Back to life before smartphones more and more people in the world are choosing a conventional mobile just to communicate, apart from all other smart applications and uses.

For example, a forum on Reddit gathers 17,000 members who have returned to the old phones, with their small screens and very few apps, if not any

One of them is the 27-year-old American Jose Briones, who replaced the smartphone with a conventional cell phone, without Internet, without applications, and assures that his life has changed.

When he wants to play music, he puts in a CD! When he wants to go somewhere, he prints a map before starting the route or asks passers-by!

Also, according to Jose Briones, conventional mobile phones also appeal to younger people who find them “cool” or “retro”.

Jose is not the only one: this return to the old days attracts “those who want to find their lost time again or give their lives a taste again”, he says.

Forum member Melanin_King0 feels better three weeks after switching back to conventional mobile.

“When I was on my smartphone all the time, I felt like my mind was in a cloud,” he describes on Reddit. “I couldn’t do anything else. I was scrolling through videos on Instagram and TikTok and it was killing my energy.”

They keep them… basically only at work

Forum members say they keep some practical apps like their email, Spotify, Google Maps or Microsoft Teams, but very few say they want TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.

Most keep their smartphone for work.

Jose Briones transfers the SIM card to an iPhone or tablet when he has a lot of conference calls or when he travels, but otherwise he says he uses his conventional cell phone 80% of the time.

“In my work with NGOs, I have a lot of emails, reminders, notes… It’s exhausting. He should not invade my private life,” she says.

Although the market is limited, for now, many companies have launched “minimal” phones that allow you to make phone calls, send sms and possibly install an app or two.

“Endangered species”

“It’s time to set limits and create a healthier relationship with technology,” says Petter Neby, founder and director of Punkt – a conventional mobile phone manufacturer – in an article on the American network.

Sales of conventional mobile phones rose slightly last year in the United States, but remain flat and falling in the rest of the world, according to research firm IDC, as smartphone prices fall in developing countries.

Some say “being wired all the time is affecting their mental health,” notes Nabila Popal, director of research at IDC.

“But this recent surge in interest in old-school mobile devices doesn’t reverse the underlying trend of their decline.”

Conventional mobile remains an endangered species, finds Creative Strategies’ Carolina Milanesi.