Why I loved my flip phone

Lanie Williams, Rookie Reporter

We live in a world that is constantly swallowed by screens. Walking into a room, all I see is glazed eyes dominated by their screen brightness, illuminating their faces.

I didn’t get my first phone until my 14th birthday. When my mom handed me the small dark grey object, my heart could not have been happier.

Ever since the beginning of middle school, more and more of my peers began to get phones. And not just any phone, the smartphone. I watched as my classmates became fluent in texting lingo, social media trends, and more. I was left behind in the old-fashioned days of the MP3 player that I listened to constantly.

Throughout this time, I despised my parents’ decision to wait to get me a smartphone. Looking back, I realize I would be a much different person.

Everyone I knew began caring about Instagram captions and Snapchat streaks. I had no idea what the big deal was.

Middle school is the turning point in everyone’s lives. No one realizes it, but this is where you decide the kind of person you want to be, what you’re good at, and who your friend group is. I found that I didn’t like any of the groups. Many were all too consumed with drama and yes, their phones.

  When I got my flip phone, my world did not seem different. Not better, not worse. People asked for my number, and I could give it to them. But I soon found that my life did not benefit from having the device. It really did nothing more than text and call and take low-quality pictures. Before Christmas, I was considering getting rid of it. Texting brought unwanted and unnecessary drama into my life and I was sick of it.

Then, I got my smartphone. My world was completely flipped upside down. I felt like an 80 year old man when it came to technology, and I was just not used to having something like this.

My parents still would not let me get social media, nor internet on my phone, but I did get a few apps for learning and one for playing games with my friends. And although having a phone did help with certain things for school/learning, I have found that it brought more bad than good. When I get bored, instead of reading a book or going outside or playing catch with my brother, I get on my phone.

When we are bored, we scroll through social media or play games on our phone instead of spending time with our family, trying new things, going outside, or participating in some kind of sport.

I loved my flip phone, because I didn’t have apps calling my name every time I didn’t have anything to do. What I realized is that there was always something to do. I always found something.

I believe smartphones can be used for good. We can have any information we want in just a few clicks, sometimes even less than that.

Now, we can use Voice Control to ask questions and give commands. We don’t even have to move a muscle!

How sad is it that some people will only ever see snow-tipped mountains in pictures. Some people will only be told they are beautiful of loved over text message. Some people will never hear their favorite band play in a concert with the buzz of people around them. Some people will never know the sweet oaky smell of a bookstore or the sound of a creek trickling by. Some people only know the entirety of screens. Some people will never know the rush of doing something that scares you or winning a big game.

Some people will only experience this “virtually”. Just because it is called “virtual reality” does not make it real at all.

Having a flip phone changed the way I viewed my generation and technology.

I think we would all be better off with the bare minimum. I think we would all be better off if we looked at screens a lot less and started looking up instead. Because some people will only really, artificially live. And to me, that isn’t living at all.