Flip Phone vs. Smart Phone: Is Less More?

By Maxine Roeper Cohen, M.S.

I heard a very interesting news story on the car radio while I was driving to work the other day. A teenage girl in Westchester County had dropped and broken her smart phone. Instead of replacing it with another smart phone, she made the decision to buy a bright pink flip phone. She had thought long and hard about this purchase. The smart phone had “taken over” her life and it was time to break free! Her friends were, at first, astounded with her decision. She explained how the smart phone controlled every minute of her life and she didn’t like the effect it had on her. With her flip phone, she could still receive phone calls, voicemail messages, and text messages. That, she felt, was enough.  

How liberating a decision this was for the young lady! Think about your life and the way that your smart phone controls you. Do you gaze at the phone every few minutes? Do you anticipate those distinctive sounds which indicate that a call or text is summoning you? Do you check your Facebook account or search the internet or check your email whenever you have a free moment? Maybe it’s time to break free from this addictive behavior. And, yes, there is such a thing as phone addiction. There has been an upswing in pedestrian accidents because people are looking down at their phones when walking and crossing busy streets. People collide with others and have been known to walk straight into busy thoroughfares because they are distracted. Although it is against the law to text or speak on a phone while driving (unless the phone is hands-free) we all know that this law is broken every day, often with deadly consequences! What does this tell us about the power, lure, and danger of these phones? 

Spring is fast approaching. Take time to put that phone aside while you are taking a walk in the neighborhood. Look around at nature and all the miracles a new season brings. Breathe in that warm air, calm down, and let go of life’s stressors. Take the time to actually look at the people in your family face to face instead of speaking in their general direction while checking your smart phone. Perhaps you can collect phones and devices in a basket and not allow them at your dining table! How wonderful it is to have family dinner conversations, discuss your day together, and teach your children the social manners and graces they need to learn as responsible members of society. Remember to turn devices off at night and don’t take them to bed. 

We are our children’s role models. They are watching us carefully. Perhaps it’s time to decide that a simple flip phone serves our needs, and we are overdoing things with these smart phones. Perhaps less is more?!

Maxine Roeper Cohen is a Parent Educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County’s Family Health and Wellness Program. She can be reached at mc333@cornell.edu.