Retro Rising: Welcome to this flippin' crazy world

It’s round one for the hipsters. And we’re not talking flowers in beards. Trend-spotters all over the Interweb are hailing the “dawn of a new era”. One with no emails on the move, no strained necks, no red eyes at 9am and a perfectly good way to watch the sunset, without a camera in your face. Because flip phones are making a comeback, apparently.

Symptoms have been strong so far. Apple — makers of sleek, expensive and fragile replacements to joy — saw sales drop for the first time in 13 years. The slump knocked revenue down to $50.6 billion, from the erstwhile $58 billion during the same period last year. Analysts say people are tired of the iPhone and in China, the latest model is in the same category as Beijing’s dense pollution.  

Meanwhile, a major mobile telephone giant (cough... Korean) has actually gone ahead and launched a flip phone for the Android market - although that’s just a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

But why are we increasingly adopting tech that’s generations old? Part of the answer is ‘saturation’. Phones are not getting any smarter and we’re just getting busier. The emails are starting to creep into personal space and phone addiction is now a diagnosed problem, plaguing millions of people. Take inspiration from some of the most high-profile people on the planet. Warren Buffet has a flip-phone, Rihanna uses one, and Vogue’s Editor Anna Wintour swears by her old piece. Even the President of the United States has no use for a smartphone and this is a man who carries around nuclear launch codes. But the one event that shot the trend into orbit was Adele’s music video for last year’s very impressive, Hello. The director, 26-year-old Xavier Dolan, said he avoided a touch-screen because it “reminded him too much of the real world”. He’s right! A life without  shrilly Whatsapp, Messenger or email is brilliant enough because according to 29 per cent of Americans who don’t have a smartphone as their primary device, if it’s urgent... there will be a call.

That hopeful statistic includes 15 per cent of 18 to 24 year olds and 13 per cent of 25-34 year olds. This is a population under immense pressures to perform. It’s a demographic that has to come to the rescue of some gigantic economies and are responsible for the next 50 years of planet Earth’s well-being.

The other reason is the go-easy ‘normcore’ movement. Normcore is the deliberate effort to dress up in “average-looking clothing” to blend with the masses. It turns a nose up at the Guccis, Pradas and embraces that pair of worn-out jeans from 2010. It’s easy, frugal, austere and somehow, for those worrying about the polar bears and Syria... the flip-phone has become weapon of choice. According to the proponents of normcore, the flip-phone is even helping them stand out and is one helluva conversation starter — besides encouraging conversation in the first place.  

New adopters are then hailing the new-found freedom from constant charging, their inability to step out into rain and being on guard to prevent a fall. You see, when phones cost a hefty portion of a millenial’s pay, you think twice about standing next to that table’s edge.

So is the trend here to stay? Well, consider this: when the world is dealing with an abject man-made crisis of people being “just too busy” to appreciate all the wonders that's around us... the dumbphone permits us just enough space to be unavailable for the trivial. That is more than just a trend, that’s necessity.