Smartphones have invaded our daily lives, so much so that we quickly became dependent. Now, more and more young people and adults are opting for this type of phone, much more practical and at a very low price!
Over the years and with new technologies that continue to improve, smartphones have become our life companions. So much so that it is difficult to part with it or that we feel lost when we can no longer find it. Its main function becomes minimal (we send more SMS or WhatsApp than we make phone calls), and it serves us as a road guide, a bank card to pay in restaurants, a camera, not to mention all gaming applications as well as social networks. Result: 30% of adolescents aged 12 to 17 spend on average more than 35 hours per week on a screen, and 25% between 22 and 35 hours, according to the digital barometer of theArcep.
A subject which worries many experts and which led the President of the Republic to take a radical decision: banning cell phones before the age of 11 and social networks before the age of 15. To protect children from this addiction to screens, Emmanuel Macron believes, in fact, that “we need an age for the digital majority”, also a way of “preventing inequalities” between young people, particularly at school.
But we are also witnessing a completely different phenomenon, which should gain momentum in France. More and more teenagers are simply “fed up” with spending so much time on their phones. Young people end up realizing that scrolling for hours is not really productive and that they could use their free time differently. The same goes for adults, and especially parents, who realize that time spent with their children is much more valuable than watching what’s happening on social media. “Since I put my smartphone in a corner when I come home from the office, I have enjoyed my children, and I am there to play with them and share moments together.”; tells us Patrice, father of two young children.
In the United States, screen addicts are abandoning their iPhone or Android smartphones for “Dumbphones”, which are becoming more and more popular. These very simple phones, accessible from around thirty euros, allow you to refocus on the essentials: simply making calls. These are old flip phones, like the Nokia or the “Light phone II”, which allow you to call, send SMS and have an alarm clock, calendar, podcasts and music. Across the Atlantic, sales of these retro phones have doubled. Good news when we know that social networks are responsible for an increase in sleep disorders, anxiety, depression and a lack of self-confidence, particularly among young people.