They’re flipping off social media.
Nostalgic 80s tech firm Commodore is hoping to combat tech addiction by releasing a retro flip phone that banishes social media apps.
Dubbed the Commodore Callback 8020, this vintage phone reboot is billed as a “retreat from Black Mirror technology” designed to “help you spend less time staring at a screen,” per the blog.
This throwback perhaps marks a fitting release for a nostalgic company that kickstarted the personal computer revolution of the 1980s and released the Commodore 64 — the best-selling PC of all time.
The Callback, which will be available later this year, facilitates digital detox by using “patent-pending technology” to block web browsers and social media at the “system level.” The catch is that the mobile methadone does offer internet connectivity, ostensibly offering the full functionality of a modern phone without the risk of screen addiction.
That being said, the Linux-based Sailfish OS operating system allows this Spartan device to be compatible with over “99 percent of Android Apps,” including WhatsApp, Maps and Spotify.
But don’t get any ideas about importing blacklisted apps. While Callback users are allowed to sideload platforms not available at the firm’s “Commostore,” the company draws the line at ones that require doomscrolling, Ars Technica reported.
On the off-chance that someone does get TikTok or another verboten service installed, they won’t be able to use it as Commodore has blocked it at the DNS level.
Completing this retro effect is a minimalist clam shell design that harks back to the Nokia flip phones from the turn of the millennium. Total price: between $500 and $640 depending on the colorway.
Viewers had mixed feelings about the somewhat Mennoite device. “Commodore 64 flip phone? Take my money,” gushed one fan.
However, others felt that the nostalgia was not worth the squeeze.
“You had me at flip phone that blocks social media,” snarked one critic. “You lost me at $499.”
Another wrote, “Hugely disappointed after all the buildup to discover the new Commodore product is a $500 flip-phone that looks like something from AliExpress for $50”
Another found it ludicrous that someone would pay such an exorbitant amount to stop themselves from an activity — doomscrolling — that they could halt for free. They added that the inclusion of WhatsApp and Telegram seemed to defeat the point of a device meant to combat tech addiction.
“The doom-scrolling moves to group chats instead,” they lamented. “You just traded Twitter anxiety for family WhatsApp group anxiety, which some people would argue is considerably worse. The problem was never the hardware. It was always what we agreed to let in.”
Nonetheless, the Callback couldn’t have come at a better time.
Gen Z is currently mounting a low-tech offensive, notably swapping sleek smartphones and algorithm-fed apps for vintage flip phones as they strive to live a life less plugged-in.
“It’s an indescribable feeling to feel so detached and not constantly available,” NYU grad student Sonya Saydakova, who traded an iPhone for a Nokia 2780 flip phone last year, told the Post.
