An old Nokia might be the solution to smartphone addiction (but good luck finding one)

The digital detox bandwagon is unlikely to get going if more stripped down alternatives are not readily available

They are known colloquially as “brick phones”, the industry labels them “feature” phones and the massed ranks of the criminal underworld call them “burners”. Whichever you choose, devices that can call and text only – with little to no access to the internet – are increasingly being touted as the way to end a nightmare consuming the minds of parents around the country: how to stop school children being harmed by the multiple evils of smartphone addiction. 
Debates about the effects of smartphones on children, digital detox campaigns and scare stories about adult content are as relentless as a TikTok algorithm. The network provider EE issued a statement last month declaring that children under 11 years old should not be given smartphones. The manufacturer HMD has separately launched the Barbie-branded brick phone at the pre-teen market, adding to the clamour from parents who want to buck the trend of giving smartphones to ever-younger children (HMD also makes old classics such as Nokia’s 3310). 
But a trawl around the phone and network providers reveals these no-internet phones are not only hard to find, but that – at the moment – the networks appear to prefer you didn’t have them. 
When I approached network and phone retail outlets about brick phones the look on the faces of the admittedly helpful staff was always a mixture of exasperation and confusion. EE did not stock brick phones – devices without neither internet access nor the ability to download apps – in the London store I visited. One member of staff said: “If we were going to be selling them we would be by now.” Another thought it strange for the company to warn about the risks of smartphones but not to supply much of an alternative. That sentiment jars with the noises the industry is making about the need to cater in a more responsible way for the pre-teens.
EE says in a statement that the company does offer the IMO Dash Plus device as a feature phone. The phone has 4G connectivity and can browse the internet but is too basic for social media apps. “We continually review the range of phones we offer,” says an EE spokesman. “Over the coming months, this will include an increased range of devices for those who prefer a phone without internet enabled services.”
“There is a vocal minority of parents who have started to create headlines about this,” says Ben Wood of tech analysts CCS Insight. “There is a societal concern particularly about younger children having access to smartphones. There is a growing consensus that children will get a smartphone in Year 7 when they start secondary school, but before that it might be better for children before that to have a more basic phone.
“As we build towards Christmas, this will feature more prominently. That doesn’t mean to say there will be a huge increase in the volume of feature phones, but that there will be a heightened consumer consciousness about the issues and options. Some companies will see this as an opportunity.”
The response at EE was replicated at a nearby O2 store. They had only one type of brick-type phone (a Nokia 266 at £65) but this kind of stock is ancient and unattractive, especially to a 10-year-old. Customers would be forgiven for making a link between where the retailers place these phones and how they feel about selling them. The shops I visited kept their low-price, low-tech devices hidden away in drawers or at the bottom corners of display cases, unloved and covered in dust and scratches like something you would find lying around and take home to Bagpuss. 
As with all the retailers we spoke to, staff at the O2 store I went to tried to sell me mid-range smartphones at mid-price. A nearby Three store did not stock brick phones at all. The company confirmed that its policy is not to stock brick phones, although they do – much like the other providers  – offer devices made by Doro which are designed primarily for calls and texts with a rudimentary 4G connection. Vodafone had one model in their location, a Nokia 110, with staff again trying the hard sell for a mid-range iPhone as an alternative.
Offering something cheap and old on a pay-as-you-go arrangement is understandably less attractive than selling a device costing £500-£1000 and a 24-month contract. “At point of sale there is a real incentive to sell the best device with the biggest tariff,” says Wood. “The revenue from a feature phone customer is going to be less than you’ll get from a smartphone customer. They will want you to sell their latest and greatest. That’s where the market is right now but it may change if the operators see an opportunity.”
Argos, who with Curry’s are stocking the Barbie phone, also sell a couple of ultra-basic Nokia models such as the 105 at £11.50, but although they are not smartphones even these have nominal access to 4G. Curry’s didn’t have any at the store I went to (though they do offer a couple online, including the 105) and in person also recommended iPhones. A member of Curry’s staff in an east London retail park told me, “I don’t want to sound judgmental but the only people who ever ask to buy brick phones look a bit dodgy.” Small independent shops stock them cheaply (£20), but are more likely to be the outlets of choice for the drug dealing community.
“We estimate there will be 13 million new phones sold in the UK this year of which 400,000 will be feature phones,” says Wood. “These will usually be emergency phones or for older and younger people, or bought for a one-off event such as a festival. However there is a notable step change in the industry, including what EE said. All the major network operators and retailers are looking to add this to their portfolios because it’s a quite a trendy segment of the market.”
It’s easy to see why some parents are close to panic over the prospect of their children getting a smartphone. In May, the parliamentary Education Committee published its “Screen Time: Impacts on Education and Wellbeing” report that stated: “There has been a 52 per cent increase in children’s screen time between 2020 and 2022; nearly 25 per cent of children and young people use their smartphones in a way that is consistent with a behavioural addiction. Screen use has been found to start as early as six months of age. One in five children aged between three and four years old have their own mobile phone, increasing to one in four children by age eight and to almost all children by age 12.”
When you couple the risk of addiction to social media platforms with the kinds of content that some children are able to access, including violence, suicide-related and self-harm videos or sexual and misogynistic content, the clamour for “something” to be done will continue.
“If it becomes trendy to have a bit of a digital detox then that may make these phones more popular,” says Wood. “Brick phones are only one option in this debate.”
The Barbie phone garnered positive publicity, but once you realise its limitations – no Snapchat, no WhatsApp, no TikTok – it’s unlikely to win much support from children who want what their older siblings or classmates have got, namely a smartphone. Children under 11 without phones are already communicating with their peers on tablets and through games such as Roblox. Often the cheapest and simplest pathway is to inherit a smartphone from an older family member. But the momentum from parents trying to delay the inevitable by giving their pre-teens a brick or feature phone looks set to grow. Even so, it will take a significant cultural shift and a much broader consensus among parents to have any tangible impact on children’s relationship with technology. And if the industry is to play their part, as EE’s recent intervention suggests, their stores appear to have a long way to go before parents are given a genuine choice of quality and safe alternatives.