The Flip Phone Challenge: A Week Without Smartphones

Hey everybody, this is Erica, the technology nerd, likes to film stuff and several weeks ago I decided to take the flip phone challenge where essentially I used a dumb phone for an entire week no Smartphones at all just to see how I would do so. Michael Fischer decided to join forces with me so we could torture ourselves together and so here we are we both finished the challenge and we want to talk about our respective results.

I think it's kind of funny because it looks like Michael ended up having a bit of happy Nostalgia where I went a little bit insane. Check it out, roll tape. Hey everyone, well I did it and it was horrible a week with the Verizon LG Exalt 2 a modern flip phone but not without realizing that I have a bit of an instant gratification addiction and I think that most of this young Tech generation does as well. I can't disappear from internet land these days without someone thinking I am dead. I cant forget to text back a loved one without amassing major concern so my idea of disconnecting couldn't work even if I wanted to.

So, not addicted to my smartphone per se but addicted to instant convenient access to my information to my virtual network of peoples and to whether I am missing out on something my work is even online. The irony my flip phone has unlimited access to mobile web but it was poor at best to access what I needed or it just wasn't capable. I found myself clinging to my laptop in another time. I think this flip phone would have been awesome with its long battery life big colorful display front concealed notification LEDs ability to pop in a high-capacity SD card and mount the storage to my computer and Legacy ability to tap into Verizon's dialup networking but of course that no longer works.

But all this misery cost me 30 bucks I'd be better off simply paying for a low-end smart smartphone. Feel that flip phones are still useful for the right person but I have changed the number one thing the dumb phone challenge taught me is that I'd rather dump all my flat screens for CRTs than ever give up my smartphone don't get me wrong at first I was seduced by The Nostalgia of a simpler time and it's amazing how quickly your brain readjusts instead of wondering how many different things you can do with an app you get excited all over again about custom ringtone or what shortcuts to assign to the d-pad. Remember how fast you used to be at texting with T9 word you'll be that fast again within a few minutes it's incredible and after so many years tapping on cold glass what a pleasure it is to have clicky mechanical feedback again when you text and a comfortable wraparound banana phone when you talk.

But most of our modern society is built on the assumption that you're always connected and with a dumb phone you're just not a mobile browser can't do notifications like a dedicated app can. And it's striking how many people don't even text anymore in fact the only way I could use a dumb phone for any length of time was to cheat I fired up mobile hotspot on this one and connected a tablet or computer to it so I could you know exist online and increasingly existing on Internet is existing period. I loved my brief respit from smartphones it taught me that some Modern dumb phones come with pretty smart features and it was is a blast to re-experience the Golden Age of mobile design.

But dumping your smartphone in 2016 unless you're truly internet free and work and play just isn't realistic for people like us and that's not sad that's just progress so there you have it if you're curious to try this out for yourself by all means please do so put your experiences in the comment section below or maybe even if you think you would do well or if you don't think you would do well just say something about what you think would happen to yourself during this challenge. Please check out Michael's Channel youtube.com/ theem mrmobile I'm going to put links in the description to his channel and also to his social media channels as well.

