.

Can't you just block the bully?

In principle, yes, but Duke87's point about "button-pushing" is key.  Bullies look for an emotional reaction, like crying or being upset, that confirms their dominance.  If they don't get it, they move on to the next victim.  It takes some social savvy to see bullies off, which is one reason people with conditions on the autistic spectrum that make it more difficult for them to read social or emotional cues tend to be more vulnerable to bullying.