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I thought that after seventh \u00a0grade, I would never see a flip phone again. In my head, they were cast away with sequined shirts and crocheted hats. Yet there I was, a sixteen-year-old in 2016, whipping out a Samsung flip phone in the middle of my high school cafeteria. I was expecting questions and maybe a few weird looks, \u00a0<\/i>or maybe even some “hey COOL”s,<\/i> \u00a0but instead I was promptly greeted with a \u201cWhat the eff is that?\u201d By a stranger, no less. As if this phone smelled of \u00a0reheated fish or elderberries.<\/p>\n
Among my favorite reactions were:<\/p>\n
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Using an iPhone during school without getting caught is unbelievably easy. I turn the brightness down so the screen is barely visible and I silence all sounds. On the other hand, there’s the flip phone. There. Is. No. Silence. Option. You can hit the lower-volume button 30+ times, but there will always be a totally obnoxious noise when you get a text. This may not seem like such a big deal until it goes off in the middle of a test and you (I) have to bring it to the security office. (Only for them to chuckle at the fact that you’re using a flip phone and hand it right back to you. #NOSHAME.<\/em>)<\/p>\n Then again, it wasn’t all bad. I mean, 99% of it was. But not all. For one thing, the battery life was impressive. I didn’t have to charge my phone for an entire 48 hours. I think our generation greatly under-appreciates how incredibly easy iPhones make our lives, guys. (S\/o to Steve Jobs). Instead of checking the weather app to guide your outfit choice that day, you actually have to go outside. <\/i>Insane. Or let’s say you forgot about a chemistry test \u00a0you have the next day and you need to cram. My first instinct would be to watch Hank Green’s chemistry crash course on YouTube. Without this tool at my disposal, I had to calculate molar mass all by my lonesome<\/em>. <\/i>It just gets more startling every second, I know.<\/p>\n My mom thought the extra legwork would help me \u201cabsorb more information\u201d or something, but in reality, all it did was knock an hour off of my sleeping schedule.<\/p>\n Has your friend ever texted you something really exciting or urgent and you both start shooting messages back and forth, one sending as soon as you receive another? This is impossible on a flip phone. Not nearly<\/i> impossible\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Literally impossible. First of all, it takes upwards of three minutes to send a text that contains ten words. The ancient Egyptian T9 system, in which the phone guesses what word you’re trying to type, was slightly helpful. That is, until it guessed the wrong word. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how to choose a different word without having to go back to the \u201cAbc\u201d option, type a letter, delete it (to get rid of the capitalization, since there was no lowercase \u201cabc\u201d option), and type out the word I wanted. It was as complicated as it sounds. So, sorry Rachel, but I wasn’t able to fan-girl with you about Liam Hemsworth’s new shirtless pictures for a reason.<\/p>\n All of this \u00a0did not help the fact that people have, in the recent past, called me \u201cAmish\u201d to my face, simply because I didn’t get an iPhone until my freshman year of high school. True story. (And that’s only half of the problem. The other half is that they \u00a0think calling someone \u00a0Amish is an insult. *eyeroll*)<\/p>\n You can understand why I was mildly concerned walking into the lunchroom on that fateful winter day, flip phone in hand. When I was told to go look at Kylie Jenner’s latest mirror pic on Instagram and I, in response, held up my phone from 1896, I admit I felt alienated from everyone \u00a0at first. But by the end of the week, I felt less alienated and more defensive: I was about ready to \u00a0send the folks from \u00a0Lancaster, Pennsylvania a postcard that said “I RESPECT YOU. Sincerely, Cate.”<\/p>\n Altogether, I think what \u00a0should be taken from this experiment is that flip phones died eight years ago for the greater good of my opposable thumbs.<\/p>\n Weigh in on the legacy of \u00a0T9 in the comments!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I thought that after seventh \u00a0grade, I would never see a flip phone again. In my head, they were cast away with sequined shirts and crocheted hats. Yet there I was, a sixteen-year-old in 2016, continue reading<\/span>![\"\"](\"http:\/\/img.sparknotes.com\/content\/sparklife\/sparktalk\/flipphone300.jpg\")
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