So with this challenge I really discovered that technology is only useful if you are going forward that seems obvious right but not until you really do something like this that's obsolete unless we're talking about tech that's more Evergreen like Classics like Super Nintendo for example but some things like flip phones if you're a smartphone person really are not worth going back to so again visit youtube.com/ thee mrmobile let me know what you guys thought of this Challenge and if you'd like to see more collaborations in the near future and have a goodbye.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey everybody this is Erica the technology nerd likes to film stuff and several weeks ago I decided to take the flip phone challenge where essentially I used a dumb phone for an entire week no Smartphones at all just to see how I would do so Michael Fischer decided to join forces with me so we could torture ourselves together and so here we are we both finished the challenge and we want to talk about our respective results I think it's kind of funny because it looks like Michael ended up having a bit of happy Nostalgia where I went a little bit insane so check it out roll tape hey everyone well I did it and it was horrible a week with the Verizon LG Exalt 2 a modern flip phone but not without realizing that I have a bit of an instant gratification addiction and I think that most of this young Tech generation does as well I can't disappear from internet land these days without someone thinking I am dead I can't forget to text back a loved one without amassing maj concern so my idea of disconnecting couldn't work even if I wanted it to so not addicted to my smartphone per se but addicted to instant convenient access to my information to my virtual network of peoples and to whether I am missing out on something my work is even online the irony my flip phone has unlimited access to mobile web but it was poor at best to access what I needed or it just wasn't capable I found myself clinging to my laptop in another time I think this flip phone would have been awesome with its long battery life big colorful display front concealed notification LEDs ability to pop in a high-capacity SD card and mount the storage to my computer and Legacy ability to tap into Verizon's dialup networking but of course that no longer works but all this misery cost me 30 bucks I'd be better off simply paying for a low-end smart smart phone I feel that flip phones are still useful for the right person but I have changed the number one thing the dumb phone challenge taught me is that I'd rather dump all my flat screens for CRTs than ever give up my smartphone don't get me wrong at first I was seduced by The Nostalgia of a simpler time and it's amazing how quickly your brain readjusts instead of wondering how many different things you can do with an app you get excited all over again about custom ringtone or what shortcuts to assign to the d-pad remember how fast you used to be at texting with T9 word you'll be that fast again within a few minutes it's incredible and after so many years tapping on cold glass what a pleasure it is to have clicky mechanical feedback again when you text and a comfortable wraparound banana phone when you talk but most of our modern society is built on the assumption that you're always connected and with a dumb phone you're just not a mobile browser can't do notifications like a dedicated app can and it's striking how many people don't even text anymore in fact the only way I could use a dumb phone for any length of time was to cheat I fired up mobile hotspot on this one and connected a tablet or computer to it so I could you know exist online and increasingly existing on the Internet is existing period I loved my brief respit from smartphones it taught me that some Modern dumb phones come with pretty smart features and it was is a blast to re-experience the Golden Age of mobile design but dumping your smartphone in 2016 unless you're truly internet free and work and play just isn't realistic for people like us and that's not sad that's just progress so there you have it if you're curious to try this out for yourself by all means please do so put your experiences in the comment section below or maybe even if you think you would do well or if you don't think you would do well just say something about what you think would happen to yourself during this challenge please check out Michael's Channel youtube.com/ theem mrmobile I'm going to put links in the description to his channel and also to his social media channels as well so with this challenge I really discovered that technology is only useful if you are going forward that seems obvious right but not until you really do something like this that's obsolete unless we're talking about tech that's more Evergreen like Classics like Super Nintendo for example but some things like flip phones if you're a smartphone person really are not worth going back to so again visit youtube.com/ thee mrmobile let me know what you guys thought of this Challenge and if you'd like to see more collaborations in the near future and have a goodbye have a goodbye and goodbyehey everybody this is Erica the technology nerd likes to film stuff and several weeks ago I decided to take the flip phone challenge where essentially I used a dumb phone for an entire week no Smartphones at all just to see how I would do so Michael Fischer decided to join forces with me so we could torture ourselves together and so here we are we both finished the challenge and we want to talk about our respective results I think it's kind of funny because it looks like Michael ended up having a bit of happy Nostalgia where I went a little bit insane so check it out roll tape hey everyone well I did it and it was horrible a week with the Verizon LG Exalt 2 a modern flip phone but not without realizing that I have a bit of an instant gratification addiction and I think that most of this young Tech generation does as well I can't disappear from internet land these days without someone thinking I am dead I can't forget to text back a loved one without amassing maj concern so my idea of disconnecting couldn't work even if I wanted it to so not addicted to my smartphone per se but addicted to instant convenient access to my information to my virtual network of peoples and to whether I am missing out on something my work is even online the irony my flip phone has unlimited access to mobile web but it was poor at best to access what I needed or it just wasn't capable I found myself clinging to my laptop in another time I think this flip phone would have been awesome with its long battery life big colorful display front concealed notification LEDs ability to pop in a high-capacity SD card and mount the storage to my computer and Legacy ability to tap into Verizon's dialup networking but of course that no longer works but all this misery cost me 30 bucks I'd be better off simply paying for a low-end smart smart phone I feel that flip phones are still useful for the right person but I have changed the number one thing the dumb phone challenge taught me is that I'd rather dump all my flat screens for CRTs than ever give up my smartphone don't get me wrong at first I was seduced by The Nostalgia of a simpler time and it's amazing how quickly your brain readjusts instead of wondering how many different things you can do with an app you get excited all over again about custom ringtone or what shortcuts to assign to the d-pad remember how fast you used to be at texting with T9 word you'll be that fast again within a few minutes it's incredible and after so many years tapping on cold glass what a pleasure it is to have clicky mechanical feedback again when you text and a comfortable wraparound banana phone when you talk but most of our modern society is built on the assumption that you're always connected and with a dumb phone you're just not a mobile browser can't do notifications like a dedicated app can and it's striking how many people don't even text anymore in fact the only way I could use a dumb phone for any length of time was to cheat I fired up mobile hotspot on this one and connected a tablet or computer to it so I could you know exist online and increasingly existing on the Internet is existing period I loved my brief respit from smartphones it taught me that some Modern dumb phones come with pretty smart features and it was is a blast to re-experience the Golden Age of mobile design but dumping your smartphone in 2016 unless you're truly internet free and work and play just isn't realistic for people like us and that's not sad that's just progress so there you have it if you're curious to try this out for yourself by all means please do so put your experiences in the comment section below or maybe even if you think you would do well or if you don't think you would do well just say something about what you think would happen to yourself during this challenge please check out Michael's Channel youtube.com/ theem mrmobile I'm going to put links in the description to his channel and also to his social media channels as well so with this challenge I really discovered that technology is only useful if you are going forward that seems obvious right but not until you really do something like this that's obsolete unless we're talking about tech that's more Evergreen like Classics like Super Nintendo for example but some things like flip phones if you're a smartphone person really are not worth going back to so again visit youtube.com/ thee mrmobile let me know what you guys thought of this Challenge and if you'd like to see more collaborations in the near future and have a goodbye have a goodbye and goodbye\n"