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First, it was an obsession with Y2K fashion. Then, there was a rise in vintage technology like vinyl records and disposable cameras. Now, Gen Z’s latest retro obsession is with so-called “dumb phones” — like flip phones — named for being the complete opposite of smartphones.
Today in The Conversation Canada, Omar H. Fares from Toronto Metropolitan University explains why flip phones are suddenly back on the market.
Fares explains there are three key reasons for this newfound interest: a nostalgic longing for an idealized version of the past, doing a “digital detox” to cut down on screen time and out of data privacy-related concerns.
But Fares doesn’t believe this trend means smartphones are going out of style. Instead, he predicts users will opt to own both a smartphone and a “dumb phone,” allowing them to temporarily disconnect from the digital world whenever they want.
Also today:
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Sales of so-called “dumb phones,” like flip and slide phones, are on the rise among the younger generation.
(Shutterstock)
Omar H. Fares, Toronto Metropolitan University
Gen Z’s interest in flip phones is the latest in a series of obsessions young people have for the
aesthetic of the 1990s and 2000s.
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(Shutterstock)
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THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Eugene Lang, Queen's University, Ontario
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LA PRESSE CANADIENNE/HO-Government of Alberta Fire Service
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Arts
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Glenn Fosbraey, University of Winchester
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Culture + Society
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Fathima Azmiya Badurdeen, Technical University of Mombasa
Both cults and violent extremist movements have similar push and pull factors at the individual level.
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Politics
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Anne P. DePrince, University of Denver
Trump’s lawyers questioned E. Jean Carroll, a magazine columnist, about why she did not scream or call the police after, she alleged, Trump sexually assaulted her in the 1990s.
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