New Barbie dumbphone could cleave tweens from their screens

Exactly 65 years since the first Barbie doll was released, the Barbie Phone has finally arrived. 

As you might expect, the flip-phone is pink. Very pink. And it comes with all sorts of glittery extras so you can bedazzle it to your heart’s content — and relive some late-90s Barbie nostalgia. 

The phone is also dumb. Very dumb. No social media, no apps — just good ol’ fashioned SMS and calls. But that’s the point.  

“It is the perfect tool to live your best life and take a vacation from your smartphone,” said its creators, Finnish company Human Mobile Devices (HMD), which built the phone in partnership with the maker of Barbie dolls, Mattel. 

While the Barbie phone is a brick phone at heart — albeit in fancy-dress — that doesn’t mean it’s useless. It comes fitted with a 0.3-megapixel camera, which is perfect for that early old-school digital camera look. The phone runs on the S30+ operating system and comes with 128MB of internal storage — ouch. But you have the option to add a 32GB SD card if you want. 

Digital detox

The launch of the Barbie phone comes amid growing calls from parents, schools, and businesses to limit the time children spend on smartphones. 

Some 90% of children in the UK own a smartphone by the time they turn 11. The majority of these kids also use social media. 

Studies have linked excessive use of apps like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to an increase in cases of depression, anxiety, and diet-related issues among youth. 

These problems aren’t just isolated to young people. Most of us would probably benefit from spending less time staring at our phones and more time connecting with the world around us. 

The humble dumbphone can be your ticket to this digital detox. A pink Barbie dumbphone bedazzled with sequins and glitter? Even better — perhaps.

The dumbphone boom

In recent years, a tech counter-culture has emerged that encourages individuals to intentionally disconnect from digital devices to improve mental wellbeing, enhance focus, and foster real-life connections. It’s called digital detoxing and its posterchild is the dumbphone: barebones devices like the iconic Nokia 3310 that can only call and text.

Companies like HMD and US-based Light look to tap this niche but steady market. HMD — which came about after Nokia repurchased its mobile phone division from Microsoft in 2016 — specialises in dumbphones, or also called feature phones or brick phones. It has sold 400 million of them since 2016.

The dumbphone movement is quite ironic — buying a new phone to help you stop using a phone. It’s also quite sad. 

Many people are so addicted to their smartphones that the only way to rein themselves in is to remove the temptation. Although, considering the amount of time and money tech companies spend on holding your attention, you can hardly blame the addicts. 

Pulling tweens from screens

While dumbphones are most popular among hip Gen Zers and millennials, they are an increasingly appealing option for parents and schools looking to cleave tweens from their screens.  

In one case, Eton College (yes, that’s where Prince Harry went to school) recently banned smartphones for its first year students. The school is handing out dumphones for the pupils to use during school hours instead. It said the decision was made “to balance the benefits and challenges that technology brings to schools.” 

“The Barbie phone would work well for parents who are being nagged by younger kids who want a mobile phone but are nervous about letting them have access to social media or WhatsApp,” said Ben Wood, chief analyst and CMO at London market research firm CCS Insight.  

While I doubt whether the Barbie phone will be that popular among teens, it could be a great option for younger kids who are not yet responsible enough to use a smartphone. (Are any of us?). I mean, if you are going to get a dumbphone, why not get one that’s chic, sleek, and, most importantly, pink.

“I love that pink one. Wow stickers. I want it!” said my four-year-old daughter when I showed her a picture of the Barbie phone. Good job HMD.