A college student who still uses a flip phone explains why everyone else is missing out
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Bekah Pollard is a contributing editor for The LaLa, a website for and by college women. Her essay, "11 Things The Girl With The Flip Phone Wants You To Know," started making its way around Twitter this weekend.
Even though she loves her flip phone, Pollard says she's hardly a luddite.
"I'm not trying to make a statement or prove a point by purposely resisting technology that's increasingly consuming all of our faces ...," she writes. "I'm simply of the philosophy, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I also still have my second generation lime green iPod Nano I've had since seventh grade, and I've had the same laptop computer for the past four years."
Her 11 things include the obvious: She can't see the emoji you're sending her. She can't watch videos. She needs to look up directions before she goes anywhere.
But there were some perks.
Charging her phone, she explains, is not something she has to do each day. And unlike most of us, she isn't always traveling with a USB cable or frantically looking for an available outlet at Starbucks.
Navish Chitrakar/Reuters
There was also this: "I don't have the option of burying my face in Instagram or Twitter when I'm feeling awkward in a social setting or waiting for someone to meet up with me in a public place," Pollard writes, "and I've honestly become more observant because of it. Because of this, I am SO good at keeping myself entertained when there's nothing going on. People watching, eavesdropping, doodling, wandering…you name it, I can entertain myself with it."
Last September, TIME published a piece about milennials who still use flip phones. Many people interviewed for that piece noted that their flip phones often served as good conversation starters at bars. Pollard agreed.
And if you're still not convinced? "My phone literally flips open and closed," Pollard boasts. "Please tell me flipping your phone shut after a convo wouldn't be fulfilling."
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