Oh hey, Friday! | 5 reasons why the flip phone needs to make a comeback

Max never ceases to amaze me with his imitations of what he sees around him.  This is stuff he was never directly taught, but things he has learned through observation.  He puts his panda bear to bed in the family room by lying him on a throw pillow, covering him with a blanket, and giving him a kiss. He unloads the groceries from the grocery bags (although they don't always end up where they're supposed to).  He puts his water cup into the water dispenser in the refrigerator door (thankfully he hasn't figured out how to apply enough pressure to make the water come out...what a mess that would be!).  

One of my favorite things he does is "talk" on my grandma's old Samsung flip phone.  He opens it up, pushes some buttons, and babbles into the phone.  Sometimes he hands the phone to me or Victor to take a call for him.

It was an important call.

Seeing him play with this phone has made me sort of long for my old Motorola Krzr.  Y'all remember these? This is the one I had.  I actually cracked the front screen at one point, but it was NBD (that means "no big deal," Mom).

source

Remember life before smartphones?  I got my first smartphone in 2011 (I was a little late to the game), and I honestly think I miss the easy-going way of life pre-smartphone.  I wish some people around me didn't have smartphones, either. Can you imagine what life would be like if we went back to flip phones? It's not that hard...just think back about 5-7 years.  Here are 5 reasons why I think we all need flip phones again.

1.  You will be more likely to have a phone conversation.  I rarely make calls anymore.  Most of my communication on my iPhone is done via text, email, or on social media.  I don't mind talking to some people on the phone, though, but texting is usually easier.  I've heard people complain about receiving phone calls when they prefer to receive a text, and it seems like voicemail is becoming obsolete.  But it's important to actually use your voice to communicate with someone.  Only communicating in writing leaves much to be desired and can lead to lots of misunderstandings.  Plus, when you get a call, you get to do that cool *flick* thing with your thumb to open the phone.  That alone is reason enough, in my opinion.

2.  You will be more likely to have face-to-face conversations.  Can you imagine how present you would be in your life if you didn't have all the bells and whistles of a smartphone at your fingertips all the time? For sure, there'd be fewer texting-related car accidents.  People would make eye contact. You'd likely have a nice conversation with your family at dinner (it makes me so sad when I see entire families on their phones when they're out to dinner together).  You might strike up a conversation with the person in front of you in line at the grocery store instead of scrolling through your Instagram feed for the thousandth time that day.  You wouldn't be tempted to catch up on Snapchat and Twitter and might instead make time to play a board game with your family or grab a coffee with a friend.  You'd likely be more active...and your neck wouldn't hurt so bad.

3.  Your phone would fit so nicely in your pocket/purse.  Who has the iPhone 6 Plus?  Or those huge Samsung phones?  How do you cram that in your pocket?!  Victor wants to get the Plus.  I don't really want to have to store something that big in my purse or pocket.  What if I need to take a teeny tiny clutch somewhere?  I doubt the Plus would fit, and even if it did, there likely wouldn't be space for other night-out essentials, like lip gloss, money/credit cards, and gum. 

4.  Your battery would practically never die...like, ever.  My iPhone 5 is over 2 years old.  I have to charge it several times a day because the battery life suuuuuuuuuucks.  I think I took for granted how long my flip phone battery lasted back in the day.  If I only knew...

5.  You won't need to pay an arm and a leg for your phone and its accessories.  These smartphones are expensive...and their prices are climbing by the day.  We've said goodbye to unlimited data, and with more and more social media options, our data is getting sucked up by the second.  Many wireless providers are getting rid of their upgrade options, meaning that you have to pay more money to get a new phone.  And if you want to make sure that your phone doesn't shatter or break the second it gets bumped the wrong way, you have to buy a lot of accessories. These new fancy phones are so darn fragile!  I dropped my first iPhone on the garage floor and the screen completely shattered.  It was so bad, I was being poked in the face by glass when I made a call.  $100 dollars and a new screen later, all was back to normal.  When I cracked my Krzr screen, it was just one simple crack, no shattering.  It didn't affect the function/overall look of the phone, and it didn't poke anyone.  If you want your iPhone to be protected, you have to get a big bulky case (let's face it, ladies, those cutesy ones we love so much don't do much to keep your phone from shattering) and a tempered glass screen protector.  That's at least $100 on top of the cost of your phone.

Now, don't get me wrong.  I love my iPhone.  I'm looking forward to upgrading soon.  I like having a reasonably sized, decent quality camera on me all the time, especially since I don't have a wonderfully nice real camera at the moment.  I enjoy not needing to sit at a computer anytime I want to research something online or read my favorite blogs.  Virtual coupons on my phone help me to save money on errands.  However, I think that all of these distractions at our fingertips are really detracting from our roles as human beings.  We're no longer present in our lives; we're more concerned with what's going on online than we are with what's happening right in front of us.  It's a goal of mine to disconnect/go off the grid more and be present with my family and friends as much as possible.

Linking up with Karli at September Farm and Amy at The Farmer's Wife for Oh hey, Friday!